April 24, 2004
at
Sacramento State (22-27)
Friday, April 23, 6 pm
at Stanford 15, Sacramento State 1
Saturday, April 24, 2 pm
Jeff Gilmore (6-1, 4.57) vs. RHP Ethan Katz (6-4, 4.16)
MEDIA COVERAGE
Gametracker: None
Live Audio: gostanford.com ... Sam Stefanki and Mike Etchepare will handle the broadcasts ... A Gametracker with live stats will be available for Friday's game from a link at gostanford.com ... There will be no Gametracker available for the contest.
QUICK TEAM NOTES
The 2004 Stanford team is only the second club in 111 seasons of baseball on The Farm to win at least 31 of its first 36 games ... Only the 1967 club (31-4-1) posted a better record after 36 games ... The Cardinal, who has an off-week from Pac-10 action this week, sits atop the conference standings by 1.5 games with a 7-2 league mark after recording the first sweep by any Pac-10 team in a conference series last Friday-Sunday over California ... USC and Washington are tied for second with 6-4 conference marks ... Stanford is the No. 2 team in the latest of all four major college baseball national polls released on Monday, April 19 (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA and Sports Weekly/ESPN) for the second consecutive week ... Stanford spent two weeks (March 22 - 29) as the nation's unanimous No. 1 team and seven weeks (February 23 - April 5) as the No. 1 team in the Baseball America poll ... The Cardinal has won all 10 of its regular season series this year, 14 in a row overall and 22 of its last 23 dating back to last season ... Stanford has swept five of its 10 series this season and eight during its current 14-series win streak ... Stanford is scheduled to play 12 of its remaining 20 regular season games at home, where the Cardinal has won 10 in a row, 26 of its last 27 and has a 17-1 record this season ... Stanford has also won 28 of its last 32 true road games, finishing last year with a 14-game win streak in true road games and beginning this season with a 14-4 mark away from Sunken Diamond ... All told, the Cardinal has a 54-9 record in its last 63 games dating back to the 2003 campaign ... Stanford has come from behind in 13 of its 31 wins this year and is 4-5 when either tied or trailing heading into the ninth inning (2-1 tied, 2-4 trailing) ... Stanford is 5-1 this season against ranked teams ... Stanford has been errorless in 15 of its first 36 games ... Stanford has more than doubled its opponents scoring (332-152) as 27 of its 31 wins have been by three or more runs and is 18-0 in games decided by five or more runs ... Stanford is leading the Pac-10 in all three major team categories with a season-high .336 batting average, a 3.86 ERA and a .974 fielding percentage ... Offensively, Stanford is averaging 9.2 runs per contest and has posted double-digit runs 17 times this year ... The Cardinal has also reached double digits in hits on 29 occasions, including a season-high 12 in a row ... Stanford is looking to extend its school record string of consecutive appearances at the College World Series to six, as well as its string of 40-win seasons to 10 ... Stanford has also won 50 or more games in three of the last four seasons ... Stanford has captured 11 Pac-10 titles in the last 21 years and finished either first or second in the conference 21 times in last 23 seasons.
