May 3, 2000
Stanford (35-11, 13-5 Pac-10) has claimed sole possession of first place in the Pac-10 heading into another key series at Oregon State (26-20, 7-8 Pac-10) this Friday-Sunday (May 5-7). Stanford will be visiting Oregon State for the first time since 1971. The Cardinal will enter the series with 14 wins in its last 16 outings, including 10 wins in its last 12 Pac-10 contests. Stanford has won five of its six Pac-10 series it has played this season, including sweeps of Washington and Washington State. Stanford won two-of-three from Arizona, California and USC. The Cardinal had managed just one of three wins versus Arizona State. Oregon State has won four-of-five and taken two-of-three in each of its last three Pac-10 series. Stanford leads the all-time series between the clubs, 24-8, including a three-game sweep (7-0, 10-5, 9-8) at Sunken Diamond last year.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE PAC-10 RACE
Stanford's dramatic 12-11 win over California last Sunday gave the Cardinal sole possession of first place in the Pac-10 for the first time this season. UCLA trails the Cardinal by just one half game and is a game ahead of Stanford in the loss column. The two teams meet at Sunken Diamond on the final weekend of the regular season. Arizona State trails the Cardinal by one full game. UCLA hosts California and Arizona before visiting Stanford. Arizona State finishes its season by hosting Washington and travelling to Arizona.
UP NEXT FOR THE CARDINAL
Stanford begins a stretch of four non-conference games by travelling to Santa Clara (Tuesday, May 9, 7 pm) and hosting Saint Mary's (Wednesday, May 10, 6 pm -- televised by Cable Co-Op) next week before taking a rare weekend off. The Broncos (17-34, 7-17 WCC) and the Gaels (8-16, 18-28) have both 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) and have already defeated the Gaels twice (March 21 - 11-3 at Saint Mary's, March 28 - 5-2 at Stanford). The Cardinal leads the all-time series over both Santa Clara (70-24-1, since 1977) and Saint Mary's (43-8). The four-game non-conference stretch continues the following week with games at USF (Monday, May 15 -- 2:30 pm) and at Nevada (Tuesday, May 16, 2:00 p.m.).
REMAINING STANFORD 2000 BASEBALL TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Two remaining regular season Stanford Baseball games are scheduled to be televised, including Saturday's nationally televised FOX Sports Net game at Oregon State. Please check your local listings for the FOX game to find out in which areas the game will be shown.
ALVARADO, BORCHARD AND RECORD CROWDS HIGHLIGHT CAL SERIES
Stanford players such as Damien Alvarado and Joe Borchard provided a tremendous amount of excitement for the record crowds that attended last weekend's Stanford-California series. Alvarado provided a dramatic game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Cardinal a 12-11 win on Sunday. Borchard played in both the Stanford spring football and baseball games on Saturday. For the record, he was 2-for-2 as the starting quarterback for the Cardinal team in the football spring scrimmage. After joining his teammates on the baseball field, Borchard posted a 2-for-4 performance in Stanford's 10-6 win. A regular season record 3,722 spectators watched Borchard complete the rare doubleheader on Saturday before Sunday's crowd of 3710 fell just short of setting the record again. A total of 9690 fans were in attendance for the three-game series.
RECENT CARDINAL ACTION
Stanford has won 14 of its last 16 games. Stanford opened last 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. The Cardinal had a temporary setback in last Friday's series opener with California. After rallying from a 5-1 deficit with two runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to send the game to extra innings, Stanford gave up a pair of unearned runs in the top of the 11th. California's Clint Hoover hit a towering infield pop-up which was misplayed by the Cardinal infield. John Gall did set a new Pac-10 record in the game when he picked up the 338th hit of his career on a double in the bottom of the 11th, breaking the former mark of 337 set by Arizona's Chip Hale. Andy Topham had a homer in the contest, his third in five games. The Cardinal rebounded with a 10-6 victory on Saturday. Justin Wayne became just the second pitcher in the Pac-10 to record his 10th win of the season. Wayne improved to 10-2 by scattering 10 hits and four runs (three earned) over 7.0 innings. Topham led the Cardinal offense, while four other Cardinal hitters had two hits each. Stanford picked up a wild 12-11 victory in Sunday's finale as Damien Alvarado homered as the first hitter in the bottom of the ninth to end a game that featured six lead changes. Borchard had a pair of home runs, the fourth time he accomplished that feat in his career. Ryan McCally picked up his first collegiate victory on the mound, tossing 1.2 innings of hitless relief.
