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No. 10 Stanford And Oregon State To Play Rubber Game Sunday

No. 10 Stanford And Oregon State To Play Rubber Game Sunday

Complete Game Notes In PDF Format Get Acrobat Reader

STANFORD BASEBALL GAME NOTES (April 13, 2008)

NO. 10 STANFORD CARDINAL (16-11-1, 5-3 Pac-10)
at
OREGON STATE (16-11, 4-4 Pac-10

SUNDAY'S PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS (1:00 pm, PT)
TBA vs. TBA
LIVE GAME COVERAGE:
TV: None | audio.gif Stanford Gametracker | audio.gifOregon State Audio (Mike Parker) | Oregon State Gamewatcher | camera.gifOregon State Webcast

STANFORD-OREGON STATE SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Stanford 37-25
2008 Results: (at Oregon State, April 11-12) Oregon State 10-9 (10), Stanford 6-4
John Wallace singled home Jason Ogata with one out in the bottom of the 10th for the winning run in the opening game of the series in a contest that featured five home runs with Oregon State blasting three and the Cardinal hitting a pair. Stanford evened the series Saturday when Erik Davis pitched his third consecutive complete game, while Cord Phelps homered and drove in three, including the game-winner on a ninth inning RBI single that snapped a 4-4 tie.2007 Results: (at Stanford, April 27-29) Oregon State 13-7, Stanford 9-7 (11), Oregon State (8-6)
Oregon State scored three times in top of the first in the opener and never trailed in the nationally televised CSTV game despite being outhit, 14-8. Michael Taylor blasted a three-run walkoff homer with two outs in the bottom of the 11th to give Stanford a dramatic 9-7 win in the middle game. Oregon State led 8-3 late in the rubber game and had to hold off a late Cardinal rally for an 8-6 victory.
Previous Meeting At Oregon State: (at Stanford, April 13-14, 16, 2006) Oregon State 3-0, Oregon State 1-0, Oregon State 12-1 (7); (NCAA Corvallis Super Regional, June 10-11, 2006) Oregon State 4-3, Oregon State 15-0
Oregon State made life miserable for Stanford on a pair of trips to Corvallis in 2006, sweeping all five games between the clubs. The Beavers limited the Cardinal to just one run while sweeping a three-game regular season series before ending Stanford's season with a two-game NCAA Super Regional sweep on their way to the first of two back-to-back College World Series titles.
Current Game Win Streak: Stanford - 1 (April 12, 2008)
Current Series Win Streak: Oregon State - 4 (April 9-10, 2005 - April 27-29, 2007)
Current Season Series Win Streak: Oregon State - 3 (2005-07)
Series Notes: Although Stanford leads the all-time series, 36-24, Oregon State has won 10 of the last 13 games between the clubs since Stanford last defeated the Beavers in a series by taking two-of-three at Oregon State from April 8-10, 2004. The Beavers had also won six in a row over the Cardinal at Oregon State before Saturday's Stanford victory.

PAC-10 UPDATE
Stanford Moves Back Into Tie For First In Pac-10 - Stanford moved back into a tie with Arizona State for first place in the Pac-10 on Saturday when the Cardinal won at Oregon State and the Sun Devils fell at Washington State. USC, which has won the first two games of its current series versus California, has moved into third place with a 6-5 record just a half-game back of the league leaders. Four teams -- California (4-4), Oregon State (4-4), Washington (3-3) and UCLA (3-3) -- are tied for fourth just one game back of Stanford and Arizona State. Washington State (3-5) and Arizona (3-6) are in eighth and ninth, respectively.

