April 4, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Leading Off
• The No. 11-ranked Cardinal (13-7, 2-1 Pac-10) will return home briefly for a Tuesday affair with San Jose State (19-8) at 5:30 p.m., before getting back on the road to face USC (10-18, 2-4 Pac-10) in Los Angeles for games at 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. With the conclussion of the USC series, Stanford will have played five of its first six weekend series on the road. National Player of the Week Lonnie Kauppila was 15-for-20 last week, while Kenny Diekroeger, Stanford’s leading hitter, extended his hit streak to 14 games. All home games will be webcast on CBS College Sports’ All-Access paid service through the gostanford.com website. All games will be on KZSU, kzsu.stanford.edu and on your iPhone by downloading the Stanford App and then listening to KZSU.
San Jose State - Stanford Series
(April 5 at Sunken Diamond, May 3 at Municipal Stadium)
• Series: Stanford 95-36-0 (since 1959); Last: Stanford 2-0
• Since 1959, Stanford leads the all-time series 95-36. Stanford has won 22 of the last 26 meetings between the two clubs including a 10-7 win at Sunken Diamond and 8-3 win at Municipal Stadium in 2010.
About the Spartans
• Sam Piraro’s Spartans are 19-8 on the season, opening up WAC play this weekend with top-10 Fresno State. SJSU enters the week having won seven of 11, including a weekend series at UC Santa Barbara last weekend. The county rivals are fielding at a .980 clip with a 4.15 team ERA and .274 batting average. Closer Zach Jones (no relation to Stanford’s catcher) has a 1.96 ERA over 11 appearances. Infielder Danny Stienstra is hitting a robust .398 with 21 runs, 26 RBIs and 10 doubles, while Jones is chipping in with a .350 average and 16 RBIs.
Stanford in the Rankings
• Stanford is ranked as high as No. 11 this week in Baseball America, No. 18 in Collegiate Baseball and No. 20 in the Coaches Poll. Stanford began the season No. 10 and moved up to No. 8 on February 21. Stanford’s RPI according to boydsworld to begin the week is 8.
1400 Wins for Marquess
• With the win on Sunday, April 3, Stanford’s Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball Mark Marquess won his 1400th career game, becoming the ninth skipper in NCAA history to reach that milestone. He enters the week with a record of 1400-726-7. Five other 1400-win coaches remain active-- Gordie Gillespie at St. Francis (Ill.) is the overall leader with 1852 wins entering the 2011 season, followed by Augie Garrido (Texas, 1768 wins), Gene Stephenson (Wichita State, 1724) and Mike Martin (Florida State, 1627).
One Impressive Week for Lonnie
• Second baseman Lonnie Kauppila was named Collegiate Baseball’s National Player of the Week and the Pac-10’s Player of the Week after an incredible .750 batting average last week. He entered last week batting .196 and ended the week ranking second on the team (and sixth in the Pac-10) at .364. Kauppila went 15-for-20 against Saint Mary’s and at Washington State, going 4-for-6 against the Gaels and 11-for-14 in Pullman. Kauppila had six hits in Saturday’s 22-3 win and three more in the opener. He also scored eight runs.
Cardinal Win Wild Series in Pullman
• No. 11-ranked Stanford (13-7, 2-1 Pac-10) won its Pac-10 opening series for the eighth time in 11 years, coming back after surrendering eight runs in the eighth inning on Friday to take the final two games of the series at Washington State (L 8-10, W 22-3, W 4-3). On Friday, Stanford built an 8-0 lead for Mark Appel, who gave up two runs over 7.0 innings with a carer-best seven strikeouts. Appel left with an 8-2 lead, as relievers A.J. Vanegas, Scott Snodgress and closer Chris Reed surrendered eight in the eighth. A three-run, two-out homer by Derek Jones off of Reed capped the inning. On Saturday it was all Cardinal-- as Brian Ragira drove in seven, Lonnie Kauppila had six hits and Austin Wilson drove in another four, more than enough for Jordan Pries to win his fourth with a season-best seven strikeouts over 7.0 innings with two runs. After Stanford went up 16-1, a 33-minute snow delay occurred, before Stanford answered with another five runs to score 20 or more runs for the first time since 2008. On Sunday, Stanford went up 4-0 before four errors led to three runs. Chris Reed though induced a double play to end the eighth and then pitched a perfect ninth to rebound after a tough Friday night. The starting trio combined for a 1.74 ERA over 20.2 innings. The win on Sunday was Mark Marquess’ 1400th, as he is the ninth skipper to reach that milestone. Dean McArdle struck out a career-best six over 6.2 innings on Sunday.
Cardinal Take 16-14 Win Over Saint Mary’s
• It wasn’t pretty, but Stanford came away with its fifth midweek win, 16-14 over Saint Mary’s, suriving seven and five run rallies by the Gaels in the seventh and ninth innings. In the seventh alone, SMC erased a seven-run lead to close to within 10-9, before Stanford scored six times to lead 16-9. Four of the Cardinal’s six errors came in the ninth, leading to five more runs as Scott Snodgress got the save with the final two outs. Jake Stewart drove in four, Stephen Piscotty three, as Stanford had a season-high 16 runs, 19 hits and six errors.
Nice Opening Day Around the Bigs
• Stanford had six players on opening day rosters with three of those players having nice first games. John Mayberry, Jr. had the game-winning hit for the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth, Carlos Quentin drove in five runs for the White Sox and Jeremy Guthrie picked up the win for the Orioles with eight scoreless innings. Other Major Leaguers included: Sam Fuld (Rays), Jed Lowrie (Red Sox) and Drew Storen (Nationals).
