April 27, 2000
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (32-10, 11-4 Pac-10) continues a busy five-game homestand with a much anticipated and crucial three-game Pac-10 series versus local Bay Area rival California (23-22, 9-9 Pac-10) this Friday-Sunday, April 28-30 (6 pm, 2 pm, 1 pm). The Cardinal comes into the series playing arguably its best baseball of the season with 10 wins in its last 11 games. Stanford, which currently sits tied for first in the Pac-10 with Arizona State, had won a season-best eight straight games before falling to USC in the opener of a three-game set in Los Angeles last Thursday before rebounding to win the final two games. This is about the same time of the season the Cardinal heated up last year when the Cardinal won 23-of-24 games from April 24-June 14. John Gall continues to break career records as he became Stanford's career record holder in RBI, hits and doubles during the month of April. He now has 337 career hits and will break the Pac-10 career hit record with his next hit. USF (24-22, 9-12 WCC) will visit Sunken Diamond for a non-conference game on Monday, May 1 (6 pm) to conclude the five-game homestand. The Cardinal will play six of its final nine Pac-10 games at Sunken Diamond. Stanford leads the all-time series versus California, 207-202. The Cardinal swept the Golden Bears in a non-conference three-game series earlier this season from February 25-27 in Berkeley (6-2, 4-1, 8-2). Stanford leads the all-time series with USF, 43-5 (since 1977), including two wins last year. The Cardinal has not faced USF this season.
UP NEXT FOR THE CARDINAL
Stanford begins a four-game road trip with its final Pac-10 road series of the regular season at Oregon State (24-19, 5-7 Pac-10) from May 5-7 (3 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm). The Beavers have played well of late with seven wins in their last nine games. Oregon State has taken two-of-three in each of its last two Pac-10 series versus Arizona and California. Stanford leads the all-time series over the Beavers, 24-8. The Cardinal swept Oregon State in a three-game set (7-0, 10-5, 9-8) at Sunken Diamond last season. The Broncos (16-31, 6-15 WCC) have struggled for most of the year. Stanford swept Santa Clara in a three-game set earlier this season from March 3-5 (1-0, 6-4, 8-3).
REMAINING STANFORD 2000 BASEBALL TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Two remaining regular season Stanford Baseball games are scheduled to be televised (four broadcasts have already taken place). The complete list of remaining games is shown below. Please check your local listings for the FOX game to find out in which areas the game will be shown.
STANFORD ADDS GAME ON MAY 1, CHANGES TIME OF APRIL 29 CAL GAME
The Cardinal has added a home game to its 2000 schedule versus USF on Monday, May 1 (6:00 p.m.). Stanford has also moved back the time of its April 29 contest versus California to 2:00 p.m., allowing for fans to attend both the Stanford Football spring game (12:15-1:15 p.m.) and the baseball game versus California.
RECENT CARDINAL ACTION
Despite having its season-high eight-game win streak snapped at USC last Thursday, the Cardinal has still won 11 of its last 12 games. Stanford opened this week with an 11-3 victory over Cal Poly as John Gall tied the Pac-10's career hit record with hits #336 and #337. Stanford also bounced back to defeat USC in each of the final two games of the series. Justin Wayne (9-2) suffered just his second loss of the season and third of his career when he was defeated by USC, 7-3, last Thursday. Wayne gave up nine hits and six runs (all earned) in 5.0 innings, his shortest outing of the year. Joe Borchard hit his first of three homers in the series and was 2-for-3 to lead the Cardinal offense. Edmund Muth (2-5) was the only other Cardinal with more than one hit. Stanford rebounded with a tough 4-1 victory over the Trojans on Friday. Jason Young pitched three-hit baseball for 7.2 innings, allowing just three hits and an unearned run, to record his 12th consecutive win and improve to 6-0 on the season. Jeff Bruksch closed out the game to record his ninth save of the season. Bruksch relieved Young in the eighth inning protecting a 2-1 lead and struck out Bill Peavey on a 3-2 pitch with two outs to end USC's threat. Borchard hit another home run for the Cardinal, while Craig Thompson's two-run blast to right center in the top of the ninth gave Stanford a pair of insurance runs. Borchard (2-4, HR, RBI), Thompson (2-5, HR, 2 RBI) and Damien Alvarado (2-3) led the Cardinal offensive attack. Nearly the entire team busted out offensively in an 18-4 victory on Sunday. The Cardinal recorded a season-high 23 hits and blasted a season-high-tying five homers as Borchard, Muth, Alvarado, Andy Topham and Arik VanZandt all left the yard. Five Cardinal starters had mutiple-hit contests and all nine starters had at least one hit. Alvarado (4-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) and Muth (4-6, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) tied career-high games with four hits each. Tim Cunningham (4-1) picked up his third consecutive win in the team's role as its starting pitcher. Cunningham scattered nine hits and four runs (three earned) before Mike Gosling tossed 3.2 innings of no-hit baseball to earn his third save of the campaign.
