May 15, 2006
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Santa Clara Broncos (28-25, 9-12 WCC)
at
Stanford Cardinal (27-21, 10-11 Pac-10)
Tue., May 16 (6 pm, PT) - LHP Sean O'Neill (2-6, 5.99) vs. RHP Max Fearnow (2-0, 5.31)
Live Game Coverage: Webcast
STANFORD-SANTA CLARA SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Stanford 176-156-7
2006 Results: Series - Tied, 1-1 (at Stanford, April 25) Santa Clara 6-1 (10 inn.); (at Santa Clara, May 9) Stanford 8-4 (15 inn.)
2005 Results: Series - Santa Clara 2-1 (at Stanford, April 5, 26) Stanford 7-6, Santa Clara 7-5; (at Santa Clara, May 10) Santa Clara 6-5 (12 inn.)
Series Notes: Stanford snapped a three-game losing streak to Santa Clara when the Cardinal outlasted the Broncos last Tuesday night, 8-4 in 15 innings in a marathon season-long 5:07 game The teams have actually gone extra innings in each of their last three meetings with the Broncos winning the first two, including a 6-1 win in 10 innings at Sunken Diamond in the first meeting between the teams in 2006 on April 25 Stanford needs a win on Tuesday to prevent the Broncos from winning their second consecutive season series as Santa Clara won two-of-three last year for its first season series win over Stanford since 1980 Stanford also had a recent 20-game win streak over the Broncos from February 17, 1997 - February 22, 2002
THE MATCHUP
Stanford is looking to stay red hot as the Cardinal has won a season-high six in a row and eight of its last nine games overall, as well as five straight road games and three consecutive Pac-10 series (Arizona State, California, at Washington) Stanford has put up much improved numbers in all three primary team statistical areas during the last nine games with a .290 batting average, 2.69 ERA and .975 fielding percentage that are well above the team's season numbers of .273 (#8 Pac-10), 4.17 (#5 Pac-10) and .966 (#6 Pac-10) Santa Clara is closing out its regular season with Tuesday's game at Stanford having lost six of its last eight heading into the contest but managing to win two-of-three versus Portland in its final West Coast Conference series last Friday-Sunday
STANFORD SNAPSHOT
RED HOT - Stanford has won a season-high six straight games overall (its longest winning since winning seven in a row from April 10-23, 2004), as well as eight of its last nine overall, three straight Pac-10 series and five consecutive road games
THREE STRAIGHT PAC-10 SERIES WINS - Stanford has won each of its last three Pac-10 series by taking two-of-three at home against California (5/5-7) and Arizona State (4/28-30), before sweeping a road series at Washington (5/12-14) in its most recent action to mark the first time the Cardinal has won three consecutive conference series since taking seven Pac-10 series in a row from May 3, 2003 - May 2, 2004
FIVE STRAIGHT ROAD WINS - Stanford has picked up victories at Santa Clara (5/9), Sacramento State (5/10) and Washington (5/12, 5/13, 5/14) in its last five road games to mark its longest road win streak since taking five in a row from March 20 - April 3, 2005 The last time Stanford won more than five straight road games was when the Cardinal took seven consecutive games away from home February 7 - March 6
MOVING UP IN THE PAC-10 STANDINGS - Stanford has moved up to sixth in the Pac-10 standings after winning seven of its first nine games in the second half of league play following a 3-9 first half Oregon State (12-6) has a two-game lead over Arizona State and UCLA (10-8) USC (11-10, 2.5 GB) is the only other team over .500 in the standings and is followed by Washington State (9-9, 3.0 GB), Stanford (10-11, 3.5 GB), Washington (9-12, 4.5 GB), California (9-12, 4.5 GB) and Arizona (7-11, 5.0 GB)
MARQUESS REACHES 1250 WINS AND GETS 500 PAC-10 VICTORY - Mark Marquess hit a couple of milestones during the Washington series, picking up his 1250th career win on May 13 and then following it with his 500th Pac-10 victory the following day Marquess ranks 13th on the all-time win list for NCAA Division I coaches with an all-time overall record of 1251-611-5 (.671) and is in his 30th season as Stanford's head coach Marquess is now just four wins shy of Georgia Southern's Jack Stallings, who recorded 1255 victories in 39 seasons at Georgia Southern to rank 12th on the current list LAST SERIES AT WASHINGTON - Sunday, May 14, 2006 (Stanford 10, at Washington 2): Stanford stayed hot by extending its longest win streak of the season to six games with a 10-2 victory over Washington to complete a three-game sweep of the Huskies. The Cardinal scored seven runs in the top of the fourth inning and then rode the pitching of winner Jeremy Bleich and reliever Matt Manship to the victory. Michael Taylor (3-4, HR, RBI), Jason Castro (2-4, HR, career-high 3 RBI) and Ryan Seawell (2-6, HR, RBI) homered for the Cardinal, while Grant Escue (3-5, RBI) and Chris Lewis (2-3, 2 2B) added multiple-hit game with Chris Minaker driving in a pair of runs Saturday, May 13, 2006 (Stanford 14, at Washington 6): Stanford scored nine runs in the top of the second inning and cruised to a 14-6 Pac-10 victory over Washington. Chris Minaker (3-6, 2B, HR, 4 RBI) and Chris Lewis (2-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) both had three-run homers in the Cardinal second, while Nolan Gallagher held Washington to one run over 7.0 innings of relief to earn the win after entering the contest to start the second frame Friday, May 12, 2006 (Stanford 5, at Washington 0): Greg Reynolds pitched a complete game shutout to lift Stanford to a 5-0 win over Washington. Reynolds struck out nine while scattering eight hits and a walk. Michael Taylor (2-5, 2B, 2 RBI) had a pair of hits and two RBI for the Cardinal, while Jim Rapport (2-4, RBI) and Chris Minaker (2-5, 2B) each added a pair of hits.
