Stanford Back At No. 15 Arizona State Friday

April 6, 2007

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Thursday, April 5 - at Arizona State 5, Stanford 4

Friday, April 6 (7 pm, MT/PT) - RHP Jeffrey Inman (2-2, 6.11) vs. TBA
Live Game Coverage: Gametracker

Saturday, April 7 (1 pm, MT/PT) - RHP Nolan Gallagher (2-3, 6.69) vs. TBA
Live Game Coverage: Television: Fox Sports Net Arizona (Trey Bender, Mike Rooney) | Gametracker

STANFORD-ARIZONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Arizona State 83-82
2006 Results: Series - Stanford 2-1 (at Stanford, April 28-30) - Stanford 7-1, Arizona State 11-7, Stanford 11-4
Last Meeting At Arizona State: Series - Arizona State 3-0 (April 15-17, 2005 - Stanford 9-2, Arizona State 6-5, Arizona State 10-9
Current Game Win Streak: Arizona State - 1 (April 5, 2007)
Current Series Win Streak: Stanford - 1 (April 28-30, 2006)
Current Season Series Win Streak: Stanford - 1 (2006)
Other Series Notes: Stanford has taken five of the last six series (2001-06) between the clubs, winning two-of-three in each of those sets. However, Arizona State has won the last four games played between the teams in Tempe with Thursday night's series-opening win following a three-game sweep of the Cardinal at Packard Stadium in 2005. Stanford's last sweep of the Sun Devils came at Stanford from March 5-7, 1999. Stanford last swept Arizona State in Tempe from March 31 - April 2, 1995.

LOSING STREAKS
Stanford has dropped a season-high four straight games overall to mark its longest losing streak since also dropping four straight twice in 2006 (March 11-26 and April 13-17). Stanford has not lost as many as five in a row since a five-game skid from March 22-29, 1993. Stanford has also dropped four in a row at home to mark its longest home losing streak since also losing four straight at Sunken Diamond from April 13-20, 1995.

STANFORD SWEPT AT HOME
Stanford was swept at home by UCLA in its previous series March 30 - April 1 to mark the first time the Cardinal had been swept at Sunken Diamond since Arizona State took all three games of a series April 11-13, 1997. The streak ran a span of 71 consecutive three-game regular season home series.

PAC-10 OPENING SERIES
Stanford had won nine straight Pac-10 opening series from 1997-2005 before Washington State took two-of-three from the Cardinal to open up the 2006 conference slate and UCLA swept Stanford in 2007.

FIFTH ALL-TIME WINNINGEST PROGRAM
Stanford is the fifth all-time winningest program in the history of college baseball with an all-time record of 2503-1563-32 (.615) in 4098 games over 114 seasons including 2007. Fordham, Texas, USC and Michigan are the only teams with more all-time wins than the Cardinal.

WINNERS
Stanford has posted winning campaigns for 13 straight seasons (1994-2006), as well as 41 of the last 42 years and 58 of the past 60 prior to 2007. Stanford is currently an even .500 (13-13) in 2007.

MARK MARQUESS 11TH ON ALL-TIME WIN LIST
Mark Marquess ranks 11th on the all-time win list for NCAA Division I coaches with a career record of 1270-630-5 (.668) in 1905 games coached (all at Stanford). Marquess, in his 31st season as Stanford's head coach, also ranks sixth among active NCAA Division I coaches. In addition, Marquess has impressive postseason (112-52, .683, 24 Appearances), Regional (68-25, .731, 24 Appearances, 14 Titles), Super Regional (10-4, .769, 6 Appearances, 5 Titles), College World Series (34-23, .596, 13 Appearances, 2 Titles) and Pac-10 (501-331, .602, 12 Titles) records.

