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Bob Drebin / isiphotos.com
Baseball

Ducks on The Farm

STANFORD, Calif. – No. 3 Stanford welcomes Pac-12 foe Oregon to Sunken Diamond for a three-game series, starting Thursday at 6 p.m. PT.

The Cardinal (18-2 overall, 3-0 Pac-12) started conference play with a dominant 3-0 sweep of USC last week on The Farm. Stanford outscored the Trojans 34-2 in the sweep, extending its home Pac-12 win streak to 10.

Thursday and Friday's contest will start at 6 p.m. PT with Saturday's finale set for 1 p.m. Live streaming and statistics will be available at GoStanford.com.

Series History
• Stanford owns a 26-16 all-time record against Oregon – last season, Stanford earned a three-game sweep of the Ducks in Eugene with wins by the scores of 4-3, 8-5 and 10-4.
• The Ducks enter 14-9 with a 2-4 clip in Pac-12 play – Oregon was swept by Arizona State in Phoenix before claiming a 2-1 series win over Cal last weekend.
• Jacob Goldfarb leads the team with in batting average (.358), home runs (4) and total bases (48). Matt Mercer leads the pitching staff in innings pitched (37.0), owning a 3-1 record and a 2.43 ERA.
• Stanford assistant Jack Marder played for the Ducks as a catcher and infielder for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Marder also coached at Oregon during the 2015 and 2016 seasons while finishing his degree in political science.

Last Time Out
• Most recently, Stanford earned a 3-0 win over San Diego on Tuesday night. Brendan Beck (3-0) got the win, Jack Little earned his seventh save and Stanford's NCAA-leading ERA dipped to 1.96.
• The Cardinal hosted USC last week after an 11-day break for finals – Stanford swept USC in dominating fashion, outscoring the Trojans, 34-2, on the week.

Looking Ahead
• Stanford hosts Gonzaga on Monday at 1 p.m. PT before traveling to play Santa Clara on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.
• The Cardinal then makes its first Pac-12 road trip to Los Angeles for a three-game series at UCLA on April 6-8. Stanford hosts Arizona State April 13-15 before travelling to face Arizona April 20-22.

Streaking Stanford
• Stanford rides a seven-game win streak heading into the weekend series against Oregon. Since an 8-6 loss at Texas on March 8, Stanford has outscored opponents 64-6 while allowing less than five hits per game.
• Stanford streak of consecutive Pac-12 home wins stands at 10, dating to a 6-4 win over Cal on April 18, 2017.
• The Cardinal's streak of consecutive Tuesday wins stretched to 16 after a 3-0 win over San Diego on Tuesday.
• Stanford's back-to-back shutouts on Sunday and Tuesday were the first since Feb. 24-25, 2017, when the Cardinal shut out Kansas in back-to-back contests.

Cardinal in the Polls
• Stanford retained its place at No. 3 in the latest D1 Baseball top-25 poll. Stanford also checked in at No. 3 in the Baseball America, NCBWA and Perfect Game polls, and No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball News poll.
• It is Stanford's highest ranking since 2012 when it received a preseason No. 3 ranking.
• Two other Pac-12 schools also rank in the poll – Oregon State (1) and UCLA (15).

Bats Breaking In
• After a slow start, Stanford's offense has come alive during the Cardinal's current seven-game win streak. In that span, Stanford is outscoring opponents 64-6, scoring over nine runs per game.
• Andrew Daschbach leads the Cardinal with 19 RBI and four home runs, starting all 20 games at either first base or left field.
• Brandon Wulff leads the team in batting average (.338) and has reached base in all 20 contest. Wulff is reaching base at a .464 rate with three home runs, while his 17 RBI ranks third on the team. He was named Pac-12 Player of the Week after going 7-for-11 against USC with six RBI. 
• Preseason All-American Nico Hoerner has been as good as advertised, batting .308 with a .487 slugging percentage. Hoerner has a hit in 16-of-20 games, including seven with multiple hits, and leads the team with six doubles.
• Freshman Tim Tawa hit his third home run of the season in Tuesday's win over San Diego – Tawa is slugging .533 with a .320 batting average, ranking second on the team with 18 RBI.
• Kyle Stowers has emerged as Stanford's starting left fielder, ranking fourth on the team with 15 RBI. Stowers has two home runs on the year, and has reached base in each of Stanford's last 14 games with hits in 11 of the last 12.

