April 27, 2002
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No. 4 Stanford (28-11, 5-5) at Oregon State (26-14, 5-5)
Fri., April 26 - at Oregon State 3, Stanford 1
Sat., April 27, 4 pm, PT - LHP Tim Cunningham (5-2, 4.24) vs. RHP Stephen Copeland (4-2, 5.78)
Sun., April 28, 1 pm, PT - RHP John Hudgins (6-0, 4.63) vs. LHP Mark McLemore (2-2, 4.35)
*A live audio broadcast of all three Stanford-Oregon State baseball games will be available on KZSU (90.1 FM) as well as online at gostanford.com with Nick Kapur calling the action ... Live stats will also be available for all three games at gostanford.com.
STANFORD BASEBALL QUICK TEAM NOTES
Stanford is currently ranked No. 4 in the nation in all four major polls (Baseball America, Baseball Weekly/ESPN, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA) but the Cardinal has dropped three of its last four conference games to fall into a fourth-place tie in the Pac-10 standings, 3.5 games behind league leader USC ... The Cardinal dropped its series opener at Oregon State, 3-1, last night to lose its second straight series opener after beginning each of its first 10 series this year with victories ... Stanford was held to a season-low four hits in last night's loss ... Stanford is 6-5 in middle games and 7-4 in series finales ... Stanford had won 12 consecutive regular season series before dropping two-of-three at Washington (4/19 - 4/21) ... Stanford had won four straight games versus Oregon State, including a three-game sweep of the Beavers at Sunken Diamond last year (4/12 - 4/14/01), before last night's defeat ... Stanford won two-of-three games the last time the teams played in Corvallis (5/5 -5/7/01) ... Stanford has come from behind in 14 of its 28 victories this season ... Stanford has been successful in close games this season with an 8-3 mark in one-run contests and a 4-2 record in extra-inning games ... Stanford has scored five or more runs in an inning 18 times this season ... Stanford is averaging 8.2 runs per game, has reached double figure runs 11 times and double figure hits on 27 occasions ... Stanford is currently hitting .321, while posting a 3.98 ERA and a .971 fielding percentage ... Stanford has hit 17 triples to only three for its opponents this season and also has a sizeable lead in homers with a 50-23 advantage over its competition ... Stanford has used 33 different starting lineups in 39 games this season ... Stanford's 28-11 record this season is three games behind the team's 31-8 mark through 39 games a year ago ... Stanford has yet to lose two games in a row this season ... Stanford is attempting to qualify for the College World Series for the fourth consecutive season as the 2002 senior class is looking to become the first class of Stanford Baseball players to reach Omaha in each of its four years ... Stanford has qualified for the CWS title game in each of the last two years ... Stanford is coming off three straight 50-win seasons for the first time in school history and has compiled a record of 179-59 (.752) since 1999.
STANFORD BASEBALL QUICK INDIVIDUAL NOTES
National Player of the Year candidate Jason Cooper leads the team with a .371 batting average, 10 homers and 39 RBI ... Chris O'Riordan (.359, 232-646) currently ranks tied for second on Stanford's career batting average list, three percentage points behind Jack Shepard (.362) ... O'Riordan had a career-high 12-game hit streak (23-55, .418) snapped by going 0-for-4 last night ... O'Riordan also failed to reach base for the first time in 39 games this season last night ... O'Riordan is second among regulars with a .350 batting average and leads the team in bases on balls (23) ... Sam Fuld paces the club in hits (60) and doubles (12) ... Fuld had been the team's hottest hitter, going 15-for-26 (.577) with six straight multiple-hit games before going 0-for-4 last night ... Brian Hall leads the team with nine stolen bases in nine chances ... Stanford's regular starting rotation of Jeremy Guthrie, Tim Cunningham and John Hudgins is a combined 17-3 with a 3.78 ERA ... Guthrie had won 11 consecutive decisions before taking the loss last night ... Dan Rich picked up his first victory since 1999 with career-highs in innings pitched (4.2) and strikeouts (6) during a relief performance in a 9-4 win at Washington (4/21).
STANFORD-OREGON STATE BASEBALL HISTORY
Stanford and Oregon State continue their current three-game series Saturday-Sunday, April 27-28 (4 pm, 1 pm, PT). The Beavers opened the series with a 3-1 victory over the Cardinal on Friday to drop Stanford into a fourth place tie in the Pac-10 standings with a 5-5 conference mark, 3.5 games behind league leader USC (27-16, 10-3 Pac-10). Oregon State is one of four teams also tied for fourth place with a 5-5 conference mark. Stanford had won the last four games between the clubs prior to last night with the previous Oregon State victory coming in a 5-2 win in Corvallis on April 6, 2000. Last year, the Cardinal swept the Beavers in a three-game series at Sunken Diamond (4/12, 4-1; 4/13, 8-1; 4/14, 22-5 in 7 innings). Stanford leads the all-time series, 29-10.
FRIDAY GAME REVIEW
at Oregon State 3, Stanford 1 (April 26, 2002) - Ben Rowe tossed a complete game four-hitter as Oregon State shut down Stanford with a 3-1 victory in the opener of a Pac-10 series. The victory came in Oregon State's first night game played in 96 years at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. Rowe did not walk a batter and struck out four, while Jeremy Guthrie (6-1) had his 11-game win streak snapped on the mound despite tossing his first complete game of the season, scattering eight hits and three runs with five strikeouts. Stanford's only run came on a leadoff solo homer by Ryan Garko in the top of the fourth inning to give the Cardinal a short-lived 1-0 lead. Garko (2-4, HR, RBI) had two of Stanford's season-low four hits. Biles (2-4, 2B) was the only Oregon State player with more than one hit. Chris O'Riordan had both his career-high hit (12) and on-base (38) streaks broken by going 0-for-4.
Stanford................ 000 100 000 - 1 4 1 Oregon State............ 000 300 00x - 3 8 2Win-Rowe(6-3) Loss-Guthrie(6-1) Save-None T-2:24 A-912
BATTERIES: Stanford - Guthrie and Garko. Oregon State - Rowe and Udy, Richie (9). HRs: Stanford - Garko (8th, solo in 4th).