May 6, 2006
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California Golden Bears (23-23, 8-11 Pac-10)
at
Stanford Cardinal (21-20, 6-10 Pac-10)
Friday, May 5
at Stanford 3, California 2
Saturday, May 6 (4 pm, PT)
RHP Tyson Ross (4-4, 3.78) vs. RHP Matt Leva (2-0, 3.60)
Live Game Coverage: FOX Sports Net (Jim Watson, Jerry Kindall) | Audio Broadcast (Alex Gyr) | Gametracker
Sunday, May 7 (1 pm, PT)
TBA vs. TBA
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast (Alex Gyr) | Gametracker|
Webcast
STANFORD-CALIFORNIA SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Stanford 234-212
2006 Results: Series - Tied 2-2 (Non-Conference at California, March 3-4, May 1) California 7-6, Stanford 6-5 (11), California 4-3; Stanford 3-2
2005 Results: Series - Tied 3-3 (Non-Conference at Stanford, March 5-6DH) Stanford 10-3, Stanford 3-2 (DH Game 1), California 10-4 (DH Game 2); (Conference at California, May 6-7, 9) Stanford 7-5, California 2-1 (11 inn.), California 9-5
Series Notes: The teams have split 10 games during the past two seasons heading into their final two meetings of 2006 on Saturday and Sunday with the Golden Bears having won five of the last eight after the Cardinal won the first two games in 2005 Stanford has been victorious in 13 of the last 14 games against the Golden Bears at Sunken Diamond and had previously won an amazing 18 in a row against the Golden Bears overall before California broke the skid with a 10-4 victory over the Cardinal at Sunken Diamond in the second game of a doubleheader on March 6, 2005
THE MATCHUP
Saturday's game continues a crucial series for both teams in their quest of keeping their hopes alive to qualify for the 2006 NCAA Tournament All four of the games between the teams this season have been decided by a single run with the Golden Bears winning two-of-three non-conference contests in Berkeley before Friday night's Stanford win in a conference affair Although both teams are near the bottom of the Pac-10 standings with California (8-11 Pac-10) currently in seventh and Stanford (6-10) ninth, both are seemingly within striking distance of all the teams in the Pac-10 standings with the probable exception of league-leader Oregon State (9-4 Pac-10) with Washington's 9-7 mark good enough for second-place The Cardinal has struggled in all three areas of the game, ranking sixth in the league in pitching (4.42 ERA), as well as eighth in both hitting (.267) and fielding (.965) California has put together a nice season both on the hill (3.74 ERA, #2 Pac-10) and in the field (.968, #4 Pac-10) but has had a tough time offensively with a .263 team batting average that is last in the Pac-10
STANFORD SNAPSHOT
COMING AROUND - Stanford has won three of its last four Pac-10 games after falling to 3-9 at the halfway point of the conference schedule The Cardinal has also won three straight home games to equal its longest win streak this season at Sunken Diamond
FIVE-SERIES LOSING STREAK SNAPPED - Stanford won two-of-three games against Arizona State in its most recent Pac-10 series last Friday-Sunday to win its first series in over two months (at Fresno State, 2/24-26) and snap a five-series losing streak (at USC, Washington State, USC, at Oregon State, at Arizona) that was its longest since dropping seven in a row in its final six series of 1993 (at UCLA, Arizona, at Arizona State, at California, UNLV, UCLA), as well as its first series in 1994 (Cal State Fullerton)
FRIDAY'S STANFORD-CALIFORNIA SERIES OPENER - Chris Minaker (3-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI) hit two solo home runs before leading off the bottom of the ninth inning with a single and scoring the game-winning run on Randy Molina's one-out RBI single to lift Stanford to a dramatic 3-2 victory over California. Stanford ace Greg Reynolds (5-3) tossed his second consecutive complete game to outduel California ace Brandon Morrow (7-3).
