May 26, 2006
UC Davis Aggies (16-34)
vs.
Stanford Cardinal (30-23, 11-13 Pac-10)
Fri., May 26 (6 pm, PT) - LHP Michael Potter (4-3, 3.15) vs. RHP Greg Reynolds (6-4, 3.51)*
*at Stanford, CA
Live Game Coverage: Webcast
Sat., May 27 (2 pm) - TBA vs. TBA^
^at Davis, CA
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast (Alex Gyr) | Gametracker
STANFORD-UC DAVIS SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series (since 1959): Stanford 45-6-1
2005 Results: Series - Stanford 1-0 (at UC Davis, May 2) Stanford 8-0
Last Meeting at Stanford: (May 12, 1996) Stanford 10-0
Series Notes: Stanford meet for the second consecutive season after not playing from 1998-2004 Stanford has won the last seven meetings between the clubs dating back to the last Aggie win, 8-7, in Davis on March 27, 1991
THE MATCHUP
Stanford has won nine of its last 11 games overall and is making a strong bid for the postseason after sitting at 21-21 less than three weeks ago The Cardinal has also won four straight non-conference tilts after Wednesday's 14-8 comeback win at Pacific Stanford has put up much better offensive numbers over the last 11 games, scoring at a rate of 7.9 runs per game and hitting .328 as a team compared to a 5.5 scoring clip and .277 batting average (#8 Pac-10) during the season Stanford has actually put up double-digit hit games in seven of its last eight contests, including a season-high 19 as well as a season-high-tying 14 runs in its recent game at Pacific this past Wednesday UC Davis has won just three of its last 21 games after beating then No. 1 Cal State Fullerton, 2-1, on the road April 13 but Friday's probable starter Michael Potter has won two of the three and also beat the Titans The Aggies, who are playing a Big West schedule but not yet a full member of the league during their transition from Division II to Division I, have struggled in all primary three team statistics with a .273 batting average, 6.03 ERA and .953 fielding percentage
STANFORD SNAPSHOT
SPECIAL NIGHT SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY - There will be several special activities surrounding Friday night's regular season home finale versus UC Davis Stanford's four-member senior class of John Hester, Chris Lewis, Matt Manship and Chris Minaker will be honored in a pregame ceremony before their final regular season home contest After the game, the 8th Annual Town and Country Fireworks Show will take place and during the contest fans will be rewarded with special giveaways on Fan Appreciation Night
A QUICK LOOK AT THE PAC-10 STANDINGS - Stanford moved up one spot to fifth in the Pac-10 standings last Friday-Sunday 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 still with a chance at a share of the title and the league's automatic berth when UCLA travels to Oregon State this 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 this Friday-Sunday tied for the sixth through ninth spots in the standings with identical 9-12 conference records
PAC-10 SERIES WIN STREAK SNAPPED - Stanford had won three straight Pac-10 series before the streak was snapped when the Cardinal dropped the rubber game of its most recent three-game Pac-10 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
LAST MEETING VERSUS UC DAVIS - May 2, 2005 (Stanford 8, at UC Davis 0): Stanford began a season-long six-game road trip with an 8-0 win at UC Davis. Jeff Gilmore, Mark Romanczuk and Greg Reynolds combined on the three-hit shutout and struck out a team season-high 13 batters with Gilmore being credited with the victory. Adam Sorgi (2-5, 3B, 3 RBI) drove in three runs to lead the Cardinal offense, while Jim Rapoport (1-1, 2B, RBI, 2 SB) walked a career-high five times, reached base in all six of his plate appearances and tied a career-high with a pair of stolen bases.
LAST GAME VERSUS PACIFIC - Wednesday, May 24, 2006 (Stanford 14, at Pacific 8): Stanford came from behind for a 14-8 victory at Pacific as Chris Lewis (4-5, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, SB) homered, had a career-high five RBI and the second career-high-tying four-hit game of his career to lead the offense. Austin Yount shut the door on Pacific in the longest outing his career, tossing 4.1 scoreless innings and striking out a career-high five while scattering four hits and walking just one. Chris Minaker (3-6, 2B, 3 RBI), Ryan Seawell (3-5, 2B) and Jason Castro (3-5) added three hits each to contribute to a Cardinal offense that posted a season-high-tying 14 runs on a season-high 19 hits.
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
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
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. Chris Minaker (3-4) had three hits 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.
COMEBACK KIDS - Stanford has come from behind in 20 of its 30 wins, including 15 of its last 19 victories.
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 1254-613-5 (.671) in his 30th season as Stanford's head coach Marquess is now just one win 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
OFFENSE COMING ALIVE - Stanford has put up much improved offensive and pitching numbers while winning nine of its last 11 contests, scoring runs at a pace of 7.9 per game and hitting .328 as a team compared to season averages of 5.5 and .277 (#8 Pac-10) for the season Stanford has actually put up double-digit hit games in seven of its last eight contests The Cardinal has had plenty of offensive struggles for most of the season with its current .277 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 14 long balls in its last nine contests but still has only 37 on the season and needs three 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 11-game hit streak, while Chris Minaker has 10-game run and has hit safely in 22 of his last 23 contests Minaker also has three homers and 16 RBI in his last seven contests Chris Lewis has been the team's top hitter while the club has won nine of 11, hitting .435 with team-highs of eight doubles, five homers and 19 RBI Michael Taylor has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 contests, while homering in two of his last three games
STURDY SENIORS - Senior position players Chris Minaker and Chris Lewis have each started all 53 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 150 and Lewis at 112
DEFENSIVE WOES - Stanford has at least one error in eight of the last 11 games during which the Cardinal has posted a 9-2 record and multiple miscues in six of the contests for a .964 fielding clip that is actually a percentage point lower than the .965 percentage the club is fielding at on the season, which is six points lower than the .971 or above mark that Stanford has posted 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 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
EIGHT HONORED ON PAC-10 ALL-ACADEMIC TEAMS - Eight Stanford players were honored on the Pac-10's 2006 All-Academic team released on May 25. Chris Minaker (Sociology, 3.75 GPA) and David Stringer (Undeclared, 3.91 GPA) were First Team selections. Matt Manship (Economics, 3.17 GPA), Jim Rapoport (Public Policy, 3.08 GPA) and Ryan Seawell (Economics, 3.23 GPA) were Second Team choices, while Nolan Gallagher, Chris Lewis and Michael Taylor were selected honorable mention.\
ROOKIE CLASS - Jason Castro (33) and Joey August (28) have both started at least half of the team's games, while Cord Phelps (26), 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 six runs or more in four of its last seven games, most recent when the Cardinal put up a six-spot in the sixth inning to erase a four-run deficit in an eventual 14-8 win at Pacific (5/24) Stanford also put up seven or more runs in three cconsecutive games from May 13-16 as the Cardinal put up a season-high-tying nine-spot 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 is 11-1 in games in which the Cardinal has hit two or more runs and had been a perfect 11-0 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 2487-1546-32 (.616) 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
Wednesday, May 24
Stanford 6, at UCLA 2
Saturday, 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