A LOOK AT THE LAST SERIES STATS (UCLA)
OFFENSE - Stanford scored only 17 runs (5.7 per game) and hit just .279 with three homers and 17 RBI in the series. Michael Taylor (.400, 4-10, 2 HR, 5 RBI), Cord Phelps (4-8, 2 2B, 3 RBI) and Brian Juhl (.444, 4-9, 3 2B, RBI) were the team's most productive regulars, while Min (Brian) Moon (2-2, RBI) hit a perfect 1.000 in his two at bats.
PITCHING - Stanford struggled mightily with a 10.00 ERA and an opponents' batting average of .358 as Erik Davis (0-0, 2 APP, 4.2 IP, 8 SO) and David Stringer (2 APP, 3.1 IP, 2 SO) were arguably the only two effective members of the staff and the only two with an ERA lower than 9.00.
FIELDING - Stanford fielded at a moderate clip of .966 with four errors in 119 attempts. Stanford was errorless in the first game before committing two errors in each of the final two contests.

A QUICK LOOK AT TEAM STATS
OFFENSE - Stanford has struggled most of the season offensively with a current .277 team mark that ranks eighth in the Pac-10. The team has also failed to produce much power with only 15 homers, ranking tied for seventh in the conference. The club's 153 runs scored are eighth in the Pac-10, while its 15 stolen bases and 250 hits both rank last.
PITCHING - Stanford has also struggled on the mound with a 5.61 ERA and a .308 opponents' batting average that are both last in the Pac-10. The Cardinal has had its ERA under 5.00 for only four days this year from March 2-5.
FIELDING - Stanford had been improving with a four-game errorless streak from March 10-25 and only one error in six games from March 10-30 before regressing with eight errors in its last three contests, including a season-high-tying four in its most recent contest at Arizona State on April 5. The Cardinal is last in the conference with an overall fielding percentage of .962.

TEAM LEADERS
OFFENSE - Sean Ratliff is having a big season and has been the team's most consistent hitter for most of the season. Ratliff is leading the Cardinal in several offensive categories, including batting average among regulars (.317), runs scored (29), hits (33), stolen bases (8), at bats (104), games played (26) and games started (26). Michael Taylor paces the club in home runs (5), RBI (25), total bases (54) and slugging percentage among regulars (.535). Other offensive team leaders or co-leaders include Cord Phelps (9 2B, 3 3B, 11 BB), Brian Juhl (.385 on base percentage among regulars; 4 HBP, co-leader; 2 SF, co-leader), Ryan Seawell (4 HBP, co-leader), Brent Milleville (2 SF, co-leader) and Joey August (2 SAC). Min (Brian) Moon is hitting 1.000 and has a 1.000 slugging percentage with two singles in his two at bats.
PITCHING - Andrew Clauson (2-0, 2.79, 9.2 IP, 8 SO), Max Fearnow (2-1, 4.02, 2 SV, 15.2 IP, 11 SO), Austin Yount (2-0, 4.50, 14.0 IP, 5 SO), Jeffrey Inman (2-2, 6.11, 35.1 IP, 30 SO) and Nolan Gallagher (2-3, 6.69, 37.2 IP, 29 SO) each have two of the team's 13 wins. Inman also co-leads the team in strikeouts along with Jeremy Bleich (1-5, 5.23, 53.1 IP, 30 SO), who also paces the club in innings pitched and starts (9), and also has the lowest ERA among any pitcher with at least one inning pitched per team game played. Gallagher has the team's only complete game and only shutout. David Stringer (0-0, 3.38, 6 SV, 21.1 IP, 15 SO) leads the club with six saves and 16 appearances.

TOUGH STARTS
Stanford started the season with an 0-3 record to mark the first time since 1989 the Cardinal had lost its first three games of the season. The sweep at Cal State Fullerton was also the first time Stanford had been swept in a three-game season-opening series in the school's recorded history. The team was also 2-5 after seven games. The 2-5 start was Stanford's worst mark after seven contests since a 1974 club began the season 2-8. Stanford has also started with an 0-4 league mark after being swept by UCLA in its first Pac-10 series of the season at Sunken Diamond from March 30 - April 1 before being beaten at Arizona State in its most recent contest on April 5. The Cardinal has not started 0-4 in the conference since the first season Mark Marquess was the team's head coach back in 1977 when Stanford began league play 0-6 after suffering back-to-back road sweeps at UCLA and USC.

