May 22, 2006
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Complete Release in PDF FormatDownload Free Acrobat Reader
Stanford Cardinal (29-23, 12-12 Pac-10)
at
Pacific Tigers (27-24, 6-12 Big West)
Wed., May 24 (2 pm, PT) - RHP Erik Davis (1-1, 3.76) or LHP Sean Ratliff (2-0, 5.40) vs. RHP Curtis Pasma (3-2, 3.95)
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast (Alex Gyr)
STANFORD-PACIFIC SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series (since 1959): Stanford 45-6-1
2006 Results: Series - Stanford 1-0 (at Stanford, April 10) Stanford 2-1
2005 Results: Series - Stanford 2-1 (at Pacific, March 20) Stanford 9-6; (at Pacific, March 24, 29) Stanford 6-1, Pacific 2-0 (10 inn.)
Series Notes: Stanford improved its record in its last 18 games versus Pacific to 16-1-1 when the Cardinal picked up a 2-1 victory over the Tigers in the first meeting between the clubs this season on April 10 at Sunken Diamond The Cardinal had won 14 straight games versus the Tigers before the streak was broken with Pacific's 2-0 victory over the Cardinal in 10 innings on March 29, 2005 Stanford and Pacific had played just once since 1995 before four meetings in the last two seasons with the Cardinal winning three of those games
THE MATCHUP
Despite losing two-of-three in a Pac-10 series at UCLA last Friday-Sunday, Stanford has won still won eight of its last 10 games overall and six of its past eight road games after splitting the first two games of its current series at UCLA The Cardinal has also won its last three non-conference tilts Stanford has put up much better offensive numbers over the last 10 games, scoring at a rate of 7.3 runs per game and hitting .314 as a team compared to a 5.4 scoring clip and .277 batting average (#8 Pac-10) during the season The Cardinal has also pitched better (3.61 ERA) during its last 10 games than the entire season (4.27 ERA, #4 Pac-10) Ironically, Stanford has even struggled more defensively during the last 10 games with a .960 fielding percentage during the period compared to .965 (#6 Pac-10) on the year Pacific has lost three of its last five games The Tigers have put up middle of the road numbers in all three team categories this season with a .266 batting average, 4.29 ERA and .960 fielding percentage
STANFORD SNAPSHOT
PAC-10 SERIES WIN SNAPPED - Stanford had its three-series win streak snapped when the Cardinal dropped the rubber game and two-of-three in its most recent series at UCLA (5/19-21) The series streak started by winning two-of-three at home against California (5/5-7) and Arizona State (4/28-30), before ending with a road series sweep at Washington (5/12-14) The series streak was the first time the Cardinal had won three consecutive conference series since taking seven Pac-10 series in a row from May 3, 2003 - May 2, 2004
WINNING WAYS - Although Stanford dropped two-of-three in its most recent series at UCLA last Friday-Sunday, the Cardinal has still won eight of its last 10 games overall, as well as 10 of 13 and six of its last eight on the road
ANOTHER WINNING SEASON ASSURED - Stanford's 29th and most recent win at UCLA on May 20 assured the Cardinal of its 29th winning campaign in the first 30 seasons under current head coach Mark Marquess
A QUICK LOOK AT THE PAC-10 STANDINGS - Stanford moved up one spot to fifth in the Pac-10 standings despite losing two-of-three at UCLA when former fifth-place Washington State was swept at home in a three-game set by league-leader Oregon State Oregon State (15-6) has wrapped up at least a share of its second straight Pac-10 title and is 3.0 games in front of second-place UCLA (12-9) The Bruins are the only Pac-10 team with a chance still at a share of the title and the league's automatic berth when UCLA travels to Oregon State next Friday-Sunday needing a sweep to catch the Beavers Arizona State and USC are tied for fourth with 11-10 conference marks, and followed by Stanford (11-13) while four teams -- Arizona, California, Washington and Washington State -- all head into their final Pac-10 series next Friday-Sunday tied for the sixth through ninth spots in the standings with identical 9-12 conference records
