LEADING OFF
- Stanford will honor legendary head coach Mark Marquess, who passed away on January 30, 2026, throughout the 2026 season with "9" jersey patches, helmet stickers and an outfield wall decal at Sunken Diamond ... has connected for multiple home runs in each of the last 11 games (30 homers over the span) ... stole six bases in the season opener vs. No. 24 Arizona (February 13), but has swiped just seven bases over the last 18 games (7-for-15 over the span) ... was picked to finish 10th in the ACC standings according to the league’s coaches after finishing 13th a year ago ... has missed the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons, but has not gone more than two straight years without reaching the postseason since a 13-season stretch from 1968-1980 ... has made 19 College World Series appearances, including having reached Omaha in three of the last five seasons ... 19 appearances are ninth-most in the nation ... finished the 2025 season with a 27-25 overall record and an 11-19 conference mark ... hit .297 as a team with 329 runs scored (6.33 per game), 90 doubles, 10 triples and 64 home runs a year ago ... pitched to a 6.42 ERA with 430 strikeouts in 451 1/3 innings ... averaged 8.57 strikeouts per nine innings
- Charlie Bates has a team-best nine multi-hit games in his first 18 games played this year ... has compiled four multi-RBI games ... has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 ... is listed on the Brooks Wallace Award watch list ... was listed as the preseason No. 19 shortstop in the nation according to D1Baseball and No. 31 on Perfect Game's Preseason Top 100 Sophomores list
- Philip Cheong was No. 98 on Perfect Game's Preseason Top 100 Freshmen list
- Nick Dugan was listed as the preseason No. 108 starter in the nation according to D1Baseball and No. 46 on Perfect Game's Preseason Top 100 Seniors list
- Ethan Hott has multiple hits in back-to-back games entering the weekend ... has reached in eight of his nine games with an at bat this year
- Eric Jeon batted .714 (5-for-7) with five runs scored, four RBIs, a double and three home runs to the tune of a 2.143 slugging percentage in three games at No. 15 Wake Forest (March 6-7) ... had a pinch-hit home run on March 6 before rattling off a single, double and two home runs in his next four at bats to conclude a string of five straight hits to begin the series against the Demon Deacons
- Aidan Keenan was listed as the preseason No. 120 starting pitcher in the nation according to D1Baseball
- Brock Ketelsen connected for his first career home run at No. 15 Wake Forest on March 7 ... is listed on the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award watch list ... was listed on the Baseball America Preseason Freshman of the Year watch list and No. 18 on Perfect Game's Preseason Top 100 Freshmen list
- Luke Lavin has hit safely in four of his last five games and nine of his last 11 overall ... has compiled four multi-RBI games
- Tatum Marsh was listed as the preseason No. 40 outfielder in the nation according to D1Baseball
- JJ Moran hit safely in each of the first 12 games this season, and has a hit in 16 of the first 19 overall ... has compiled four multi-RBI games
- Jimmy Nati has hit safely in seven straight games and has reached in 11 straight … has compiled six multi-hit games ... managed a multi-homer game on March 11 vs. Nevada, falling one RBI shy of his career high of six ... was named NCBWA Preseason All-America second team, is listed as the preseason No. 10 second baseman in the nation according to D1Baseball and is No. 100 on Perfect Game's Preseason Top 100 Seniors list
- Brady Reynolds connected for his first homer of the year vs. Pitt on March 13 ... was listed as the preseason No. 100 outfielder in the nation according to D1Baseball
- Rintaro Sasaki has hit safely in nine of his last 11, compiling four multi-hit games over the span, and has reached in 11 straight ... has compiled five multi-hit games ... managed a seven-game hit streak from March 2-14 ... was listed as the preseason No. 38 first baseman in the nation according to D1Baseball ... was selected in the first round of the 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball Draft by the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
- Brock Sell was listed on the Baseball America Preseason Freshman of the Year watch list and No. 9 on Perfect Game's Preseason Top 100 Freshmen list
- Teddy Tokheim went 4-for-5 with three doubles, a homer, two runs scored and four RBIs vs. Pitt on March 14 ... has hit safely in 10 of his 13 games played, has an extra-base hit in seven of the 13, and has reached in 12 straight contests
- Parker Warner is listed on the National Pitcher of the Year Award watch list
THIS WEEK
- Stanford will conclude an eight-game homestand this week when it welcomes Utah Valley to Sunken Diamond for a four-game series
- With finals week on The Farm this week, the two teams will play one game on Saturday, a doubleheader on Sunday, and the finale on Monday
- Saturday's opener is slated to begin at 2:05 p.m., Sunday's doubleheader will commence at 1:05 p.m., followed by Monday's 1:05 p.m. finale
- All four games against Utah Valley will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra and will be broadcast on KZSU 90.1 FM
UP NEXT
- After the series against Utah Valley, Stanford will return to ACC play when it travels to Virginia Tech for a three-game series next week
- All three games against Virginia Tech will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra
UPCOMING PROMOTIONS
- Join us Saturday, March 21 against Utah Valley for our first trading card set giveaway of the season, while supplies last!