POWER SHORTAGE
Stanford has hit just 15 home runs this season and had a season-best stretch of four straight games with a homer snapped by not going deep at Arizona State in its most recent game April 5. Ryan Seawell (March 27, at San Jose State), Michael Taylor (March 30 and 31, vs. UCLA) and Joey August (April 1, vs. UCLA) provided the homers during the recent four-game stretch.

MICHAEL TAYLOR PRESEASON HONORS
Michael Taylor earned 2007 Third Team Preseason All-American honors from Baseball America and is also on the Watch List for the College Baseball Foundation's Brooks Wallace Award Watch List. Taylor leads the club in home runs (5), RBI (25), total bases (54) and slugging percentage (.533), while also adding five doubles, two triples and a .297 batting average. After a slow start that had Taylor hitting just .216 after the first nine games, Taylor has hit safely in 14 of his last 16 games, including a career-best 10-game hit streak from February 23 - March 11. Taylor also made 140 consecutive starts (February 4, 2005 - March 31, 2007) before not starting versus UCLA (April 1, 2007) and has started 143 of 145 possible games during his three-year Cardinal career.

ADAM SORGI BACK IN THE LINEUP
Adam Sorgi played his first game in the field since the 2005 season against California on March 4 and has started nine of the 11 games at the position since, including all seven since the Cardinal returned from a 12-day break on March 24. Sorgi, who missed the entire 2006 season with a shoulder injury, has hit safely in each of those nine starts for a current season-high nine-game hit streak that is just two shy of the career-high 11-game hit streak he posted from April 17 - May 9, 2005. He is hitting .406 (13-32) with two doubles, five RBI and nine runs scored during the streak and .366 (14-37) with three doubles, eight RBI and 10 runs scored on the season.

WINNING THE CLOSE ONES
Stanford has a 9-7 record in games decided by three runs or less this season and also won its only extra-inning contest of the season at San Jose State on March 27. The Cardinal is 4-3 in one-run games, as well as 3-2 in two-run contests and 2-2 in three-run affairs.

LONG GAMES
Stanford has clocked in at 3:00 or over in 14 of its first 26 games this season, going 3:41 or more six times including a season-long 4:12 against UCLA on March 31.

CORD PHELPS DOING SOMETHING EXTRA
Cord Phelps co-leads Stanford along with Michael Taylor with 12 extra base hits this season, leading the club in both doubles (9) and triples (3). Last year, all 18 of Phelps' hits were singles.

COMEBACK KIDS
Stanford has come from behind in eight of its 13 wins this season and has managed a respectable 6-6 record when its opponent scores first in a game. Stanford's biggest comeback of the year came versus USC (March 11) when the Cardinal was down 8-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning before scoring four times to the game at 8-8 and six more in the eighth in an eventual 14-9 win.

CAREER-BEST HIT STREAKS
Stanford has had 10 players post career-best hit streaks this season with Joey August (11) leading the way, followed by Michael Taylor (10), Adam Gaylord (8), Brian Juhl (6), Sean Ratliff (6), Toby Gerhart (5), Brent Milleville (5), Brendan Domaracki (4) and Austin Yount (3). Gerhart's is the only streak that is currently active.

SUNDAY SUCCESS
Stanford won six straight Sunday games from February 11 - March 25 before having its run snapped with a loss to UCLA in its most recent Sunday contest on April 1. Stanofrd is 6-2 overall on Sundays in 2007.