A QUICK LOOK AT THE PAC - Stanford is only 4.5 games out of first-place and a mere 3.0 contests from second but still in an unfamiliar last-place spot in the Pac-10 race in last place Oregon State (9-4) is in sole possession of first-place and followed by Washington (9-7), USC (10-8), Arizona State (8-7) and UCLA (8-7), Washington State (7-8), California (8-11), Arizona (6-9) and Stanford (6-10) BUSY SECOND HALF - Rescheduled games caused by earlier weather-related postponed contests and a normally more compacted second half of the schedule have combined to contribute to Stanford having its final 27 games scheduled over the last 42 days of its regular season after playing its first 28 contests in the first 72 days Stanford played 17 games in April and has 17 more scheduled for May with one contest versus Santa Clara still a possibility to be rescheduled
MARQUESS 13TH ON ALL-TIME WIN LIST - Mark Marquess has moved into sole possession of 13th place on the all-time win list for NCAA Division I coaches, reaching the mark in a win over Arizona State on April 30 He has an all-time record of 1245-610-5 (.671) and is in his 30th season as Stanford's head coach
SOGGY SEASON - Stanford has made 11 changes to its schedule this season due to soggy weather but is still on track to get 55 regular season contests in with a possible makeup date at Santa Clara to get to the maximum number of 56 games in a season
COMEBACK KIDS - Stanford has come from behind in 14 of its 21 wins, including nine of its last 10 victories
OUT OF THE POLLS - Stanford has not been ranked in any of the five major polls (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA, Rosenblatt Report, USA Today) for the last seven weeks through the polls of May 1
HOT HITTERS - Chris Minaker has a current 11-game hit streak (.479, 23-48, 6 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 16 RBI) with eight multiple-hit contests, as well as four three-hit games and three-RBI contests during the run The hit streak equals his season-high of 11 and just two short of his career-high of 13 he set in 2005 Minaker (.352, 25-71, 10 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 19 RBI, SB) and Ryan Seawell (.347, 17-49, 3 2B, 5 RBI, 2 SB) put up the team's top offensive numbers in 17 April games
DEFENSIVE WOES - Stanford has made at least one error in 12 of its last 13 games and 17 of its past 19 The Cardinal is fielding at a clip of just .965 after posting a .971 or better mark in each of the past six years to account for six of the top eight fielding percentages in school history
REYNOLDS WRAP - Stanford ace Greg Reynolds has posted back-to-back complete game victories in his last two outings, as well as winning three straight decisions and four of his last five starts Reynolds was named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week on May 2 after throwing the first complete game of his career and the first by a Stanford pitcher this season with a three-hitter in a 7-1 win over Arizona State on April 28 He followed that performance by outdueling California ace Brandon Morrow in a 3-2 Stanford win on May 5
STURDY SENIORS - Stanford's four seniors have started all but three games possible between them this season Position players Chris Lewis and Chris Minaker have each started all 41 games with Minaker playing every inning at shortstop, while John Hester has started 38 of 41 behind the plate Pitcher Matt Manship had made starts in the team's weekend rotation for the first 11 weeks before coming out of the bullpen to get a win in his most recent action versus Arizona State on April 30