- Kids 8th grade and under can run the bases after the game (weather permitting) on Sunday, March 22 vs. Utah Valley!
- Get your second set of trading cards, while supplies last, at our game vs. Clemson on Friday, April 3!
- Bring your dog out to Sunken Saturday, April 4, for Pups at the Park! Pet owners will be required to sign a waiver, and will receive a Stanford leash upon entry with their pup, while supplies last.
- All Cardinal Kids Club members are invited out to the ballpark on Sunday, April 5, and can pick up a pair of Stanford batting gloves with their RSVP ... kids 8th grade and under can also run the bases after the game (weather permitting)!
A LOOK BACK
- Stanford won the opener of a three-game ACC series with Pitt last weekend, but dropped the final two and the series to the visiting Panthers
- Trailing 4-3 with one aboard and two outs in the seventh inning, Stanford rallied for five runs on two big hits from sophomore JJ Moran and senior Jimmy Nati to eventually earn a 9-7 victory over Pitt on Friday ... chasing a run with Luke Lavin aboard at first base and two outs following a leadoff single, Teddy Tokheim and Charlie Bates each finessed walks to load the bases for Moran ... the native of San Diego, Calif. worked the count to 2-2 before lacing a single into left-center field to chase home Lavin and Tokheim and put the Cardinal ahead 5-4 ... Nati fell behind 0-2 in the next at bat, but didn’t miss a mistake on the ensuing offering, launching his fifth homer of the season out to left field to cap the five-run seventh
- Stanford and Pitt combined for eight home runs, with both teams launching four, and Pitt escaped with an 11-10 victory on Saturday afternoon to even the three-game series from Sunken Diamond ... the Cardinal carried a 9-8 lead into the ninth inning after scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth, but Pitt responded for three in the ninth to secure the victory ... freshman Teddy Tokheim finished the game 4-for-5 with two runs scored, three doubles, a home run and four RBIs while hitting second in the Cardinal order ... Tokheim’s home run, a two-run shot, came in the three-run bottom of the fifth, and was part of back-to-back homers with Charlie Bates that gave Stanford a 5-4 lead to that point in the game
- Senior Ethan Hott and sophomore JJ Moran each finished with three hits, but Stanford dropped the rubber game of a three-game ACC series 10-5 to Pitt on Sunday ... Hott finished 3-for-4 with his first homer of the season and a double while driving in three runs ... hitting cleanup for the Cardinal, Moran batted 3-for-4 with a homer, two runs scored and two RBIs ... the round-tripper, which tied the game 2-2 in the first, was Moran’s fourth of the season
POWERING UP
- Stanford homered in just two of the first eight games, connecting for three home runs over the span, but has multiple home runs in each of the last 11 contests - launching 30 home runs over the span
- The 11-game string of multiple homers is the longest since the Cardinal launched multiple in 11 straight from May 8-26, 2022 (34 total homers over those games) ... no Stanford team has reached 12 straight games with multiple home runs since at least 2001
- The Cardinal set a season best with five home runs at Wake Forest on March 7 - the most in a game for the Cardinal since connecting for five vs. Duke on March 15, 2025
TIGHT GAMES EARLY
- Six of Stanford’s first nine games this season were decided by one run and the Cardinal went 3-3 in those contests
- Four of Stanford's six losses over a six-game skid from February 28 - March 7 were been decided by three runs, with a fourth coming by four runs
- Despite suffering 12 losses this season, the Cardinal has had at the least the tying run at the plate in the eighth or ninth inning of nine of the 12 setbacks
- The Cardinal is being outscored 145-125 through the first 19 games of the season
LEADING OFF FOR THE CARDINAL...