SUNKEN DIAMOND - HOME SWEET HOME
Sunken Diamond has served as a host site for 13 NCAA Regionals, as well as NCAA Regionals on five occasions. Stanford has clinched 10 of its 15 trips to the College World Series at Sunken Diamond. Stanford has also made Sunken Diamond a tough place for opponents in recent years, winning at least 17 games at home in each of the last 11 seasons prior to 2007 with an amazing 302-91 (.768) record during the stretch. Stanford is 10-5 at home this season.

2006 STANFORD-ARIZONA STATE GAMES
April 28, 2006 - at Stanford 7, Arizona State 1
Stanford clicked on all cylinders in a 7-1 victory over No. 16 Arizona State in the opener of a three-game Pac-10 series that was televised live nationally by College Sports Television on a warm night at Sunken Diamond. Greg Reynolds tossed the first complete game of the season for the Cardinal and also went the distance for the first time in his collegiate career, while Chris Lewis (4-5, 2B, 3B) and Chris Minaker (3-5, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI) led the offense. Preston Paramore provided Arizona State's only scoring with a solo homer with one out in the fifth inning.
Quote of the Day ... "This is what we're used to with Stanford Baseball. We just got the momentum going tonight and the results were much different than they have been recently." - Greg Reynolds

April 29, 2006 - at Arizona State 11, Stanford 7
No. 16 Arizona State evened a three-game series at Stanford with an 11-7 victory over the Cardinal. Arizona State jumped to an early 6-1 lead and then withstood a Cardinal comeback that closed the margin to 8-7 in the seventh inning on Ryan Seawell's pinch-hit two-run single. The Sun Devils scored three insurance runs in the top of the ninth to open up a four-run lead and then Brett Bordes got Jim Rapoport to pop out on a drag bunt attempt with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to complete a game that lasted four hours and 24 minutes. Ike Davis (2-6, 3 RBI) drove in three runs for Arizona State, while Andrew Romine (3-5, SB) picked up three hits. Rapoport (3-6, 3B, 3 RBI) and Randy Molina (3-5, 2B) had three-hit games for the Cardinal.
Quote of the Day ... "Today was just not a well-played game by either side." - Mark Marquess

April 30, 2006 - at Stanford 11, Arizona State 4
Jim Rapoport's inside-the-park grand slam capped an eight-run fifth inning and lifted Stanford to an 11-4 win over No. 16 Arizona State in the rubber game of a three-game set. The series victory was Stanford's first since taking two-of-three at Fresno State (February 24-26) and snapped the club's five-series losing streak. Chris Minaker (3-5, 2B, 2 RBI) paced the Cardinal offensive attack. Matt Manship gave up just one run and scattered seven hits in 5.0 innings with four strikeouts to get the win in relief.

Quote of the Day ... "I just kept running." - Jim Rapoport on seeing a diving Arizona State centerfielder Colin Curtis fail to come up with the line drive shot that ended up as an inside-the-park grand slam

STANFORD CAREER STATS VERSUS ARIZONA STATE
Joey August (.200, 1-5, RBI)
Jeremy Bleich (0-2, 7.88, 2 APP, 2 GS, 8.0 IP, 11 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 6 BB, 10 SO)
Jason Castro (.167, 2-12, RBI)
Erik Davis (0-0, 2.57, 3 APP, 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 SO)
Brendan Domaracki (.300, 3-10, 2B, RBI)
Grant Escue (.000, 0-1)
Max Fearnow (0-0, 0.00, 1 APP, 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO)
Nolan Gallagher (0-0, 54.00, 2 APP, 0.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB)
Adam Gaylord (.000, 0-2)
Brian Juhl (.167, 1-6)
Brent Milleville (.000, 0-5)
Randy Molina (.444, 4-9, 2B)
Cord Phelps (.222, 2-9, 2 RBI)
Sean Ratliff (.500, 2-4, 2B)
Ryan Seawell (.462, 6-13, 2 RBI)
Adam Sorgi (.333, 6-18, 2 2B, RBI)
Tom Stilson (0-0, 0.00, 1 APP, 0.1 IP, 1 SO)
David Stringer (0-0, 13.50, 1 APP, 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB)
Michael Taylor (.259, 7-27, 3B, 8 RBI)