COMEBACK KIDS - Stanford has come from behind in 19 of its 29 wins, including 14 of its last 18 victories
LAST SERIES AT UCLA (UCLA WINS SERIES, 2-1) - Sunday, May 21, 2006 (at UCLA 8, Stanford 7): Tim Stewart's two-out walkoff homer in the bottom of the ninth lifted UCLA to a dramatic 8-7 victory over Stanford in a key series rubber game. The homer was the second of the contest for Stewart (2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI), who also had a three-run blast to cap a six-run Bruin fifth that erased an early 5-0 Stanford lead. Blair Dunlap (2-3, HR, RBI) also had a key long ball for the Bruins when he led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo shot that answered Michael Taylor's solo homer in the top half of the inning that had given Stanford a 7-6 lead. Chris Lewis (3-4, HR, 3 RBI) also homered and drove in three runs for the Cardinal, while Jason Castro (2-4, 2B, RBI), Grant Escue (2-3) and Ryan Seawell (2-4, SB) added two hits each with Castro extending his career-high hit streak to 10 games Saturday, May 20, 2006 (Stanford 6, at UCLA 2): Stanford evened its series at UCLA with a 6-2 victory over the Bruins. Nolan Gallagher pitched his first career complete game and struck out a career-high seven to earn the victory, allowing just two runs (one earned) and scattering seven hits with just one walk. Chris Minaker, Michael Taylor and Chris Lewis all went deep as the three homers tied Stanford's season-high with Minaker also driving in three runs. Lewis (2-4, HR, RBI) and John Hester (2-4, SB) had two hits each, while eight of Stanford's nine starters collected at least one Friday, May 19, 2006 (at UCLA 8, Stanford 1): UCLA snapped Stanford's season-high seven-game win streak with an 8-1 victory over the Cardinal. The Bruins jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first three innings to support winning pitcher Hector Ambriz, who gave up just one run while scattering eight hits and striking out eight without walking a batter over 8.0 frames. Ambriz also doubled and contributed a pair of RBI at the plate. Sean Smith (3-3, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI) and Ryan Babineau (3-4, HR, 3 RBI) both homered to lead the Bruins' offense, while Jermaine Curtis (2-4, 3B, RBI) and Brandon Crawford (2-5, 3B) each had a pair of hits including first inning triples that set the tone for the contest. Chris Minaker (3-4, RBI) and Grant Escue (2-4) had multiple-hit games for the Cardinal. Greg Reynolds took the loss for Stanford to snap a four-game win streak, allowing career-high-tying totals of seven runs and 10 hits over 6.0 innings.
LAST MEETING VERSUS PACIFIC - Monday, April 10, 2006 (at Stanford 2, Pacific 1): Chris Minaker's bouncing RBI single through the left side of the infield with no outs in the bottom of the ninth scored John Hester with the game-winning run to lift Stanford to a 2-1 victory over Pacific. Jeremy Bleich struck out two batters in a scoreless ninth inning to earn the win as the last of three Stanford pitchers that limited the Tigers to just one run and six hits, striking out a season-high-tying 13 batters and walking just two. Minaker (2-5, RBI) and Michael Taylor (2-2) had two hits each for the Cardinal, while Ramon Glasgow (2-4) was the only Pacific player with more than one hit.
