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2001 NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL REGIONAL
May 25-27, 2001 -- at Stanford, CA
Friday, May 25
Game 2 (3:00 p.m.) - #3 Texas (34-24) vs. #2 Long Beach State (35-21)
Game 1 (7:00 p.m.) - #4 Marist (32-19-1) vs. #1 Stanford (42-14)
Saturday, May 26
Game 3 (11:00 a.m.) - Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser
Game 4 (3:00 p.m.) - Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner
Game 5 (7:00 p.m.) - Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser
Sunday, May 27
Game 6 - Championship Game (1:00 p.m.) - Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner
Game 7 - Championship Game #2 (5:00 p.m., if necessary) - Only played if both remaining teams have one loss following the conclusion of Game 6
A live audio broadcast of all Stanford Baseball games in the 2001 NCAA Regional will be available on KZSU (90.1 FM) as well as at www.gostanford.com and realaudio.stanford.edu ... Chad Goldberg and Joey Elger will call the action ... Live stats of all games at the 2001 NCAA Regional will be available at www.gostanford.com ... Call 800-STANFORD for tickets to the 2001 NCAA Regional.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE 2001 NCAA REGIONAL AT STANFORD
Stanford will be hosting Long Beach State, Texas and Marist in an NCAA Regional running this Friday-Sunday, May 25-27 ... The Cardinal is the top seed in the regional and fourth seed nationally in the 2001 NCAA Baseball Championships ... Stanford finished second in the 2000 College World Series and is attempting to reach the CWS for the third straight season and the fourth time in five years ... Stanford is serving as a regional host for the sixth straight year ... Stanford enters the regional with nine wins in its last 11 regular season games and swept Washington State in its final regular season weekend ... Long Beach State is seeded second despite losing three of its final four contests in the regular season ... Those three losses came to two of the top three seeded teams in the NCAA Tournament with a pair of losses to top-seed Cal State Fullerton and one to third-seeded USC ... Texas is the third seed in the regional and lost a pair of heartbreaking games in the Big 12 Tournament to Texas A&M (9-8) and Oklahoma (9-7) last week ... Marist is seeded fourth and qualified for the NCAA Tournament with three consecutive wins in the MAAC Tournament last week ... The Red Foxes have won five in a row.
2001 NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS INFORMATION
Stanford is one of 16 regional hosts for the 2001 NCAA Division I Baseball Championships. The first weekend of play in the NCAA Tournament features 16 regionals with the winners advancing to eight NCAA Super Regionals on June 1-3 (Friday-Sunday). The eight Super Regional winners advance to the 55th College World Series to be held June 8-16 (Friday-Saturday) at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska. Super Regional sites will be announced on Monday, May 28. The entire 64-team field for the 2001 NCAA Division I Baseball Championships, with first-round pairings and site assignments can be found at: NCAABaseball.com
2001 NCAA BASEBALL REGIONAL TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for the 2001 NCAA Baseball Regional at Stanford can be obtained by visiting the Stanford Ticket Office at Gate 2 of Stanford Stadium or by calling 1-800-STANFORD. All-session passes are currently on sale to the general public. Single-game passes will go on sale Friday, May 25. The hours of the Stanford Ticket Office are 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Monday-Friday. Ticket options and prices are listed below.
ALL-SESSION PASSES
Reserved ($50)
General Admission ($35)
Student/Child/Senior General Admission ($20)
SINGLE-GAME PASSES
Reserved($15)
General Admission ($12)
Student/Child/Senior General Admission ($8)
*All General Admission Passes Are Lawn Seating Or Standing Room Only
BRIEF STANFORD POST-SEASON HISTORY AND REVIEW
Stanford will be making its 22nd appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its 19th showing in an NCAA Regional ... The Cardinal finished second at the 2000 College World Series in its third trip to the CWS championship game and 12th CWS appearance ... Stanford won CWS titles in 1987 and 1988 ... Stanford has an all-time post-season record of 87-46 (.654) ... Stanford is hosting its sixth consecutive NCAA Regional ... Stanford won an NCAA Regional held at Stanford last year ... The Cardinal compiled a 3-1 record in the event ... Stanford opened its 2000 NCAA Regional with a 5-1 win over Fresno State ... The Cardinal then played Alabama three consecutive times ... Stanford won the first game, 8-6 ... Alabama picked up a 14-9 win in the first championship game before Stanford came back to win 16-6 in the second regional title game to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals ... Long Beach State knocked Stanford out of the 1998 NCAA Regional with a 5-1 victory (5/23/98) at Sunken Diamond ... Stanford finished 8-3 in 11 post-season games in 2000 (Regionals: 3-1, Super Regionals: 2-1, College World Series: 3-1).