STANFORD HEAD COACH MARK MARQUESS
One of the nation's premier collegiate coaches and the winningest coach in Stanford Baseball history, Mark Marquess is in his 31st season at the helm of the Cardinal and his 39th associated with the program in 2007. Marquess has won more games than any coach in any sport ever at Stanford with the amazing numbers he has posted during his long tenure on The Farm. Marquess has a 1270-630-5 (.668) all-time record in 1905 career games, as well as equally impressive marks in postseason (112-52, .683), NCAA Regional (68-25, .731), NCAA Super Regional (10-4, .714), CWS (34-23, .596) and Pac-10 (501-331, .602) action. He is currently ranked sixth among all active NCAA Division I coaches in victories and 11th on the all-time list among Division I coaches. Marquess became the 23rd coach in the history of NCAA Division I baseball to reach the 1000-win mark with a victory over Florida State on February 9, 2001. Just over two years later, he picked up win No. 1100 versus Nevada on February 17, 2003. He became the 16th NCAA Division I head baseball coach to win 1200 collegiate games just over another two years after that when the Cardinal defeated California at Sunken Diamond on March 5, 2005. He also won his 100th career postseason game in Stanford's NCAA Super Regional clinching victory over Long Beach State (June 7, 2003). The 1969 Stanford graduate has led the Cardinal to two CWS titles and three runner-up showings in five CWS championship appearances, as well as 13 College World Series trips, five NCAA Super Regional titles, 14 NCAA Regional championships and 12 Pac-10 crowns (includes Southern Division and shared titles). Stanford's two CWS championships under Marquess came in back-to-back fashion in 1987 and 1988 as the Cardinal is just one of four teams to have ever won back-to-back Division I College World Series titles. The three runner-up showings have all come this decade with the Cardinal taking second in Omaha in 2000, 2001 and 2003. Maybe even more amazing, all 13 teams that Marquess has taken to the College World Series have won at least one game. Stanford has qualified for the NCAA Championships 24 times in the first 30 seasons under Marquess with a current school record run of 13 straight appearances in postseason play. He has been named NCAA Coach of the Year three times and has received Pac-10 or Pac-10 Southern Division Coach of the Year honors on nine occasions, most recently with his Pac-10 selection in 2003. The Cardinal has also recorded 29 winning seasons in the first 30 campaigns under his leadership. His clubs have finished either first or second in the prestigious Pacific-10 (formerly Pac-10 Southern Division) 22 times in the last 26 seasons including 2006. Stanford has had 134 players drafted by professional baseball in the past 22 campaigns, including 18 in the last 20 years that were drafted either in the first round or as a Compensation A pick. Stanford has had more first round picks (6) since 2000 than any other school in the nation, most recently with the selection of Greg Reynolds as the No. 2 overall pick in 2006. A member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Marquess was the head coach of the 1988 United States Olympic baseball team that captured the gold medal. He was also an accomplished football and baseball standout on The Farm, and is a member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame. He is one of only 10 people to have ever both played and coached in the College World Series. Marquess was the starting first baseman and a First Team All-American on Stanford's 1967 CWS squad and played four seasons in the minor leagues with the Chicago White Sox organization.

STANFORD COACHING STAFF
Dean Stotz is in his 31st season with Stanford Baseball and his eighth as the team's associate head coach after he was promoted to the position prior to the 2000 season following 23 years of service as an assistant. Stotz currently coaches third base while also handling various offensive and defensive aspects of the game. Tom Kunis is in his eighth season as Stanford's pitching coach, while Dave Nakama is also in his eighth campaign over two stints as an assistant.