MARQUESS MOVING UP ON ALL-TIME VICTORY LIST - Mark Marquess ranks 13th on the all-time win list for NCAA Division I coaches with an all-time overall record of 1253-613-5 (.671) in his 30th season as Stanford's head coach Marquess is now just two 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
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 also scheduled to play 17 in May
OFFENSE COMING ALIVE - Stanford has put up much improved offensive and pitching numbers while winning eight of its last 10 contests, scoring runs at a pace of 7.3 per game and hitting .314 as a team compared to season averages of 5.4 and .277 (#8 Pac-10) Stanford has had plenty of offensive struggles for most of the season with its current .275 team batting average still the lowest by a Cardinal club since the 1989 squad hit .276 Stanford has also increased its power surge of late with 13 long balls in its last eight contests but still has only 36 on the season and needs four more to extend its string of consecutive 40-homer campaigns to 20
HOT HITTERS - Several individuals have keyed the team's recent hot hitting Jason Castro has a current career-high 10-game hit streak, while Chris Minaker has nine-game streak and has hit safely in 21 of his last 22 games Minaker also has three homers and 13 RBI in his last six contests Michael Taylor has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 contests, while homering in each of his last two games Grant Escue has been the team's starter at designated hitter in five of the last six Pac-10 contests and hit safely in all five, while contributing a .474 (9-19) average in those games
STURDY SENIORS - Senior position players Chris Minaker and Chris Lewis have each started all 52 contests this year with Minaker playing every inning at shortstop each of the last two seasons Both players have long consecutive games started streaks going with Minaker at 149 and Lewis at 111
DEFENSIVE WOES - Stanford has at least one error in six of those game and multiple miscues in five of the seven to lower its season fielding percentage to .965 Stanford has posted 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 IMPROVEMENT - Stanford has also pitched much better during its recent 10-game stretch with a 3.61 ERA during the stretch compared to a 4.27 season mark
REYNOLDS WRAP - Stanford ace Greg Reynolds had posted three consecutive complete game victories before going just 6.0 innings in an 8-1 loss at UCLA in his most recent outing on May 19 Reynolds became 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 also won four straight starts prior to the UCLA loss 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 victory 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, taking his second Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week honors on May 16
ROOKIE CLASS - Jason Castro (32), Joey August (28) and Cord Phelps (26) have all started at least half of the team's games, while Brent Milleville (20), 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 making six of his last seven appearances as a starter at Oregon State (4/14), at Arizona (4/21), versus Arizona State (4/29), against San Jose State (5/2), at Washington (5/14) and at UCLA (5/21) Max Fearnow, Ratliff and Yount have also seen pitching action
BIG INNINGS - Stanford has put up some big innings offensively of late with one inning of seven runs or more in three consecutive games from May 13-16 as the Cardinal put up a season-high-tying nine-spot on the scoreboard at Washington in the second inning on May 13, seven at Washington in the fourth inning on May 14 and eight in the fifth inning versus Santa Clara on May 16 to come from behind and win in all three contests Other innings of five or more runs for the Cardinal this season include a season-high-tying nine-run third versus Texas (2/20), six runs in the seventh in the first game of a doubleheader versus USC (4/1), a five-run sixth at San Jose State (4/8) and an eight-spot in the fifth inning versus Arizona State (4/30)
IT'S SIMPLE ... HIT THE LONG BALL AND WIN - Stanford had been a perfect 11-0 in games in which the Cardinal had hit two or more home runs until finally losing despite home runs from Chris Lewis and Michael Taylor in an 8-7 defeat at UCLA (5/21)
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 2486-1546-32 (.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 votedupon 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 27 former players that have either been on a Minor League Baseball roster (includes Independent leagues) in 2006 or are a member of a professional baseball organization and yet to be assigned to a team for the 2006 campaign (Jonny Ash - Corpus Christi Hooks, Houston Astros AA Jeff Bruskch - Long Beach Armada, Independent Chris Carter - Tucson Sidewinders, Arizona Diamondbacks AAA Tony Cogan - Sioux Falls Canaries, Independent 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 John Gall - Memphis Redbirds, St. Louis Cardinals AAA Ryan Garko - Buffalo Bisons, Cleveland Indians AAA Jody Gerut - Unassigned, Pittsburgh Pirates Jeff Gilmore - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Seattle Mariners A Mike Gosling - Cincinnati Bats, Cinncinnati Reds AAA Jeremy Guthrie - Buffalo Bisons, Cleveland Indians AAA Brian Hall - Unassigned, Toronto Blue Jays Jed Hansen - Fresno Grizzlies, San Francisco Giants AAA John Hudgins - Mobile BayBears, San Diego Padres AA; Oklahoma RedHawks, Texas Rangers AAA Mark Jecmen - Lake County Captains, Cleveland Indians A Andrew Lorraine - Long Island Ducks, Independent 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 Darin Naatjes - Brockton Rox, Independent Chris O'Riordan - Mobile Bay Bears, San Diego Padres AA Jay Pecci - Gary Southshore Railcats, Independent Danny Putnam - Midland RockHounds, Oakland A's AA Carlos Quentin - Tucson Sidewinders, Arizona Diamondbacks AAA Mark Romanczuk - Unassigned, Arizona Diamondbacks Jason Van Meetren - Chico Outlaws, Independent)
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 21
at UCLA 8, Stanford 7
Saturday, May 20
Stanford 6, at UCLA 2
Friday, May 19
at UCLA 8, Stanford 1
Tuesday, May 16
at Stanford 11, Santa Clara 7
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)