OTHER ESSENTIAL STANFORD BASEBALL NOTES
Stanford finished the 2001 regular season with a 42-14 record, one-half game under the 42-13 record by the 2000 CWS runners-up club ... The Cardinal finished second in the Pac-10 standings with a 17-7 record to end a school record string of four consecutive Pac-10 titles (includes co-championships and Southern Division titles) ... The 17-7 mark was identical to the 17-7 Pac-10 record posted by the 2000 tri-champion Stanford team and left the Cardinal one game behind 2001 Pac-10 champion USC (18-6 Pac-10 record) ... Stanford posted a 24-4 record at Sunken Diamond and an 18-10 road mark during the 2001 regular season ... Stanford won nine of its last 11 games regular season games after suffering through a mini-skid that saw the Cardinal go 2-5 from April 17-28 ... Stanford's team batting average is currently sitting at a season-high .317 after the Cardinal had 10 or more hits in each of their final eight regular season games ... Carlos Quentin was named the Pac-10 Baseball Freshman of the Year, while Chris O'Riordan and Sam Fuld joined Quentin on the All-Pac-10 team ... O'Riordan led the offensive barrage in those final eight games of the season, going 21-for-34 (.618) with seven multiple-hit games during his current eight-game hitting streak ... Mike Gosling has been the team's hottest pitcher with seven consecutive Pac-10 wins, including his last six Pac-10 starts ... Stanford moved up one spot to No. 6 ranking in the Baseball America poll this week ... The Cardinal is currently No. 4 in the Collegiate Baseball poll and No. 3 in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll ... The Cardinal sat at the top of the Baseball America poll for six consecutive weeks (3/12 - 4/16) and had been the nation's unanimous No. 1 team for two weeks (4/9 - 4/16) ... Stanford has had four winning streaks of five or more games this season, including a season-best 10-game winning streak from March 7-31 ... Stanford is 11-4 against ranked teams this year (according to Baseball America ... Stanford's team fielding percentage of .975 is currently .003 percentage points ahead of the school record.
STANFORD HEAD COACH MARK MARQUESS
One of the nation's premier collegiate coaches, Mark Marquess is now in his 25th season as the Stanford head coach. Marquess has a career record of 1037-512-5 (.669) at Stanford, including impressive records of 79-38 (.675) in the post-season and 428-280 (.605) in the Pacific-10 Conference action, arguably the toughest league in the nation. The 1969 Stanford graduate has led the Cardinal to two NCAA titles (1987, `88), 10 College World Series appearances (1982, `83, `85, `87, `88, `90, `95, `97, `99, `00), 10 Pac-10 regular season titles (1983, `84, `85, `87, `90, `94, `97, `98, `99, `00) as the Cardinal has qualified for the NCAA Tournament 19 times under Marquess. Marquess became the 23rd head coach in the history of NCAA Division I baseball to reach the 1000-career win mark when the Cardinal defeated Florida State earlier this season on February 9, 2001. He began the 2001 season ranked 14th in victories and 19th in winning percentage among active Division I baseball coaches. He has been named NCAA Coach of the Year three times and has received Pacific-10 Coach of the Year honors on eight occasions, including three of the last four seasons. Marquess was named the Pac-10 Southern Division Coach of the Year seven times before being named the first Pac-10 Coach of Year in the newly aligned conference (1999). Last season, Marquess coached the Cardinal to its first trip to the College World Series title game since winning the 1988 CWS championship. His teams have won NCAA Super Regionals each of the last two seasons and won at least a share of a Pac-10 baseball championship (includes Southern Division championships) for a school-record four straight seasons from 1997-2000. Nearly as eye-opening as the number of titles won by the Cardinal is the consistent level of success Marquess has brought to the program. The Cardinal has suffered just one losing season during his tenure and has finished either first or second in the prestigious Pacific-10 (formerly Six-Pac) 19 times in the last 21 seasons. Stanford has had 95 professional baseball draft picks in the past 16 seasons, including 12 first-round selections in the last 14 years. A member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Marquess was the head coach of the 1988 United States Olympic baseball team that captured the Gold Medal. Marquess was an accomplished football and baseball standout on The Farm and is a member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame. He is one of only six collegiate head baseball coaches to have both played and coached in the College World Series. Marquess was the starting first baseman on Stanford's 1967 College World Series squad and played five years of minor league baseball with the Chicago White Sox organization.