Nation's Number One Staff
• Stanford enters the weekend with the lowest ERA (1.96) and WHIP (0.97) in college baseball. Stanford ranks second in hits allowed per nine innings (6.13), fourth in walks allowed per nine innings (2.56) and sixth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.20).
• Maverick Handley has caught a majority of Stanford's games, fielding at a .993 rate with just one error on the season. Opponents have attempted just nine stolen bases against Handley, who has thrown out five.
• Jack Little has established himself as one of the premier closers in the country, ranking eighth in the nation with seven saves in as many opportunities. In 17.0 innings, Little has struck out 18 while allowing 10 base runners (six hits, four walks) and a .113 batting average. Little's high school teammate Zach Grech has been Stanford's most oft-used reliever with a 2.31 ERA in 12 appearances.
• Friday night starter Tristan Beck has returned to the rotation after missing all of 2017 with an injury – Beck's opening-day start was his first appearance in 630 days. In five starts, Beck (3-0) owns a 2.48 ERA and a .200 batting average against, ranking second on the team with 32 strikeouts in 29.0 innings.
• Kris Bubic (4-0) has led Stanford's starting staff with five quality starts, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning of Saturday's 11-1 win over USC. Bubic owns a 1.19 ERA in 30.1 innings pitched. Leading the team with 33 strikeouts with opposing batters hitting just .146. Dating to April 13, 2017, Stanford has won Bubic's last 13 starts.
• Erik Miller and Brendan Beck round out the rotation – Miller typically starts Sunday games while Beck is the midweek starter. Miller (1-1) lowered his ERA to 3.72 with a strong outing against USC – he has 27 strikeouts in 19.1 innings. Beck, the younger brother of Tristan, is 3-0 in five starts with a 1.25 ERA – he took a perfect game into the sixth inning of Stanford's 11-1 over Texas on March 11.
• Since allowing a run in his collegiate debut, Jacob Palisch has been near perfect in 16.2 innings of work with a 0.54 ERA and a .140 batting average against. Palisch has surrendered only 12 base runners on the season.

Fresh Faces
• Stanford welcomed eight freshman to The Farm for 2018 – three California natives and one student-athlete each from Oregon, Arizona, Texas, Georgia and Florida.

18 • Zach Sehgal • INF • 6-2 • La Jolla, Calif. • La Jolla
20 • Brendan Beck • INF/RHP • 6-2 • Corona, Calif. • Corona
21 • Tim Tawa • OF • 6-0 • West Linn, Ore. • West Linn
24 • Nick Brueser • INF • 6-3 • Chandler, Ariz. • Hamilton
27 • Carson Rudd • RHP • 6-5 • Agoura Hills, Calif. • Oaks Christian
39 • Jacob Palisch • LHP • 6-5 • Richardson, Texas • Jesuit College Prep
42 • Austin Weiermiller • LHP • 5-11 • Milton, Ga. • Cambridge
44 • Christian Robinson • OF • 6-3 • Melbourne, Fla. • Viera

A New Era
• David Esquer was named Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball on June 16, 2017. Esquer is the 21st head coach in program history, succeeding Mark Marquess, who retired after 41 years at the helm.
• Esquer served as an assistant under Marquess from 1991-96 before spending the past 18 seasons as the head coach at Cal, where he was the 2011 National Coach of the Year and led the Golden Bears to five NCAA Regionals and the 2011 College World Series.
• Esquer accrued a 525-46-2 (.528) record at Cal, mentoring 81 Major League draft picks and 13 All-Americans.
 
Golden Watch List
• Juniors Nico Hoerner and Kris Bubic were each named to the watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which annually recognizes the top amateur baseball player in the country.
• The winner will be announced June 28 in Los Angeles.