ROOKIE CLASS - Cord Phelps (26), Joey August (26) and Jason Castro (23) have all started more than half of the team's games, while Brent Milleville (17), Austin Yount (9), J.J. Jelmini (2) and Sean Ratliff (1) have also made starts as position players Jeremy Bleich has a team-high seven saves and had been the team's closer for most of the season before being inserted into the starting rotation each of the last three weeks at Oregon State (4/14) and Arizona (4/21), and versus Arizona State (4/29) Max Fearnow, Ratliff and Yount have also seen action on the hill
IT'S SIMPLE ... HIT THE LONG BALL AND WIN - Stanford is 7-0 in games in which the Cardinal has two or more home runs
THE STANFORD 9 - The All-Time Starting 9 that is being revealed Saturday represents the choices of Stanford Baseball fans who have voted for this team throughout the 2006 season and the best of the first 30 years of the distinguished coaching career of Mark Marquess. The teams consists of Mike Mussina (Pitcher, 1988-90), Ryan Garko (Catcher, 2000-03), John Gall (First Base, 1997-2000), Jed Lowrie (2nd, 2003-05), Ed Sprague (Third Base, 1996-98), Eric Bruntlett (Shortstop, 1997-2000), Joe Borchard (Outfield, 1998-2000), Sam Fuld (Outfield, 2001-04) and Jeffrey Hammonds (Outfield, 1990-92) STANFORD BASEBALL HISTORY - Stanford has captured two College World Series titles (1987, 1988) and advanced to the CWS 15 times, including 13 appearances in Omaha in the past 24 seasons and a school record five in a row from 1999-2003 when the Cardinal finished as runners-up three times (2000, 2001, 2003) The Cardinal has also won five NCAA Super Regionals, 13 NCAA Regionals and 20 Pac-10 titles Stanford Baseball is in its 113th year of existence with an all-time record of 2476-1542-32 (.615)
STANFORD BASEBALL IN THE BIGS - Stanford has sent 74 players on to play Major League Baseball, including six (Joe Borchard - Seattle Mariners Eric Bruntlett - Houston Astros Mike Gosling, Cincinnati Reds John Gall - St. Louis Cardinals Jeremy Guthrie - Cleveland Indians Rick Helling - Milwaukee Brewers Mike Mussina - New York Yankees) that have played in The Show in 2006
STANFORD IN THE MINOR LEAGUES - Stanford has 21 former players currently in Minor League Baseball (Jonny Ash - Corpus Christi Hooks, Houston Astros AA Chris Carter - Tucson Sidewinders, Arizona Diamondbacks AAA Jason Cooper - Buffalo Bisons, Cleveland Indians AAA Scott Dragicevich - Dunedin Blue Jays, Toronto Blue A Advanced Pete Duda - Unassigned, Arizona Diamondbacks Sam Fuld - Daytona Cubs, Chicago Cubs A Advanced Jody Gerut - Unassigned, Pittsburgh Pirates Jeff Gilmore - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Seattle Mariners A Mike Gosling - Cincinnati Bats, Cinncinnati Reds AAA Brian Hall - Unassigned, Toronto Blue Jays Jed Hansen - Fresno Grizzlies, San Francisco Giants AAA John Hudgins - Oklahoma RedHawks, Texas Rangers AAA Mark Jecmen - Lake County Captains, Cleveland Indians A Jed Lowrie - Wilmington Blue Rocks, Boston Red Sox A Advanced Donny Lucy - Winston-Salem Warthogs, Chicago White Sox A Advanced John Mayberry, Jr. - Clinton LumberKings, Texas Rangers A Chris O'Riordan - Mobile Bay Bears, San Diego Padres AA Danny Putnam - Midland RockHounds, Oakland A's AA Carlos Quentin - Tucson Sidewinders, Arizona Diamondbacks AAA Mark Romanczuk - Unassigned, Arizona Diamondbacks)
STARS AT SUNKEN - Mike Mussina took in Stanford's game against USC at Sunken Diamond on April 2 and brought teammate (and 2005 AL MVP) Alex Rodriguez with him
RECENT STANFORD RECAPS
Friday, May 5
at Stanford 3, California 2
Tuesday, May 2
at Stanford 6, San Jose State 2
Monday, May 1
at California 4, Stanford 3
Sunday, April 30
at Stanford 11, Arizona State 4
Arizona State 11, at Stanford 7
Friday, April 28
at Stanford 7, Arizona State 1
Tuesday, April 25
Santa Clara 6, at Stanford 1 (10)
Sunday, April 23
at Arizona 12, Stanford 3
Saturday, April 22
at Arizona 14, Stanford 4
Friday, April 21
Stanford 10, at Arizona 6