NOTES
Stanford Back In Top 10 - Stanford moved up three spots to No. 10 in the latest Baseball America poll released on Monday, April 7, after taking two-of-three from No. 1 Arizona State at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond from April 4-6. The Cardinal dominated action in the final two games of the series (12-2, 10-2) after dropping a 6-4 heartbreaker in 10 innings Friday evening. Stanford is actually ranked as high as No. 8 in the nation by Rivals.com. The Cardinal is also ranked No. 15 by USA Today/ESPN, No. 17 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 28 by the NCBWA.
Tough Luck In Extra Innings - Stanford has played four extra inning ball games in its last seven contests and is 0-3-1 in those four games versus Arizona State (6-4 loss in 10 innings), at California (5-5 tie in 13 innings), against UC Davis (9-8 loss in 12 innings) and at Oregon State (10-9 in 10 innings). Stanford had not played an extra inning game prior in 2008 prior to the Arizona State game.
Marquess Takes Sole Possession Of 10th Place - Mark Marquess won his 1301st career game on April 12 when Stanford won 6-4 at Oregon State. The victory moved Marquess into a sole possession of 10th place on the all-time win list for NCAA Division I coaches. Marquess' current win total (all at Stanford) also ranks him sixth among active coaches.
Stanford Looking For 10th Straight Series Win Sunday - Stanford can extended its current string of regular season three-game series victories to 10 dating back to the final three series of 2007 with a victory at Oregon State on Sunday. The current streak is Stanford's longest regular season three-game series win streak since the Cardinal won 15 straight regular season three-game series from May 3, 2003 - May 4, 2004.
Stanford Perfect On Several Accounts - Stanford has yet to suffer a loss on the weekend with a perfect 11-0 mark as the Cardinal is 7-0 on Saturdays and 4-0 on Sundays. Stanford has also not lost in a rubber game (5-0) or a three-game series finale (6-0).
Home Advantage - Stanford has had a nice home field advantage at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond throughout the years. The facility has served as a host site for 13 NCAA Regionals, as well as NCAA Super Regionals on five occasions. Stanford has clinched 10 of its 15 trips to the CWS at Sunken Diamond. Stanford has had 43 consecutive winning seasons at home and recorded at least 17 home wins in each of its last 12 campaigns with an amazing 320-107 (.749) home mark over the last 12-plus seasons. Stanford has never had a losing season at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond in the school's recorded history. The Cardinal is off to an 11-7 start in its first 18 home games of 2008.
Avoiding Big Losing Streaks - Stanford has not lost more than two consecutive games all season.
Busy Schedule - Stanford is 16 games into a stretch where the Cardinal will play 29 contests over a 37-day period from March 21 - April 30.
Starting Rotation Pitching Well - Stanford's three primary starters have pitched well in 2008. Jeremy Bleich (2-2, 1.38) equaled his win total in all of 2007 with victories in each of his first two outings of 2008. Although Bleich has suffered two losses and a no decision in his last three starts, his ERA has actually gone down 81 points in those three starts as only one of the 12 runs scored against him was earned. Erik Davis (5-1, 4.37) struggled early but has been excellent in his last four starts, combining for a 4-0 record and a 2.91 ERA with a current stretch of three consecutive complete games and 32 strikeouts in 34.0 innings. Jeffrey Inman (4-0, 1.80, 30.0 IP, 18 SO) has given up just two runs in his last three starts over 18.1 frames, scattering 19 hits with 13 strikeouts over the stretch.
Freshmen Making Their Mark - Stanford has had a total of 14 freshmen play over the first 27 games. Zach Jones (.263, 2 HR, 16 RBI, 6 SB) and Jake Schlander (.200, 13 RBI, 2 SB) have made the biggest impact among position players with Jones starting 25 of the last 26 games and Schlander starting all 28. Although Schlander has struggled offensively, he has made just two errors in the field in 109 defensive chances for a .982 fielding percentage as the team's shortstop. Drew Storen (1-2, 3.42, 2 SV, 23.2 IP, 24 SO) has arguably been the team's top reliever and co-leads the club with two saves and 11 appearances. Alex Pracher (0-1, 10.03, 1 SV, 11.2 IP, 10 SO) has also been used a team-high-tying 11 times.
Fifth All-Time Winningest Program - Stanford is the fifth all-time winningest program in college baseball history with a record of 2534-1589-34 (.614) in 4157 games over 115-plus seasons. Stanford has won two College World Series titles in its 15 trips to Omaha and finished second on three other occasions. The Cardinal has added five NCAA Super Regional titles, 14 NCAA Regional crowns and 20 conference championships.
Stringer Nearing All-Time Save List - David Stringer has 10 career saves and is now just one shy of tying Aaron Dorlarque (1989-92) for 10th place.
Significantly Better Pitching And Fielding In 2008 - Stanford has had much better pitching and fielding numbers in 2008. Stanford has recorded a 4.35 ERA that is 1.66 points better than the 6.01 the team recorded as the worst mark in school history in 2007. The Cardinal's .975 fielding percentage is 12 points ahead of last year's .963 and only .002 points shy of the school record .977.
Sean Ratliff On Wallace Award Watch List - Sean Ratliff is currently on the Wallace Award Watch List for the honor given annually by the College Baseball Foundation to the top college player in the nation. Ratliff is hitting .314 with team-highs of nine homers and 30 RBI, as well as three stolen bases in his first 27 contests of 2008.
Day And Night - Stanford has been better this season at day (13-3-1) than at night (3-8).
Better Against The Best - Stanford is 8-3-1 against ranked squads (according to Baseball America at the time of the game) and just 8-8 versus teams not in the Baseball America poll at the time of the game.
Road Stretch - Stanford started a stretch of seven games on the road in nine contests with its matchup with Oregon State on April 11. After wrapping up its current series at Oregon State on Sunday, Stanford will host a pair of non-conference contests against Santa Clara (Monday, April 14, 6 pm, PT) and San Francisco (Wednesday, April 16, 6 pm, PT). The Cardinal will then go back out on the road to UCLA (Friday-Sunday, April 18-20, 6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PT) and Santa Clara (Monday, April 21, 5 pm, PT) with the Broncos' game being televised live nationally by CBS College Sports.