Battle in Blacksburg

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 homered in 15 consecutive games (42 home runs over the span), and has multiple home runs in 14 of those 15 games ... has scored at least 15 runs in each of the last three games for the first time since March 16-23, 1985 ... has managed double-digit hits in nine of the last 10 games ... compiled six triples in the first 11 games of the season, but does not have a three-bagger over the last 12 contests ... stole six bases in the season opener vs. No. 24 Arizona (February 13), but has swiped 11 bases over the last 22 games (11-for-19 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 hit safely in four straight and all but four games this season ... has homered in three straight entering the weekend ... has scored multiple runs in each of his last three games ... has a team-best 10 multi-hit games and has compiled a team-high six multi-RBI games ... has managed 10 two-out RBIs ... is listed on the Brooks Wallace Award watch list
• Ethan Hott went 4-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and three RBIs vs. Utah Valley (March 22) ... has reached in six straight and 12 of his 13 games with an at bat this year ... is hitting .471 (8-for-17) with two outs this year
• Eric Jeon carries a four-game hit streak into the weekend and has three hits in back-to-back games ... has homered in two of his last three games ... 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
• 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 five of his last eight games with an at bat ... has compiled four multi-RBI games
• Tatum Marsh was listed as the preseason No. 40 outfielder in the nation according to D1Baseball
• Cort MacDonald has reached in five straight games ... batted 3-for-4 with a double, a run scored and two RBIs vs. Utah Valley (March 22) ... launched his first homer of the season vs. Utah Valley (March 23)
• JJ Moran batted 2-for-5 with a grand slam and six RBIs vs. Utah Valley (March 22) ... had a six-game hit streak snapped vs. Utah Valley on March 23 ... hit safely in each of the first 12 games this season, and has a hit in 19 of the 23 overall ... has reached in nine straight games
• Jimmy Nati went 2-for-3 with a double, a home run, two runs scored and four RBIs vs. Utah Valley (March 23) ... had a seven-game hit streak snapped vs. Utah Valley on March 21, but has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 … has compiled seven multi-hit games ... has managed 13 two-out RBIs and is hitting .419 (13-for-31) with two outs this year ... 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
• 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 12 of his last 15 games, compiling six multi-hit games over the span, and has reached in 15 straight ... has homered in three of his last six games ... contributed a walk-off single to beat Utah Valley (March 21) ... has drawn a team-best 22 walks in 23 games played ... has scored at least one run in each of his last six games ... has compiled seven 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
• Teddy Tokheim has hit safely in six straight games and has homered in back-to-back games entering the weekend ... has multiple hits in three straight and four of his last six ... owns seven multi-hit games and six multi-RBI contests this season ... has hit safely in 14 of his 17 games played, has an extra-base hit in 10 of the 17, and has reached in 16 straight contests ... ranks first among freshmen in the nation in slugging percentage (.823), third in batting average (.403) and seventh in home runs (6) ... is batting .500 (8-for-16) with two outs this year ... went 4-for-5 with three doubles, a homer, two runs scored and four RBIs vs. Pitt on March 14

THIS WEEK

• Stanford will return to ACC play this week, traveling to Virginia Tech for a three-game series over the weekend
• The series begins Friday at 10 a.m. PT, continues Saturday at 12 p.m. PT, and concludes with a 10 a.m. PT first pitch Sunday
• All three games at Virginia Tech will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra

UP NEXT

• After the series against Virginia Tech, Stanford will return home to host ACC-foe Clemson in a three-game series next week
• All three games against Clemson will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra and broadcast live on KZSU 90.1 FM

UPCOMING PROMOTIONS

• 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 swept a four-game series over Utah Valley last weekend, batting .361 as a team and exploding for 51 runs, 12 doubles and 12 homers while averaging 12.8 runs per game
• The Cardinal combined for a .472 on-base percentage and a .694 slugging percentage over the four games
• Trailing 3-2 headed to the bottom of the ninth on Saturday in the series-opener from Sunken Diamond, Stanford tied the game on an RBI-double from Luke Lavin before sophomore Rintaro Sasaki delivered a walk-off single with the bases loaded to hand the Cardinal a 4-3 win
• The Cardinal offense scored 32 runs on 30 hits across a pair of games on Sunday, sweeping a doubleheader by scores of 17-10 and 15-9 to clinch a series win over the Wolverines
• Stanford put up 15-or-more runs for the third consecutive game, scoring 15 on 14 hits, including five home runs and two doubles, to earn a 15-6 victory and the four-game series sweep of visiting Utah Valley on Monday
• The Cardinal twice managed an eight-run inning in the series, hanging an eight in the bottom of the fourth in game one on Sunday before scoring eight in the bottom of the second in Monday's finale
• Freshman Teddy Tokheim led the way offensively, batting .563 (9-for-16) with eight runs scored, a double, two homers and seven RBIs in the series
• Eric Jeon batted .533 (8-for-15) with seven runs scored, a double, two homers and six RBIs, while Charlie Bates launched three homers and drove in seven runs while batting .375 (6-for-16)
• Rintaro Sasaki, JJ Moran and Jimmy Nati all drove in six runs in the series, with Sasaki connecting for two homers
• The Cardinal used a bullpen approach to all four games in the series, with 15 total pitchers seeing the mound
• Sophomore Austin Steeves recorded a pair of victories out of the bullpen and Stanford hurlers combined for 35 strikeouts

