April 28, 2008
STANFORD BASEBALL GAME NOTES (April 28, 2008)
NO. 3 STANFORD CARDINAL (25-13-2, 10-5 Pac-10)
at
SANTA CLARA BRONCOS (25-16, 7-5 WCC)
MONDAY'S PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS (5 pm, PT)
TBA vs. TBA
LIVE GAME COVERAGE:
TV: CBS College Sports Network (PxP - Carter Blackburn, Color - Kevin Stocker) | 
Gametracker
STANFORD-SANTA CLARA SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Stanford leads 180-159-7
2008 Results: Stanford 3-1 (April 14), Stanford 13-6 (April 21)
Stanford took the first of four scheduled meetings between the clubs in 2008 as Max Fearnow earned the victory as the first of two relievers with 4.0 shutout innings while Drew Storen recorded the final three outs to earn the save. In April 21's nationally-televised contest, the Cardinal got a grand slam from Brent Milleville and a two-run shot from Randy Molina in a six-run fifth inning that boosted the Cardinal to a 13-6 win.
2007 Results: (at Santa Clara, March 6, May 15) Santa Clara 13-5, Stanford 14-4; (at Stanford, April 17, May 1) Santa Clara 6-3, Santa Clara 16-8
Santa Clara won the first three meetings between the squads before the Cardinal managed to avoid a season sweep by taking the final game. Santa Clara ended a season-long eight-game win streak for the Cardinal the first time the teams played, while the Stanford win was one of the nine the team won over its final 10 games to end the season.
Current Game Win Streak: Stanford - 3 (May 15, 2007 - April 21, 2008)
Current Series Win Streak: Stanford - 8 (February 9-11, 1996 - January 25-26, 2003)
Current Season Series Win Streak: Santa Clara - 1 (2007)
Series Notes: Stanford has won the last three games between the teams but Santa Clara has won two of the last three season series. The Cardinal can clinch this season's series with a win tonight.
PAC-10 UPDATE
Stanford Tied Atop Pac-10 With Nine Contests Remaining - Stanford is currently tied with Arizona State atop the Pac-10 standings after the weekend of April 25-27. The Cardinal captured two of three from USC, but the Sun Devils' sweep of California enabled them to pull even as the teams sport identical 10-5 Pac-10 records. The Cardinal started league play with two-of-three series victories at home over Washington State and Arizona State before going on the road with the same results at Oregon State and UCLA. Oregon State moved into third place at 8-7 after taking two of three against Arizona. UCLA sits fourth at 6-6, while there is a three-team logjam in the No. 5 spot, with Arizona, California, and USC all at 7-8. Washington (5-7) and Washington State (3-9) round out the standings.
NOTES
Castro's Big Weekend - Junior C Jason Castro turned in a productive offensive week as Stanford went 4-1 in its five-game stretch. Castro batted .550 (11-for-20) over his five starts, with a triple and his ninth home run of the season. The big hits helped him drive in eight runs, and the junior scored 10 runs of his own while drawing three walks, slugging .800 and posting a .577 on-base percentage for the week. Castro was so zoned in at the plate that in his 26 plate appearances last week, he did not strike out once. Stanford Stays In Top 10 - Stanford moved up two spots to No. 3 in the latest Baseball America poll and stayed at No. 5 in the Rivals.com poll released on Monday, April 28. In the other most recent polls released on April 21, Stanford moved up two spots to No. 11 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings, hopped four spots to No. 12 on the USA Today/ESPN list and are No. 22 in the NCBWA poll, which has not updated as of press time. Marquess 10th On All-Time NCAA Division I Win List - Mark Marquess ranks 10th on the all-time win list for NCAA Division I coaches with an all-time record of 1310-658-7 (.665) over 1975 games. Marquess' current win total (all at Stanford) also ranks him sixth among active coaches. Yount Hurts Trojans With Arm And Bat - RHP Austin Yount turned in his best outing of the season in Friday night's series opener against USC, shutting out the Trojans for 7.1 innings, allowing only three hits and walking a pair while striking out one. The superb outing evened Yount's season record at 2-2 and lowered his ERA to 1.88. Yet that wasn't the only way in which Yount hurt the Trojans over the weekend. As Stanford's DH Saturday and Sunday, Yount batted .429 (3-for-7) with a double and five RBI, boosting his season average to .362. Runs, Runs, Runs - The Cardinal offense brought the thunder last week, scoring 59 runs over its five games, highlighted by an incredible output of 26 runs in Saturday's 26-5 win against USC. That total was the second-most that the Cardinal had scored over the last 50 seasons, behind only a 28-3 victory over San Francisco on Jan. 31, 1983. Milleville Brings 'Em Home - Junior 1B Brent Milleville turned in a fine week of his own at the plate, batting .500 (7-for-14) with a grand slam, three doubles, and 11 RBI in four games. Last Monday night at Santa Clara, Milleville went 2-for-4 with a fifth-inning grand slam that keyed Stanford's 13-6 comeback win, then on Wednesday, he provided the eventual game-winning hit once more, lacing a bases-loaded double to right-center that provided the Cardinal with a 7-4 lead that would hold up in the win over Saint Mary's. He then went 3-for-4 with two doubles and drove in three runs in Friday's 4-0 win against USC. Saving A 21-Run Victory - Stanford fans were treated to one of the more humorous parts of the baseball rulebook after Saturday's 26-5 victory over USC. Freshman RHP Danny Sandbrink, in accordance with the rulebook, pitched three effective innings of relief to end the contest, allowing just two unearned runs on five hits and striking out three batters to earn his first career save. Home Field 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 325-108 (.751) 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 a 16-8 start in its first 24 home games of 2008. Series Win Streak Extended To 12 In A Row - Stanford extended its string of regular season three-game series victories to 12 dating back to the final three series of 2007 by winning the first two games of its most recent series at home against USC (April 25-27). 