LAST MEETING VERSUS SANTA CLARA - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 (Stanford 8, at Santa Clara 4 -- 15 Inn.): Stanford scored four runs in the top of the 15th inning and outlasted Santa Clara, 8-4. The game was the longest of the season for the Cardinal, checking in at five hours and seven minutes. Cord Phelps' one-out RBI single in the top of the 15th frame scored Joey August to break a 4-4 tie before Chris Lewis followed with a two-RBI double to plate Chris Minaker and Phelps. Lewis scored the final Stanford run of the inning on a wild pitch. Randy Molina (3-4, RBI) and Lewis (3-7, 2 2B, 2 RBI) had three hits each, while Phelps (2-3, RBI), August (2-3) and Jason Castro (2-6) picked up two each. Grant Escue drove in a pair of runs with a pinch-hit double in the top of 12th inning that gave the Cardinal a 4-2 lead. Max Fearnow (2-0) picked up the victory, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk with two strikeouts over the final 4.0 innings. Erik Davis (5.0 IP, 1H, 1 BB, 4 SO) equaled the longest outing of his career without giving up a run to extend the game into extra innings.
COMEBACK KIDS - Stanford has come from behind in 17 of its 27 wins, including 12 of its last 16 victories
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 is scheduled to also play 17 in May
OFFENSE COMING ALIVE - Stanford's offensive has come alive during the club's recent hot play The Cardinal scored 29 runs, hit .357 and blasted five homers in its most recent series at Washington (all the best offensive numbers by the club in a series this season) Stanford has had plenty of offensive struggles for most of the season with a current .273 team batting average that is eighth in the Pac-10 and the lowest by a Cardinal club since the 1975 team hit .262 Stanford also has only 29 homers this season and needs 11 more just to extend its string of consecutive 40-homer campaigns to 20 years in a row
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT - Stanford has been errorless in four of its last nine games and fielded at a .975 clip during the period while winning eight of the nine contests The numbers are much improved compared to a defense that is fielding just .966 this season 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
PITCHING PROWESS - Stanford's pitching has been top notch over the last nine games with a 2.69 ERA during the period The staff has held its opponents to six or fewer runs in 11 consecutive contests, including with the opposition getting no more than four runs in nine of those games
REYNOLDS WRAP - Stanford ace Greg Reynolds has posted three consecutive complete game victories in his last three outings to become the first Stanford pitcher to throw three or more straight complete games since Jeremy Guthrie tossed four in a row (the last three victories) from April 26 - May 17, 2002 Reynolds has also won four straight starts and five of his last six 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 and Washington ace Tim Lincecum with his first career complete game shutout in a 5-0 Stanford victory over the Huskies in Seattle on May 12
STURDY SENIORS - Three of Stanford's four seniors have started all but one possible game between them Position players Chris Minaker and Chris Lewis have each started all 48 contests with Minaker playing every inning at shortstop Pitcher Matt Manship has made starts in 12 of the team's 14 weekend pitching rotations
ROOKIE CLASS - Jason Castro (30), Joey August (27) and Cord Phelps (26) have all started more than half of the team's games, while Brent Milleville (18), 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 for five recent starts at Oregon State (4/14), at Arizona (4/21), versus Arizona State (4/29), against San Jose State (5/2) and at Washington (5/10) Max Fearnow, Ratliff and Yount have also seen action on the hill
IT'S SIMPLE ... HIT THE LONG BALL AND WIN - Stanford is 9-0 in games in which the Cardinal has two or more home runs
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 2484-1544-32 (.616)
THE STANFORD 9 - The All-Time Starting 9 that represted the best of the first 30 years of the distinguished coaching career of Mark Marquess as voted upon be fans throughout the 2006 season was announced on Saturday, May 6 The team consisted 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 IN THE BIGS - Stanford has sent 74 players on to play Major League Baseball, including six (Joe Borchard - Florida Marlins, 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 that have played during the 2006 season 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
Sunday, May 14
Stanford 10, at Washington 2
Saturday, May 13
Stanford 14, at Washington 6
Friday, May 12
Stanford 5, at Washington 0
Wednesday, May 10
Stanford 5, at Sacramento State 4
Tuesday, May 9
Stanford 8, at Santa Clara 4 (15)
Sunday, May 7
at Stanford 6, California 4
Saturday, May 6
California 5, at Stanford 1
Friday, May 5
at Stanford 3, California 2