ROUND TWO HAS BEEN BIG

• Stanford has outscored its opposition 30-15 in the second inning this year, batting .365 with eight doubles, six homers and a .451 on-base percentage in the second stanza
• The Cardinal is also outscoring its opponents in the fourth (33-29), seventh (21-14) and eighth (14-10) innings
• Overall, Stanford holds a slim 176-173 advantage in scoring this year

POWERING UP

• Stanford homered in just two of the first eight games of the season, connecting for three home runs over the span, but has homered in 15 consecutive games (42 home runs over the string) entering the series at Virginia Tech
• The 15-game streak is the longest for the Cardinal since launching 29 homers over a string of 16 straight games from February 16 to March 16, 2025
• The Cardinal has posted multiple home runs in 14 of the 15 games over the streak, including multiple homers in each of the first 11 games in that string
• The 11-game streak of multiple homers was 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 has twice launched a season-best five home runs this year - connecting for five at No. 15 Wake Forest on March 7 and vs. Utah Valley on March 23

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 decided by three runs, with a fourth coming by four runs
• Despite suffering 12 losses this season, the Cardinal has had at least the tying run at the plate in the eighth or ninth inning of nine of the 12 setbacks
• The Cardinal holds a narrow 176-173 advantage in scoring through the first 23 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 12 contests
• The power-hitting first baseman has responded well to the move, hitting .333 (16-for-48) with three doubles, five homers, 14 runs scored, 13 RBIs and eight strikeouts while posting a .468 on-base percentage and a .708 slugging percentage over the 12 games
• Sasaki has batted a combined .171 (6-for-35) with three doubles, two home runs, two RBIs and eight strikeouts in 11 games outside of the leadoff spot

HISTORIC RUN ON RUNS

• Stanford's offense has put together a historic run over the last three games, scoring at least 15 runs in each of the contests for the first time since March 16-23, 1985
• The Cardinal defeated USC 15-4 and 15-5 before downing Arizona 20-5 in the first game of a doubleheader during the 1985 campaign
• The Cardinal has batted .389 over the three-game stretch, scoring 47 total runs while posting 10 doubles and 11 homers to the tune of a .770 slugging percentage
• Stanford began the string with a 17-10 victory over Utah Valley in the first game of a doubleheader on March 22 before knocking off the Wolverines 15-9 and 15-6 over the next two games

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 328 victories
• UCLA has won 327 games since 2017, followed by UC Santa Barbara (324), UC Irvine (310) and Sacramento State (280)

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

BASEBALL COACHING ENDOWMENT CELEBRATES KATHY WOLFF

• Thanks to a gift from an anonymous donor family, an endowed assistant coach position pays tribute to Kathy Wolff - a longtime administrative associate for more than two decades to Stanford's baseball and women's volleyball programs
• Thomas Eager was named the inaugural Kathy Wolff Assistant Baseball Coach prior to the start of the 2022 season
• Often considered the "heart and soul" of the baseball program, Wolff was hired as an administrative assistant in the marketing department in 1985 ... the native of Palo Alto began working with the baseball program in 1987, later adding administrative duties with the women's volleyball program
• Wolff, who saw the Cardinal win two national championships during her first two seasons with the program, helped coordinate 11 trips to the College World Series in Omaha ... the beloved member of the Stanford Baseball family was busy coordinating another College World Series trip when she passed away on June 11, 2008 ... the Cardinal honored Wolff that year by wearing "KW" patches on its sleeves throughout the College World Series run
• In addition to helping the program recruit and retain the best coaching staff, the endowed assistant coaching position recognizes the influence that Wolff still has on the athletics department today ... Stanford's Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (DAPER) annually recognizes a staff member with the Kathy Wolff Award for best exemplifying her spirit—a passion for Stanford and an ongoing desire to help and support his/her colleagues ... in the week leading up to baseball season every year, the athletics department celebrates Cake Week—a time when staff members are encouraged to continue Wolff's tradition of bringing in baked goods to enjoy together

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