Return to Los Angeles
• Eight players are from the Los Angeles area-- Eric Smith (La Canada), Brant Whiting (Fullerton), Trevor Penny (Rancho Palo Verdes), Austin Wilson (Los Angeles), Lonnie Kauppila (Glendale), Chris Reed (Reseda), A.J. Talt (Pasadena) and Tommy Colton (Newport Beach).
Starting Trio
• Last weekend in Pullman, Stanford starters, Mark Appel (6.2 IP, 2 ER), Jordan Pries (6.2 IP, 2 ER) and Dean McArdle (7.0 IP, 0 ER) combined for a 1.74 ERA over 20.2 innings. Appel and Pries both struck out seven, McArdle six, as both Appel and McArdle set career-highs in strikeouts.
Jones Breaks Out
• Senior catcher Zach Jones has been solid defensively all season, throwing out nine would-be base stealers to enter the week. This past week, the offense began to click. Jones drove in all nine of his runs, which included back-to-back days with three-run home runs at WSU.
Diekroeger Rides Another Streak
• Shortstop Kenny Diekroeger enters the week on a 14-game hit streak, the second-longest in his career and most since he hit in 23-straight as the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. Diekroeger leads the club with a .422 average with a team-best 12 multi-hit games. He ranks second in the league in batting and fifth in on-base.
Wilson Begins to Heat Up
• Freshman Austin Wilson, following a 6-for-12 first weekend, saw his average dip to .250 before his latest stretch. Wilson is on a current nine-game hit streak to raise his average to .316.
Ragira Adds Them Up
• Freshman first baseman Brian Ragira is coming off a seven RBI day on Saturday at Washington State, helping the Arlington, Texas native lead the club in RBIs, entering the week, at 21. Ragira is batting .311 overall and has made just one error at first, a position he is playing for the first time after being a prep outfielder and third baseman. On March 5, Ragira was hitting .207. Ragira on March 22 hit for the cycle, producing five hits.
Serious Road Warriors
• With just one home series, LBSU, last weekend, Stanford will play five of its first six weekends on the road, playing in Texas twice, Tennessee, Southern California and Washington. After USC, the Cardinal will host Oregon State (April 15-17), UCLA (April 21-23) and Washington (May 6-8) from mid-April to mid-May.
Still Undefeated
• Sophomore Dean McArdle, who went 5-0 as a freshman last season, has continued his late push to remain one of the team’s weekend starters. McArdle enters his Sunday start at USC at 4-0 with a team-best 2.13 ERA following 6.2 innnings with a career-best six strikeouts on Sunday.
Consecutive Win Streaks Since 1996
Wayne, 16 1999-2000
Romanczuk, 12 2003
Guthrie, 11 2001-02
Iglesias, 10 1996
Cunningham, 10 2001-02
Romanczuk, 9 2004
Austin, 9 1998
MCARDLE, 9 2010-Pres.
Bruksch, 8 2002
Young, 8 2000
Hudgins, 8 2002
Top Rated Class
• For the first time in the history of Baseball America’s 11-year annual recruiting survey, Stanford Baseball had the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class. This year’s class is headlined by Los Angeles outfielder Austin Wilson, Texas utility player Brian Ragira, San Lorenzo righthander A.J. Vanegas and Burbank infielder Lonnie Kauppila. This year’s top class, adds to the No. 2 ranked class a year ago that featured Kenny Diekroeger, Stephen Piscotty, Jake Stewart and Mark Appel. Collegiate Baseball rated this year’s class No. 11.
From the Diamond to a Degree
• Stanford academics and athletics continues to rank amongst the nation’s elite as Stanford Baseball, with an academic progress report number of 985, was ranked in the top-10 percent of all Division-I baseball programs. Some Cardinal Major Leaguers who have earned their degrees include: Gold Glove catcher Bob Boone, Cy Young Award winner Jack McDowell, All Star Mike Mussina, Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr., former manager A.J. Hinch and long-time Major Leaguers Mike Aldrete and Jeffrey Hammonds.
Smart at the Top
• Of the 12 Major Leaguers in 2010, nine earned their degrees with Jason Castro and Drew Storen, both on pace to earn their degrees as well. An A1 feature in the San Jose Mercury News on February 28, featured both newly minted Major Leaguers. A Wall Street Journal report said that only two dozen Major Leaguers had earned their degrees in 2010. Jed Lowrie finished up his degree the last week of February giving the Cardinal nine of 12 Major Leaguers.
Professional Development
• The 2010 season saw the debuts of Drew Storen (Nationals) and Jason Castro (Astros), the retiring of eight-year veteran and former MLB pitcher Mike Gosling and the return to form for former Major Leaguers Greg Reynolds (Rockies) and Jed Lowrie (Red Sox). Two future stars also continued to move up the charts in Indians infielder Cord Phelps and A’s outfielder Michael Taylor as both former Cardinal stars finished the year in Triple-A. Stanford had a dozen players in the Majors in 2010 given them 86 all-time. Marquess has coached 52 Major Leaguers since 1977 (53 have made the Majors with current White Sox GM Kenny Williams only playing football at Stanford).
Tickets Available
• Tickets for the team’s home games are available at www.gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD.
Two-Sport Tradition
• Including Heisman runner-up Toby Gerhart (running back and outfielder), current head coach Mark Marquess (who was a quarterback, defensive back and punt returner) and NFL Hall of Famer John Elway (and outfielder and quarterback), the Cardinal have had a number of great two-sport stars. One of the first was Ernie Nevers, who starred for the Cardinal in the early part of the 20th Centruy. That list has included: Major League pitcher Joe Borchard (also a QB), NFL and MLB player Chad Hutchinson (RHP and QB), 1940s Major Leaguer Lloyd Merriman, Brian Johnson (QB) and John Lynch (QB and RHP). Orange Bowl Champion and backup running back Tyler Gaffney is the latest two-sport athlete.