COMMENTS FROM MARK MARQUESS
STANFORD COACHING STAFF
Dean Stotz is in his 25th campaign with Stanford Baseball. Stotz was promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2000 season after 23 years as an assistant. Stotz currently coaches third base while also handling various offensive and defensive aspects of the game. Mark O'Brien (3rd season) and Tom Kunis (2nd season) complete the Cardinal coaching staff. O'Brien assists with all aspects of the game and serves as the Cardinal's first base coach. Kunis is the team's pitching coach.
STANFORD MOVES UP TO NO. 6 IN BASEBALL AMERICA POLL
Stanford moves up one spot to No. 6 in this week's Baseball America poll for the third consecutive week. The Cardinal remains at No. 3 in this week's Baseball Weekly/ESPN poll and No. 4 in the Collegiate Baseball poll. Stanford spent two weeks (4/9 - 4/16) as the nation's unanimous No. 1 team before losing five-of-seven games from April 17-28. Stanford has since returned to its winning form with nine victories in its last 11 contests. The Cardinal spent six weeks as Baseball America's top team (3/12 - 4/16). Stanford has been ranked No. 1 at one point during each of the past five years. Stanford opened the 2001 season ranked No. 9 by Baseball Weekly/ESPN, No. 11 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 14 by Baseball America. USC (No. 2 in all three polls), Arizona State (No. 17 Baseball America, No. 16 Collegiate Baseball, No. 18 Baseball Weekly/ESPN) and California (No. 26 Collegiate Baseball) are the Pac-10's other ranked clubs and all qualified for the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal finished the 2000 campaign ranked No. 2 in all three polls after opening the season at No. 1 before dropping out of the top spot on February 14, 2000. Stanford's poll history includes a run as "king of the polls" in 1998 when the team held the top spot in the Baseball America poll for the entire regular season (a record 14 consecutive weeks).
STANFORD BASEBALL HISTORY
Stanford's storied baseball program has had many highlights as the program is currently in its 108th season and has an all-time record of 2270-1444-32 (.610). Last year's trip to the College World Series championship game was only the latest chapter in the success story of Stanford Baseball. The program has secured its 36th winning seasons over the last 37 campaigns (also 53 of last 55) in 2001 and has reached the 40-win mark for the seventh consecutive campaign. Just a few of the highlights have included back-to-back NCAA titles (1987, 1988), 12 College World Series appearances, 18 conference titles and 22 NCAA Tournament berths. Stanford has boasted a total of 40 All-Americans who have earned a total of 47 All-American honors. Stanford has also garnered three NCAA Player of the Year choices in Jeff Austin (1998), David McCarty (1991) and Steve Dunning (1970). Other numbers for the Cardinal Baseball program include 96 all-conference players earning a total of 121 honors, 55 major league players (including eight that have played Major League Baseball in 2001) and 12 first round draft picks in the last 14 years. Eight members of the 2000 Stanford Baseball team signed professional contracts following the 2000 collegiate season, including first-round draft picks Justin Wayne and Joe Borchard.
STANFORD'S HISTORY VERSUS THIS YEAR'S NCAA REGIONAL FIELD
Stanford has an overall record of 10-8-1 against the three teams in this year's NCAA Regional field. The Cardinal has the most experience with Texas, holding a 9-7-1 all-time lead in the series with the Longhorns. Stanford won two-of-three games over Texas earlier this season when the teams met in Austin (2/16 - 2/18) /for a three-game non-conference set. The Cardinal won the opener, 9-6, as Scott Dragicevich (3-5, RBI) and Arik VanZandt (3-6) had three hits each, while Jeremy Guthrie recorded the victory (7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO). Jeff Bruksch (8.1 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 6 SO) and Mike Wodnicki (0.2 IP) combined for a three-hit shutout of the Longhorns for a 5-0 victory in the second game. Texas came up with a 2-1 victory to avoid the sweep in the series finale. The teams split a pair of games the last time they played at Sunken Diamond in a non-conference series (2/18/00 - 2/19/00). Stanford was an 8-2 winner in the series-opener with the Longhorns coming back for a 3-2 victory in the second contest. The third game was rained out. Stanford and Texas have played four post-season games with the Longhorns winning three of those four contests, most recently with an 8-4 victory in the first round of an Regional in Austin on May 27, 1994. Stanford and Long Beach State have a 1-1 record since Mark Marquess began coaching the Cardinal. The 49ers won the only post-season meeting with a 5-1 victory (5/23/01) that knocked the Cardinal out of a 1998 NCAA Regional at Sunken Diamond. Stanford and Marist will be meeting for the first time in this year's NCAA Regional first-round game.