- After hitting fifth (10 times) and sixth (one time) in the lineup in each of the first 11 games of the season, Rintaro Sasaki has been shifted to the leadoff spot over the last eight contests
- The power-hitting first baseman has responded well to the move, hitting .344 (11-for-32) with two doubles, three homers, eight runs scored, seven RBIs and seven strikeouts while posting a .463 on-base percentage and a .688 slugging percentage over the eight games
- So far this year, Sasaki has batted a combined .171 (6-for-35) with three doubles, two home runs, two RBIs and eight strikeouts hitting outside of the leadoff spot
OPENING WEEKEND NOTES
- Including a 10-7 victory over No. 24 Arizona this year, Stanford is 51-16-1 overall on Opening Day since 1959 and has won seven of its last 11 games to open a season
- Stanford opened the 2025 season against Cal State Fullerton for the fourth straight season and 12th time since 2000 (13th time overall) ... with a four-game sweep last year, Stanford is now 8-4 in the 12 season-opening series (24-13 overall record) since 2000
- The Cardinal has played 28 opening weekend series of three-or-more games since 1959 and is 19-9 in those series ... Stanford has compiled a 58-28 record over the 86 games in those sets
OUR AUSSIE IS A PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
- Jimmy Nati was tabbed a Preseason All-American according to National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, landing on the publication’s second team
- Stanford's starting second baseman a year ago, Nati was named a finalist for the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove at the conclusion of the season
- Nati started all 52 games for the Cardinal last year, posted a .980 fielding percentage and batted .300 with 45 runs scored, nine doubles, a team-best 16 home runs and a team-leading 50 RBIs while slugging a team-best .581 with a .367 on-base percentage
A FEW TO WATCH
- Sophomore Charlie Bates was listed on the 100-player initial watch list for the 2026 Brooks Wallace Award ... the Brooks Wallace Award is an award given by the College Baseball Foundation to the best college baseball shortstop ... the award has been given annually since 2004 and until 2008, the award was presented to the nation's most outstanding player ... in 2009 the recipient list was changed to only include shortstops ... it is named after former Texas Tech shortstop and assistant coach Brooks Wallace, who died of leukemia in 1985 at the age of 27
- Freshman Brock Ketelsen was listed on the 49-player initial watch list for the 2026 John Olerud Award ... the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award is a college baseball award given to the best two-way player ... the award is named after former Washington State University standout John Olerud, who achieved success both as a first baseman and left-handed pitcher during the late 1980s ... he was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007
- Sophomore Parker Warner was listed on the initial watch list for the 2026 National Pitcher of the Year Award ... the National Pitcher of the Year Award is a college baseball award given to the best pitcher of the college baseball season by the College Baseball Foundation ... a total of 141 of the nation’s best hurlers are listed on the Pitcher of the Year watch list, and they represent 26 different conferences
CALIFORNIA KINGS
- Stanford is the winningest Division I program in California since the 2017 season, compiling 324 victories
- UCLA and UC Santa Barbara have won 323 games since 2017, followed by UC Irvine (310) and Sacramento State (279)
PRESEASON FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
- Freshmen Brock Ketelsen and Brock Sell have been listed on Baseball America’s Preseason Freshman of the Year watch list
- Ketelsen, the 2025 West Coast League Top Prospect, is a two-way player who will see action as a left-handed pitcher and outfielder