HITTING REPORT
Stanford's batting average has risen to .305, the highest it has been since it stood at .329 following the second game of the year. Stanford has tallied multiple-hits in a season-high six straight games, including a season-high 23 hits at USC (4/22), and averaged over 15 hits per contest during the stretch. The Cardinal had 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 11 occasions and recorded double digit hits 26 times. Eight of Stanford's nine regular starters -- Arik VanZandt (.400), John Gall (.359), Craig Thompson (.352), Chris O'Riordan (.352), Andy Topham (.345), Eric Bruntlett (.341) and Edmund Muth (.317), Joe Borchard (.316) -- are hitting better than .300. Muth and Borchard co-lead the team in homers (13). Muth leads the team in triples (3), total bases (117) and slugging percentage (.639), while co-leading the team in stolen bases (6). Gall leads the squad with 52 RBI. Bruntlett (17 doubles, 33 bases on balls, .448 on base percentage) leads the team in three key offensive categories and also co-leads the club with six stolen bases and 49 runs scored. Thompson has 49 runs scored as well and a team-high 68 hits.
PITCHING REPORT
The Cardinal pitching staff has been excellent for most of the season. Stanford leads the Pac-10 in pitching with a 3.45 ERA, ranking #13 in the NCAA. Cardinal pitchers have given up just 335 hits and 158 earned runs in 412.0 innings. Stanford pitchers have recorded 417 strikeouts and allowed only 167 walks (2.50-1 ratio). The team's top starter has been Justin Wayne (10-2, 2.96), while 1999 All-American Jason Young (6-0, 3.44) has seemingly returned to his All-American form with wins in three of his last four starts. Young has also won 12 straight decisions dating back to his final six decisions of 1999. Tim Cunningham (4-1, 3.12, 1 SV) has started four straight games as the team's third starter with three wins and a no decision during that time. Jeff Bruksch (2-3, 2.68, 9 SV) has been the team's top reliever and is making a run at Stanford's save record of 13 in a season, currently held by Steve Chitren (1987). Mike Gosling (2-2, 2.42, 3 SV) has pitched well as a starter, middle reliever and occasional closer. He leads the club with a 2.42 ERA and boasts 67 strikeouts in just 48.1 innings on the hill, ranking eighth in the NCAA with an average of 12.48 strikeouts per nine innings.
DEFENSIVE REPORT
Stanford's defense has recovered a bit of late with two errorless efforts in the last four contests. Stanford's defense had struggled mightily with errors in eight straight games prior to an errorless contest versus Cal Poly last Tuesday. The Cardinal committed a season-high five errors in an 18-4 win at USC. Stanford started off the season playing excellent defense and was ranked as high as #2 in the nation at one point, 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 and #12 in the nation.
JOHN GALL EXTENDS CAREER-HIGH HITTING STREAK TO 20 GAMES
John Gall, who broke school records in career hits, RBI and doubles during the month of April, opened May by extending his career-high hitting streak to 20 games on May 1 versus USF. Gall is 37-for-84 (.440) with 11 doubles, six homers and 31 RBI during the streak. He also broke the Pac-10 career hit record in April and his 72 career doubles are just four shy of setting a new Pac-10 record in that category.
JOE BORCHARD PUTTING UP BIG POWER NUMBERS IN PAC-10 PLAY
Joe Borchard has slugged 10 homers in 18 conference games to pace the Cardinal. He also leads the club in runs scored (26), runs batted in (22), slugging percentage (.853) and walks (17) in Pac-10 games only. Borchard just completed a stretch of 10 games where he both practiced football and played baseball during, going 14-for-43 (.326) with three homers and eight RBI over that period.
MORE NOTES
Edmund Muth, John Gall and Joe Borchard remain engaged in a battle for the team's RBI lead as Gall leads with 52, while Muth has 50 and Borchard has driven in 49 ... Borchard (10), Muth (5) and Gall (3) have accounted for 16 of Stanford's 27 homers in Pac-10 action ... Chris O'Riordan (.391) leads the team in batting average in Pac-10 games only ... The bottom three hitters in the Stanford lineup (Damien Alvarado, Andy Topham and Arik VanZandt) have keyed much of Stanford's hitting attack with a combined .333 batting average, seven homers and 29 RBI in 18 Pac-10 games.
STANFORD IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
Stanford moved up a spot to #3 in all three polls (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and USA Today Baseball Weekly) this week. 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 2212-1425-32 (.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.