HITTING REPORT
Stanford's team batting average currently sits at a season-high .317, third in the Pac-10. Stanford's team batting average has been at .300 or better for the last 18 games (since 4/13). The club is on a recent tear, posting double-digit hits in a season-high eight straight games and 10 of its last 11 contests. The Cardinal is hitting .377 during its last eight games and hit .395 in its final regular season series at Washington State. Stanford has double-digit hits in 32 of its 56 games. Stanford picked up a season-high 22 runs versus Oregon State (4/14) and a season-high 24 hits at Washington State (5/19). Stanford hit .334 in 24 Pac-10 games. Chris O'Riordan currently leads or co-leads the Cardinal in 13 offensive categories, including batting average (.379), RBI (63), stolen bases (15), hits (88), doubles (14), total bases (136), at bats (232) and runs scored (53). O'Riordan has also hit a career-high 10 homers. Carlos Quentin paces the club in homers (11) and hit-by-pitches (12), while ranking second in RBI (45), runs scored (49) and slugging percentage (.578), as well as third in batting average (.352). Jason VanMeetren is the team co-leader in doubles (14) and paces the team with three. Sam Fuld co-leads the club in bases on balls (28). Ryan Garko (.357), Fuld (.342), Scott Dragicevich (.328), Cooper (.321) and VanMeetren (.316) join O'Riordan and Quentin with batting averages at .316 or better. Stanford has totaled a Pac-10 high 58 home runs, 374 RBI and 74 stolen bases for the season. Stanford's opponents have managed just 37 home runs, 192 RBI and 23 stolen bases.
PITCHING REPORT
The Stanford pitching leads the Pac-10 with a team ERA of 3.36 and was even better in 24 Pac-10 games with a 3.06 ERA. The last time the Cardinal finished a season with a lower ERA was when the 1973 club posted a final ERA of 2.64. Opponents are hitting only .234 off Cardinal pitching. The top four starting pitchers -- Jeremy Guthrie (10-4, 2.72), Jeff Bruksch (9-3, 2.93), Mike Gosling (7-0, 3.17) and Tim Cunningham (5-0, 3.95) -- have combined for a 31-7 record and a 3.10 ERA. Gosling has been the team's hottest pitcher with seven consecutive Pac-10 victories, including six consecutive conference starts. He recently tossed his first two career complete games at USC (4/22) and at California (4/29), shutting out the Golden Bears for his first career shutout. Guthrie picked up seven straight victories and Bruksch won five in a row earlier in the year. Guthrie (NCBWA Pitcher of the Week, 2/13) and Bruksch (Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, 2/26) have both earned one national honor this year. In addition, both have been named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week twice (Bruksch - 2/27, 4/9, Guthrie - 3/6, 3/13). Bruksch has had separate scoreless inning streaks of 19.0 and 15.0 during the period. Gosling tossed 16.0 consecutive scoreless innings as well. Mike Wodnicki (4-1, 4.64, 5 SV) leads the team in saves, while J.D. Willcox (3-0, 2.03, 4 SV) and Ryan McCally (2-1, 2.79, 3 SV) have also been effective out of the bullpen. Wodnicki has a team-high 22 appearances (three starts). John Hudgins (1-5, 4.72, 4 SV) is tied for second on the team with four saves. Guthrie leads the club in strikeouts (110 in 109.1 IP), while Bruksch paces the club in innings pitched (110.2 IP). The Cardinal staff has seven shutouts and seven complete games. Bruksch has three complete games, while Guthrie and Gosling have two each. All three pitchers have one shutout.
FIELDING REPORT
Stanford's defense is currently fielding at a .975 clip that would rank as the best fielding percentage in school history, .003 percentage points above the school record of .972 reached three times between 1990-2000. Stanford has been errorless in 25 of its 56 games. Stanford was perfect defensively for four consecutive games from March 25-31 and then for three straight twice (4/12 - 4/14, 4/28 - 5/1). Chris O'Riordan ranks second in the Pac-10 in assists (184). O'Riordan has recorded a team-high seven assists three times, while shortstop Scott Dragicevich has also reached the figure once. First baseman Arik VanZandt has committed just two errors in 524 chances for a .996 fielding percentage, while backup catcher Ken Tirpack (145 chances) remains flawless. The starting infield of O'Riordan, Dragicevich, VanZandt, third baseman Andy Topham and recent part-time starting first baseman Jason Cooper has made just 29 errors between them for a fielding percentage of .977. O'Riordan went without an error for 29 games (2/2 - 4/7) and has a current streak of 12 errorless games (4/28 - 5/20). Dragicevich has had three separate double digit errorless streaks this season, playing flawlessly in 12 consecutive games (1/26 - 2/18), as well as 10 straight games twice (2/25 - 3/23, 4/7 - 4/22).