- Sell, ranked 55th on Baseball America’s Top 500 draft prospects entering last year’s draft, is a versatile player who can play all across the diamond
- This season marks the first that Baseball America has officially named preseason collegiate national award winners and preseason award watch lists
- According to the publication, the Freshman of the Year race is defined less by résumé and more by immediate impact, projection and how quickly a player asserts himself at the college level ... the players listed represent early standouts entering their first Division I seasons, offering a snapshot of freshmen positioned to make an immediate mark while also carrying long-term upside ... amateur track record served as the primary evaluation factor for preseason inclusion, with tools, role opportunity and feedback from professional evaluators also considered
- Mississippi State lefthander Jack Bauer was named Baseball America Preseason Freshman of the Year
GOODBYE PAC-12, HELLO ACC
- The 2024 season was Stanford's final in the Pac-12 conference, as the Cardinal joined Bay Area rival California as new members of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2025
- Stanford was one of the oldest members of the Pac-12 Conference, joining the then Pacific Coast Conference, founded in 1915, for the 1918 season
- The Cardinal won 21 Pac-12 titles, with the first coming in 1924 and the last in 2023
- The ACC sent nine teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2025, including Louisville to the College World Series
- A national-best five ACC baseball programs competed in the Super Regional round with three teams earning the right to host
- The ACC has placed at least one team in each of the last 19 College World Series and at least six teams in each of the last 21 NCAA Tournaments
CARDINAL TABBED 10TH IN PRESEASON POLL
- Preparing for its second season in the ACC, Stanford was picked to finish 10th in the conference standings according to the league’s 16 head coaches
- The Cardinal, which has made a trip to the College World Series in three of the last five seasons, is looking for a bounce-back year after missing the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons ... has not gone more than two straight years without reaching the postseason since a 13-season stretch from 1968-1980
- Georgia Tech was selected as the 2026 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball preseason favorite, collecting seven of the possible 16 first-place votes to garner 237 total points
- Just one point separated Georgia Tech and second-place finisher North Carolina, who logged 236 points and six first-place votes
- Also earning first place votes were Florida State (one) and Clemson (two)
- The Seminoles finished third in the poll, logging 221 points, while Louisville, who represented the ACC in the 2025 Men’s College World Series, finished fourth with 196 points
- Clemson’s two first-place votes propelled them to a fifth-place projection, totaling 185 points
- NC State was slotted sixth in the coaches’ poll, with 169 points, just ahead of Virginia, who was projected to finish seventh with 165 points
- With 159 points, Miami was picked to finish eighth, while Wake Forest was projected to finish ninth with 145 points and Stanford 10th with 99 points
- Stanford was followed by Virginia Tech (89), Notre Dame (87), Duke (67), Pitt (45), California (41) and Boston College (35)
- The ACC has placed at least one team in each of the last 19 College World Series, including Louisville in 2025, and at least six teams in each of the last 21 NCAA tournaments
- Eight ACC baseball teams began the season in the D1Baseball Preseason Top 25, led by Georgia Tech at No. 4 ... the Jackets were followed by No. 8 Louisville, No. 11 North Carolina, No. 16 Florida State, No. 17 NC State, No. 19 Clemson, No. 21 Wake Forest and No. 22 Miami
ACC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
- The 2026 ACC Baseball Championship will be held Tuesday, May 19, through Sunday, May 24, at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C.
