A Fresh StartA Fresh Start
Bob Drebin / isiphotos.com
Baseball

A Fresh Start

STANFORD, Calif. – No. 12 Stanford opens its 2019 season when it competes in the Angels College Classic this weekend in Tempe, Arizona.

The Cardinal opens the season on Friday at 6 p.m. PT against Ball State, followed by matchups on Saturday against Wichita State at 6:30 p.m., Sunday against Pepperdine at 1 p.m. and Monday against Grand Canyon at Noon. Live streaming will only be available for Monday's contest against Grand Canyon, but live statistics for all games will be available at GoStanford.com.

Preseason No. 12
• Stanford earned the No. 12 ranking in D1 Baseball's preseason top-25. Four of the Cardinal's 2019 opponents ranked in the poll – No. 5 UCLA, No. 8 Oregon State, No. 23 Texas and No. 25 Cal State Fullerton.
• The Cardinal also earned preseason rankings from Baseball America (7), Collegiate Baseball Newspaper (5), NCBWA (8) and Perfect Game (7).
• Stanford was picked to finish second in the Pac-12 in the annual preseason coaches poll. UCLA earned the top spot with Oregon State, Arizona and Washington rounding out the top five – UCLA (April 5-7), Oregon State (May 17-19), Arizona (April 26-28) and Washington (April 12-14) each visit Sunken Diamond this season.

Welcome to The Farm
5 • Austin Kretzschmar • INF • 6-0 • 175 • La Mesa, Calif. (Helix Charter)
7 • Brandon Dieter • INF/RHP • 6-0 • 175 • Covina, Calif. (South Hills)
13 • Justin Moore • INF/RHP • 6-5 • 215 • Austin, Texas (Vandegrift)
15 • Grant Burton • OF • 6-2 • 195 • San Juan Capistrano, Calif. (Mater Dei)
16 • Vincent Martinez • C • 6-2 • 220 • San Marcos, Calif. (San Marcos)
18 • Cody Jensen • RHP • 6-3 • 185 • Roseville, Calif. (Jesuit)
28 • Alex Williams • RHP • 6-3 • 205 • Castro Valley, Calif. (Redwood Christian)
40 • Nicolas Lopez • LHP • 6-4 • 190 • Redwood City, Calif. (Serra)

Esquer Era Underway
• 2019 marks the second season under the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer.
• Esquer, a 1987 graduate of Stanford and starting shortstop on the 1987 College World Series-winning team, returned to The Farm after serving the previous 18 seasons as the head coach at Cal.
• Esquer's career record stands at 571-479-2 entering the 2019 season.
• Stanford's entire coaching staff, which includes Thomas Eager, Tommy Nicholson and Jack Marder, also enters its second season with the Cardinal.

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Firepower Returning
• A significant portion of Stanford's offensive production returns for 2019, including 95 percent of the team's home runs, 79 percent of RBI and 74 percent of total bases from 2018.
• Three players who started all 58 games return – Tim Tawa, Andrew Daschbach and Kyle Stowers.
• Daschbach led the team in home runs (17), RBI (63) and total bases (125). Daschbach's 17 big flies were the most in a season since Sean Ratliff hit 22 home runs during the 2008 season.
• Stowers ranked second on the team in home runs (10) and RBI (42) while leading the team in walks (30).
• Tawa, who split time between center field and third base, earned freshman All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Perfect Game after hitting seven home runs with 41 RBI, 44 runs and a team-high 18 doubles in 2018.
• Led by Little, Stanford returns most of its pitching staff from 2018, which ranked second in the nation with a 2.83 earned-run average.
• Brendan Beck finished his freshman season with an 8-0 record and 2.43 ERA across 66.2 innings pitched.
• Erik Miller, a preseason All-American and Stanford's Sunday starter in 2018, enters the season as one of the top prospects for the 2019 MLB Draft – Miller went 4-4 with a 4.07 ERA in 48.2 IP.
• Other key arms returning include Will Matthiessen (2.00 ERA in 13 relief appearances), Zach Grech (2.65 ERA in team-high 28 appearances) and Austin Weiermiller (5-1, 3.29 ERA in 38.1 IP across 23 appearances).

Preseason Honors
• Four Cardinal – Jack Little, Kyle Stowers, Brendan Beck and Erik Miller – received preseason All-America recognition.
• Little led the team with five preseason nods from D1 Baseball, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, NCBWA and Perfect Game. Little was also included on the NCBWA's preseason watch list for the Stopper of the Year award.
• Stowers was named a preseason first-team All-American by Baseball America.
• Miller earned preseason second-team honors from Baseball America.
• Beck was named preseason All-America by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and NCBWA.

The Road Ahead
• Stanford opens its home schedule on Feb. 22 when it plays host to UNLV for a three-game series at Sunken Diamond. After a midweek contest against San Francisco (Feb. 26), Stanford travels to Fullerton, California, for a three-game series at No. 25 Cal State Fullerton (March 1-3). The Cardinal wraps up its nonconference slate with a four-game series against No. 23 Texas (March 7-10) at Sunken Diamond.
• The Cardinal opens Pac-12 play at home against Utah (March 22-24). Stanford's conference home opponents also include No. 5 UCLA (April 5-7), Washington (April 12-14), Arizona (April 26-28) and defending national champion No. 8 Oregon State (May 17-19).

A Look Back
• Last season, Stanford captured its first Pac-12 conference championship since 2004 with a 46-12 record and 0.793 win percentage, the second-highest in program history.
• The Cardinal competed in the NCAA Tournament for the 34th time, hosting an NCAA regional at Sunken Diamond for the 17th time. Stanford was eliminated by Cal State Fullerton in the regional round for the second season in a row.
• Stanford's .9782 fielding percentage ranked third in program history, while its 2.83 earned-run average, which ranked second in Division I baseball, ranks 11th in program history. Stanford's 48 errors were the third-fewest in program history.
• Stanford's 453 strikeouts ranked 10th in program history and were the most since Stanford struck out 479 batters in 2003.
• The Cardinal's 23 saves tied a program record, spearheaded by Jack Little's 16 saves, which tied Colton Hock's program record from 2017.