CARLOS QUENTIN EARNS PAC-10 BASEBALL FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR HONORS AND IS JOINED ON ALL-PAC-10 TEAM BY CHRIS O'RIORDAN AND SAM FULD
Carlos Quentin headed Stanford's selections on the 2001 All-Pac-10 team by being named the 2001 Pac-10 Baseball Freshman of the Year. Quentin hit .352 in the regular season, while leading the club with 11 homers and ranking second with 45 RBI. Chris O'Riordan was also a first-team selection after leading the Cardinal in 13 offensive categories during the regular season, including batting average (.379), RBI (63), stolen bases (15) and hits (88). Sam Fuld rounded out the All-Pac-10 selections for the Cardinal. Fuld hit .346 in the regular season, while co-leading the team in bases on balls (28) and ranking second in on base percentage (.437), as well as tied for second in stolen bases (9). The All-Pac-10 selections were the first for Quentin, O'Riordan and Fuld. Five other Stanford players -- Jeff Bruksch, Scott Dragicevich, Ryan Garko, Mike Gosling and Jeremy Guthrie -- earned honorable mention honors.
CHRIS O'RIORDAN AND CARLOS QUENTIN LEAD CARDINAL IN PAC-10
Chris O'Riordan hit a team-high .436 and drove in a team-best 29 RBI in 24 Pac-10 games. Carlos Quentin hit a team-hit six homers.
STANFORD LOOKING TO SET MORE ATTENDANCE RECORDS
Stanford set a pair of new attendance records in its final regular season series versus Arizona (5/11 - 5/13). The series opener (5/11) set a new Sunken Diamond attendance record for a single game with a paid crowd of 4,458. The old mark was the crowd of 4,172 that witnessed the 1997 NCAA Regional Final between Stanford and Fresno State on May 25, 1997. The three-game series versus Arizona also set a new three-game series attendance record with a combined paid crowd of 11,137.
STANFORD'S 2000 REGIONAL RECAP
Stanford needed four games to get through its 2000 NCAA Regional. The Cardinal opened the regional with a convincing 5-1 victory over Fresno State (5/26) as Jason Young tossed a complete-game five-hitter and struck out nine, while walking none. Craig Thompson was the offensive standout, going 3-for-4 with three RBI. Stanford pulled out a dramatic 8-6 win over Alabama on Saturday as the Cardinal scored five times in the bottom of the ninth. Joe Borchard hit a three-run homer to tie the game before Andy Topham's single to right field brought home the winning run. Borchard was 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs and a season-high-tying five RBI. Justin Wayne tossed a complete game, scattering 10 hits and six runs. Wayne shut out the Crimson Tide in all but the sixth inning when Alabama scored six times. Alabama worked its way back to Sunday's championship game with a 6-5 win over Nevada on Saturday night and kept its momentum going in the first title game with a 14-9 win over the Cardinal. Alabama jumped out to a 10-2 lead and held off a fierce Stanford rally that had the Cardinal within 10-9 after scoring seven times in the seventh inning. However, Alabama would score four insurance runs in the top of the ninth to ice the victory. The Cardinal needed a victory in Sunday's second championship game to continue its season and advance to an NCAA Super Regional. The team responded by scoring seven times in the first two innings on its way to a 16-6 victory. Three Stanford players had three hits each as John Gall led the attack by going 3-for-6 with a homer and a season-high-tying five RBI. Thompson and Edmund Muth each added 3-for-6 performances with an RBI. Brian Sager picked up the start on the mound and pitched 6.0 solid innings, scattering seven hits and four runs (all earned).
STANFORD'S RETURNING 2000 POST-SEASON STANDOUTS
Stanford's top returning 2000 post-season standouts include Jeff Bruksch (3 saves), Chris O'Riordan (.378, 8 RBI, 3 SB), Andy Topham (grandslam homer in 16-6 CWS win over Louisiana-Lafayette and nine post-season RBI), Arik VanZandt (.302, 1 HR, 7 RBI) and Mike Wodnicki (1-0, 3.27 ERA).
BEATING THE BEST
Stanford's 39-14 record includes an 11-4 mark against teams ranked among the nation's Top 25 in the Baseball America poll at the time the Cardinal faced them. Stanford has no more regular season games scheduled against teams ranked among BA's Top 25.
STANFORD CONCLUDES REGULAR SEASON WITH THREE-GAME SWEEP AT WASHINGTON STATE
Stanford concluded its regular season with a three-game sweep at Washington State. The Cardinal won all three games by healthy margins beginning with a 14-6 victory in Friday's series-opener as the Cardinal belted out a season-high six homers. Stanford pounded out a season-high 24 h