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 has also won seven straight Pac-10 series to tie its longest conference series win streak, when it took seven league series in a row during the same run of 15 straight overall. Starting Rotation Pitching Well - Stanford's three primary starters have pitched well in 2008. Erik Davis (7-1, 3.75, 62.1 IP, 65 SO) struggled early but has been unbelievable of late with four consecutive complete games from March 29-April 19, and victories in each of his last six starts, combining for a 6-0 record and a 2.57 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 49.0 innings. Jeffrey Inman (5-2, 3.40, 39.2 IP, 22 SO) had won four straight starts and given up just two earned runs over 24.2 frames during the period before suffering losses in his past two starts against UCLA and USC. Jeremy Bleich (2-2, 1.38, 26.0 IP, 18 SO) 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. Avoiding Big Losing Streaks - Stanford has not lost more than two consecutive games all season. Busy Schedule - Stanford is 27 games into a stretch of 29 contests over a 37-day period from March 21 - April 30. Fifth All-Time Winningest Program - Stanford is the fifth all-time winningest program in college baseball history with a record of 2542-1591-34 (.614) in 4167 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, while winning at least one game in every CWS appearance. 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 4.14 ERA that is 1.87 points better than the 6.01 the team recorded as the highest mark in school history in 2007. The Cardinal's .973 fielding percentage is 10 points ahead of last year's .963 and only .004 points shy of the school record .977. Day And Night - Stanford has been significantly better this season during the day (16-5-2) than at night (9-8). Better Against The Best - Stanford is 8-3-1 against ranked squads (according to Baseball America at the time of the game) and 17-10-1 versus teams not in the Baseball America poll at the time of the game. Five Two-Way Players On The Roster - Stanford has five two-way players listed on the roster in Brendan Domaracki (OF/RHP), Michael Marshall (1B/RHP), Sean Ratliff (OF/LHP), Drew Storen (RHP/3B) and Austin Yount (3B/RHP). Ratliff and Yount have both already contributed on the mound and at the plate. Domaracki has played but yet to pitch, while Storen and Marshall have both pitched but are yet to play a position or hit. Huge Roster And Pitching Staff - Stanford has 45 players on its 2008 roster with 23 of those listed as either a pitcher or a two-way player. Stanford may need a lot of depth, especially on the mound, in the first year of college baseball's condensed season as the Cardinal is still scheduled to play 56 regular season games in approximately three weeks less time than the club has in the past. 2008 Honors - Stanford's Erik Davis, Cord Phelps and Sean Ratliff have already received 2008 honors. Ratliff is on the 2008 Wallace Award Watch List and was also named the Pac-10 Player of the Week on April 7. Phelps was selected as the Stanford Muscle-Milk Student-Athlete of the Week on April 15, while Davis was named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week on April 22. Honors Candidates - Stanford has many players worthy of honors consideration in 2008. Jason Castro, Erik Davis, Jeffrey Inman Randy Molina, Cord Phelps and Sean Ratliff have all been nominated for NCBWA All-American recognition. Rookies Making Case For Freshmen All-American Honors - Stanford has had a total of 14 freshmen play over the first 40 games with three making legitimate noise for Freshman All-American consideration. Reliever Drew Storen (1-2, 2.97, 4 SV, 33.1 IP, 34 SO) arguably has the best case to be considered among the nation's top freshmen. Storen paces the team in both saves and appearances (18). Zach Jones (.279, 3 HR, 22 RBI, 8 SB) and Jake Schlander (.218, 16 RBI, 2 SB) have made the biggest impact among position players and are not far behind Storen in worthiness of a spot on Freshmen All-American squads. The duo has spent nearly the entire season as the team's left side of the infield with Schlander starting all 40 of the team's games at shortstop and Jones making 37 starts (36 at third base). Although Schlander has struggled offensively, he has made just six errors in the field in 157 defensive chances for a .963 fielding percentage as the team's shortstop. Ben Clowe (.318, 2 HR, 6 RBI) has also started to make an impact offensively and had a recent career-high five-game hit streak that included a double, two homers, five RBI and a .400 (6-15) batting average from April 12-18. Two Unfinished Games Officially Ruled Ties - Non-conference games against Saint Mary's on March 5 in Moraga and California on April 7 in Berkeley have both officially been ruled as ties. Neither game was able to be completed due to darkness. The Stanford-Saint Mary's contest was tied 7-7 after nine innings, while the Stanford-California game was knotted up at 5-5 after 13 frames. Next Up - Following Monday night's game at Santa Clara, the Cardinal will travel to UC Davis for a Wednesday afternoon contest at 2:30 p.m., then stay local for a two-game, home-and-home series against San Jose State beginning with a 1 p.m. contest Saturday, May 3 at Klein Field, and concluding with a 1 p.m. contest at San Jose Municipal Stadium on May 4. Catch The Cardinal On The Tube - Stanford will have one more upcoming regular season game televised following Monday's televised contest at Santa Clara. The Stanford-California series finale on Sunday, May 11 (1 pm, PT) will be televised live locally by Comcast SportsNet.