Cardinal Welcomes USC

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Stanford will have seven straight games on the Pac-12 Networks beginning with a three-game series against USC at Sunken Diamond, Friday-Sunday.

Series History

 All-time vs. USC: 151-143-2 (.512)
First meeting in 1959 | Streak: USC, 1
Last Series: L (1-0); W (3-2); L (2-0) at Los Angeles, Calif. (May 8-10, 2015)

• USC has won this series the last two years, but Stanford won the two previous series.
• USC won two of three in its last visit to Sunken Diamond.
• Stanford is 4-5 against USC since Dan Hubbs became head coach of the Trojans in 2013.

• Outfielder Quinn Brodey is 5-for-9 (.556) in three career games against the Trojans.
• Shortstop Tommy Edman is 5-of-15 (.333) with three walks and no strikeouts in six games.
• Saturday starter Chris Castellanos allowed just on run in six innings, but took a loss to USC last year. He also had three strikeouts and allowed just one hit and one walk.
• In two career starts against USC, Brett Hanewich is 0-1 with a 0.75 ERA (1 ER in 12.0 inn).
• In 6.2 career innings vs. the Trojans (one start, one relief appearance), Chris Viall has allowed one run (1.50 ERA) and one hit, and has struck out six.

We're No. 1

• The Cardinal has allowed the fewest runs in the nation this year (54).
• Stanford pitching also leads the Pac-12 in ERA (2.40), fielding percentage (.986), opposing batting average (.208), and fewest hits (127), walks (56), doubles (20), triples (2) and home runs (2) allowed.
• Most of those numbers aren’t even close:
   ...Stanford’s ERA is a half-run better than the Pac-12’s second-best staff, Cal (2.90).
   ...Stanford has allowed 25 fewer runs than No. 2 Oregon (79).
   ...Cardinal has allowed just 24 extra-base hits this year. Every other team in the Pac-12 has allowed at least 35.
   ...Stanford has allowed nearly 100 fewer hits than USC (208).

Stanford Stats

• Stanford is No. 2 in the nation in fielding percentage (.986). The Cardinal have made the fewest errors in the country (295 teams) with just 10 in the first 19 games.
• Stanford is also No. 6 in the NCAA in WHIP (1.06).
• Stanford has held its opponent to two or fewer runs in 11 of its 12 wins.
• The Cardinal is 8-1 this year when scoring first and 6-0 when hitting a home run.

Stanford Streaks

• Junior catcher Alex Dunlap reached base in his first nine games—that’s the longest streak of the season for a Stanford player.
• Quinn Brodey’s active six-game hit streak is the longest of the season for a Cardinal.
• Matt Winaker and Jack Klein also have reached base in six straight games (longest
this season for a Cardinal is a nine-game stretch by Alex Dunlap.
• Junior shortstop Tommy Edman has played in 108 straight games (started 105 in a row).
• Three-game sweep of Kansas was Stanford’s first since May 24-25, 2015 at Utah.

🚀 #BrodeyBlast

A video posted by Stanford Baseball (@stanfordbsb) on Mar 25, 2016 at 9:44pm PDT

Closing the Door

• Stanford’s bullpen has an ERA of 1.70 and opponents are hitting just .192.
• The reserves also have 80 strikeouts (compared to just 30 walks and 50 hits) in 74.0 inn.
• Tyler Thorne has not surrendered an ER in nine appearances (12.1 innings).
• Stanford is 11-0 when leading after seven innings this season.

Fab Freshmen

• Tristan Beck leads the team in wins (4), Nico Hoerner has started every game and leads the team in batting average (.306), Duke Kinamon and Brandon Wulff started all three games against Kansas with slugging percentages of .556 and 1.250, respectively.
• Beck became the second Stanford freshman to start Opening Day since Mike Mussina in 1988 (teammate Cal Quantrill was the other in 2014).
• In all, head coach Mark Marquess added 11 freshmen in his latest recruiting class.
• Three pitchers (one lefty), four infielders, three outfielders and a catcher. Six are from the homestate of California, three from Georgia and one apiece from Colorado & Nevada.

Pac-12 Pitchers of the Week

• Stanford won the first two Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week awards this season.
• Colton Hock earned the award on March 1 after throwing 5.2 scoreless innings in relief in the longest recorded shut out in the program’s history (since 1959)—Stanford won at #23 Texas, 1-0 in 12 innings, on Feb. 25. Hock finished with a career-high eight strikeouts and allowed just three hits.
• Tristan Beck earned the conference honor in the first week—he was the first Stanford hurler to win the award since 2013 MLB first overall pick Mark Appel in May of 2013.

2016 Schedule

• 54 regular season games, 30 at Klein Field.
• More than half of the schedule (30/55, 54.5%) is against 2015 tournament teams.
• Cal (5), Texas (4), Cal St. Fullerton (3), UCLA (3), USC (3), Oregon (3), Oregon State (3), Arizona State (3), Vanderbilt (3).
• Though the Top 25 rankings vary, each has included at least 20+ games for Stanford against Top 25 opponents.
• 11-day break from March 7-17 for finals.
• Longest homestand was seven games and 20 days long (March 1-20).
• Longest road swing is four games (four times).
• First 11 games were played in 13 days.
• Eighteen Stanford baseball games will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks in 2016.

Last Time Out

• Stanford took two of three against Washington State at Sunken Diamond, but fell on a walk-off Monday night at San Jose State.
• Several early missed opportunities led to a 5-2 extra-inning defeat in the Pac-12 opener against Washington State on Thursday. Stanford placed a runner on third in five of the first six innings, but did not score. Starter Brett Hanewich did not surrender a hit until the fifth inning, and did not allow a baserunner into scoring position until the seventh. The Cougars scored two in the seventh. Stanford tied it in the eighth. WSU won with three in the tenth.

Beck's 10 Strikeouts vs. WSU

Freshman Tristan Beck -- first Cardinal in nearly two years with double-digit strikeouts. Here's all 10 from Friday's 6-1 win over Washington State #GoStanfordRecap, stats and Beck's final line » http://stanford.io/1RrtcIx

Posted by Stanford Baseball on Friday, March 25, 2016

• On Friday night, freshman Tristan Beck threw another gem to give Stanford a 6-1 win. He became the first Cardinal with 10 strikeouts in a game since Cal Quantrill in May of 2014. Freshman Nico Hoerner had two hits, and sophomore Quinn Brodey added a two-run home run and the Cardinal evened the series with its first Pac-12 win of the year.
• On Saturday, Chris Castellanos combined with three relievers to shut out the Cougars, 5-0.
• On Monday, Stanford led 5-2 before the Spartans scored four in the seventh. The Cardinal scored four in the ninth to take a three-run lead, but SJSU answered with four runs to win.

Up Next

• Stanford plays at home for all but two mid-week games between March 1-April 5.
• Stanford’s overnight trip at UCLA, April 7-9, will be its first since Feb. 25-28 at Texas.