HITTING REPORT
Stanford's batting average has risen to .299, the highest it has been since it stood at .329 following the second game of the season. Stanford tallied a season-high 23 hits in its most recent Pac-10 win over USC (4/22) and has posted multiple-hits in nine of its last 12 games. The Cardinal lingered in the .260's for most of the early part of the season, falling as low as .258 following a game on March 3 versus Santa Clara. For the season, Stanford has scored double digit runs on nine occasions and recorded double digit hits 22 times. Stanford currently has six regular starters -- Andy Topham (.371), John Gall (.366), Craig Thompson (.347), Chris O'Riordan (.342), Eric Bruntlett (.327) and Edmund Muth (.323) -- hitting better than .300. Muth paces the team in homers (13), triples (3), total bases (111) and slugging percentage (.665), while co-leading the team in stolen bases (6). Gall leads the squad with 49 RBI. Bruntlett (46 runs scored, 15 doubles, 32 bases on balls, .448 on base percentage) leads the team in four key offensive categories and also co-leads the club with six stolen bases. Thompson has a team-high 61 hits.
PITCHING REPORT
The Cardinal pitching staff has been excellent for most of the season. Stanford leads the Pac-10 in pitching with a 3.34 ERA, ranking #12 in the NCAA. Cardinal pitchers have given up just 295 hits and 139 earned runs in 374.0 innings. Stanford pitchers have recorded 390 strikeouts and allowed only 152 walks (2.57-1 ratio). The team's top starter has been Justin Wayne (9-2, 2.89), while 1999 All-American Jason Young (6-0, 3.79) has seemingly returned to his All-American form with wins in each of his last three starts. Young has also won 12 straight decisions dating back to his final six decisions of 1999. Tim Cunningham (4-1, 2.92, 1 SV) has moved into the role of third starter and won each of his three Pac-10 starts. Jeff Bruksch (2-2, 2.17, 9 SV) has emerged as the team's top reliever and after saving four games in the last two weeks is making a run at Stanford's save record of 13 in a season, currently held by Steve Chitren (1987). Mike Gosling (2-2, 2.18, 3 SV) has pitched well as a starter, middle reliever and occasional closer. He boasts 63 strikeouts in just 45.1 innings on the hill, an average of 12.51 strikeouts per nine innings.
DEFENSIVE REPORT
After being ranked as high as #2 in the nation earlier this season, Stanford's defense struggled mightily with errors in eight straight games before going errorless versus Cal Poly this past Tuesday. The Cardinal committed a season-high five errors in last Saturday's 18-4 win at USC and has had multiple-error games in four of its last seven contests. The Cardinal has made a total of 16 errors in its last two Pac-10 series. Stanford started off the season playing excellent defense, committing just seven errors in its first 17 games and lifting its fielding percentage as high as .988. The team's current .970 fielding percentage ranks third in the Pac-10.
JOHN GALL TIES PAC-10 HIT RECORD
John Gall has tied the Pac-10 career hits record of 337 held by Arizona's Chip Hale. Gall has a current career-high 16-game hitting streak as he is 32-for-67 (.478) with eight doubles, six homers and 28 RBI during the streak. He has already broken Stanford career records for hits, doubles and runs batted in during the month of April.
JOE BORCHARD PULLING DOUBLE DUTY WITH FOOTBALL AND BASEBALL
Joe Borchard has been twice as busy as usual lately as the two-sport standout has been participating in spring football practice since April 10. Borchard's 20-day stint of double duty will end on April 29 when the quarterback/outfielder plays in the Spring Football Game at 12:15 p.m. before walking across campus for Stanford's baseball game versus California at 2:00 p.m. Borchard is hitting .353 (12-34) with three homers and eight RBI over eight games during the stretch. In Pac-10 games only, he leads the club with eight homers in 15 conference games. He also leads or co-leads the club in runs scored (21), runs batted in (18), slugging percentage (.855) and walks (14) in Pac-10 games only.
MORE NOTES
Edmund Muth, John Gall and Joe Borchard are all nearing the 50-RBI mark as Gall leads with 49, while Muth has 47 and Borchard has driven in 44 ... Borchard (8), Muth (5) and Gall (3) have accounted for 16 of Stanford's 21 homers in Pac-10 action ... Arik VanZandt has emerged as the team's starter at designed hitter and is hitting .455 (5-11) in Pac-10 action ... John Gall (.407) and Chris O'Riordan (.400) have played in all 15 Pac-10 games and are next on Stanford's all-time list ... Stanford has five win streaks of four or more games ... Mark Marquess won his 400th Pac-10 game at Washington State (4/9/00).
STANFORD IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
Stanford remained at #4 in all three polls (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and USA Today Baseball Weekly) this week. The #4 ranking is up from #5 two weeks ago and a #7 in Baseball America the previous week, which was the lowest the Cardinal had been all season. South Carolina is the #1 club in all three polls. Stanford began the season at #1 in all three polls before dropping out of the top spot on February 14. The Cardinal finished the 1999 campaign ranked #3 in all three polls. Stanford's poll history includes a run as the "king of the polls" in 1998 when the Cardinal held the top spot in the Baseball America poll for a record 14 consecutive weeks.
STANFORD BASEBALL HISTORY
Stanford's storied baseball program has had many highlights as the program is currently in its 107th season with an all-time record of 2210-1424-32 (.607). Just a few of the highlights have included back-to-back NCAA Championships (1987, 1988), 11 College World Series appearances, 17 conference titles and 20 NCAA Tournament berths. Stanford has boasted a total of 39 All-Americans who have earned a total of 45 All-American honors, including NCAA Player of the Year choices Jeff Austin (1998), David McCarty (1991) and Steve Dunning (1970). Other numbers for the Cardinal baseball program include 92 all-conference players earning a total of 114 honors, 53 major league players (including 12 currently in Major League Baseball) and 10 first round draft picks in the last 13 years.