- ACC Network will be on hand for the first five days of the tournament with ESPN2 set to carry Sunday’s championship game
- All 16 teams in the ACC will compete in a single-elimination championship
- The top four seeds in the championship will be based off the performance in the regular season and will receive a double-bye into the quarterfinal round, which is scheduled to be held on Thursday and Friday ... seeds five through eight will earn a bye into Wednesday’s second round ... seeds 9-16 will begin play with four first-round games on Tuesday
- The single-elimination championship format will feature four games per day on Tuesday (first round) and Wednesday (second round) ... two quarterfinal games will take place on both Thursday and Friday, while Saturday will host the two semifinal contests ... Sunday will host the championship game
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
- Often considered one of the most beautiful college baseball facilities in the country, Klein Field at Sunken Diamond is the home to Stanford baseball
- The “Sunken Diamond” name comes from the excavation to provide fill for the earthen berm within which Stanford Stadium was built in 1921, leaving a large, sunken field
- The fixed seating capacity at Sunken Diamond is 2,113 ... with the addition of ADA seating and general admission lawn seating, the total capacity of the facility is 4,000
- The original dimensions were 360 feet to left field, 350 to right field, and 500 feet to center field ... in 1978, a new seven-foot high fence was installed, bringing the dimensions to the current 335 to both left and right fields, and 400 to center field ... the outfield fence was increased to 10 feet in 1995
- Sunken Diamond features ample foul ground from first to third base, with home plate sitting approximately 70 feet from the backstop
HOME OF CHAMPIONS
- Stanford is the all-time leader with 137 NCAA team championships (70 men, 67 women), and 173 national championships overall
- The Cardinal owns the most recognizable streak in college athletics, having won at least one NCAA team title during each of the last 49 seasons, dating back to the 1976-77 campaign
- The Cardinal has also produced 565 NCAA individual champions and 658 overall
- Stanford has won the Learfield Directors’ Cup in 26 of the possible 31 seasons, including a 25-year streak from 1995-2019
#OLYMPIANSMADEHERE
- Less than two months after starting at defender in the 2025 College Cup final for the Stanford women’s soccer team, sophomore Sammy Smith has achieved her lifelong goal of making an Olympic team ... Smith earned a spot as a member of the U.S. Olympic Cross Country Ski Team ahead of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games, which got underway February 6 ... Smith’s selection to the national team is extremely rare, if not, unprecedented: a current Division I varsity student-athlete competing for the national team of a different sport within the same academic calendar year ... a native of Boise, Idaho, Smith is believed to be Stanford’s first American varsity student-athlete to also participate in a Winter Olympics since Bonny Warner, a member of the Cardinal’s field hockey team from 1982-84 who competed for Team USA’s luge squad in 1984, 1988 and 1992 ... Stanford’s most recent Team USA Winter Olympian was Rachael Flatt, a figure skater who competed in the 2010 Games and graduated in 2015
- Stanford concluded the 2024 Paris Olympic Games with a school-record 39 medals, shattering its previous best while cementing its reputation on the world’s biggest stage as the nation’s top collegiate program
- The 39 medals were 12 more than the previous record of 27 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games
- Stanford’s haul of 39 medals (12 gold, 14 silver, 13 bronze) was the most by any school at one Olympics
- Cardinal student-athletes medaled in 13 of Stanford's 36 varsity sports: artistic swimming, women’s basketball, women’s fencing, men’s gymnastics, sailing, men’s rowing, women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, men’s track and field, men’s volleyball, women’s volleyball, men’s water polo, women’s water polo
- The Cardinal boasted 19 first-time medalists - a total that ranks second in school history behind the 21 at the 2008 Beijing Games
- If Stanford was a country in the 2024 Games, it would have finished tied with Canada for 11th place
- Boasting a school-record 59 Olympians with Cardinal ties, Stanford won at least 20 medals for the sixth time in school history (2020, 2016, 2008, 1996, 1924)
- The Cardinal’s 59 Olympians (20 male, 39 female) represented 14 countries across 20 varsity sports
- In addition to the 59 qualifiers, Stanford’s Olympic representation also included five alternates, one national team head coach and three national team assistant coaches
- For the third straight Olympics, Stanford totaled more Team USA selections (37) than any other school, reinforcing its status as the preeminent training ground for U.S. national team competition
- Stanford has won 128 medals combined over the last five Summer Games
- All told, Stanford’s affiliates have captured 335 overall medals (162 gold, 93 silver, 80 bronze) from 196 medalists, and the Cardinal has produced at least one medalist in every Olympics in which the U.S. has competed since 1912