QUICK INDIVIDUAL NOTES
National Player of the Year candidate Jed Lowrie leads the Cardinal in nearly every offensive category - batting average (.397), runs scored (47), triples (4), homers (12), RBI (50), extra-base hits (25), total bases (107), slugging percentage (.787), bases on balls (31), on-base percentage (.506), sacrifice flies (5, co-leader), multiple-hit games (17, shares team lead) and multiple-RBI games (16) ... Brian Hall has moved up to second on the club with a .378 average during a current career-high 21-game hit streak (3/5 - 4/23) ... Hall's hit streak is also the longest by a Stanford player this year as his average has risen 170 points during the streak from a season-low .208 ... Hall also leads the team with 10 doubles and 10 stolen bases, while sharing the team lead with 17 multiple-hit games, and contributing two triples, seven homers and 36 RBI ... Danny Putnam, who is the reigning Pac-10 Player of the Week and has a current nine-game hit streak, has taken over the team lead in hits (55) and is one of three players with 17 multiple-hit contests, while ranking tied for second on the club in homers (10), as well as third in RBI (37) and fourth in batting average (.359) ... Jonny Ash ranks third in batting average (.374) and fourth in hits (52) ... John Mayberry and Donny Lucy are both hitting .357 ... Mayberry also ranks second on the club in RBI (43) and tied for second in homers (10) ... Ryan Seawell (.323) is also hitting over .300, while Sam Fuld (.296), Chris Minaker (.293) and Chris Carter (.20) are at .290 or above ... Lucy (career-high) and Fuld (season-high) both have current 12-game hit streaks ... Fuld broke Stanford's all-time runs scored record versus California last Saturday and now has 250 for his career, while moving into sole possession of second-place (333) on Stanford's all-time hit list after a pair of hits versus Sacramento State on Friday ... Fuld also ranks among Stanford's all-time leaders in hits at bats (974, #3), triples (16, #3T), doubles (58, #6T) and games played (236, #7) ... Friday night's winner Mark Romanczuk (8-1) leads the team with eight wins, while David O'Hagan is 5-0 with a team-high four saves and the lowest ERA (2.20) among pitchers with at least one inning per team game played ... Jeff Stimpson has an 0.87 ERA in 20.2 frames over 11 relief appearances.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Stanford holds an all-time series advantage of 17-9 over Sacramento State (since 1977) after taking last night's series-opener, 15-1. The Cardinal swept a pair of games between the teams last year, winning 9-1 at Stanford (4/11/03) and 5-1 at Sacramento State (4/22/03). Stanford also won the only game played between the teams in 2002 by a score of 6-5 at Sunken Diamond (4/24/02). The Hornets came up with a big victory in the second game between the clubs at Raley Field in 2001, winning 12-3 (5/2/01). Stanford has won the last nine games played between the teams at Sunken Diamond with the last Hornet victory on The Farm coming by a score of 8-5 on April 30, 1994.
2004 VERSUS SACRAMENTO STATE
at Stanford 15, Sacramento State 1 (April 23, 2003) - Stanford pounded out a season-high 21 hits and Mark Romanczuk (season-high-tying 8.0 innings, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO) picked up his eighth win of the season as the Cardinal ran its win streak to seven games with a 15-1 victory over Sacramento State. Brian Hall (3-6, 2 2B, RBI) extended his career-high hit streak to 21 games, while Donny Lucy (4-4, HR, 2 RBI) had the first four-hit game of his career and extended his career-high hit streak to 12. John Mayberry, Jr. (3-4, HR, 4 RBI) hit his 10th homer of the season and drove in a season-high-tying four runs, while Sam Fuld (2-5) and Danny Putnam (2-3, 3B, RBI) also extended their current hit streaks to a season-high 12 and nine games, respectively. Chris Carter (3-3, 2 2B, RBI) added his first three-hit game of the season, while Jed Lowrie (2-6, HR, RBI) hit his team and Pac-10 leading 12th homer and drove in his 50th run of the year.
2003 VERSUS SACRAMENTO STATE
at Stanford 9, Sacramento State 1 (April 11, 2003) - John Hudgins pitched 8.0 scoreless two-hit innings and struck out 11 batters to lead Stanford to a 9-1 victory over Sacramento State. Hudgins retired 20 of the 22 batters he faced and did not allow a hit over his final 6.0 innings before he was relieved by Kodiak Quick to start the ninth inning. Ryan Garko (3-4, 2 RBI) had three hits, while Danny Putnam (2-3, HR, 2 RBI) hit the game's only homer and drove in a pair of runs for the Cardinal.
Stanford 5, at Sacramento State 1 (April 22, 2003) - Carlos Quentin and Danny Putnam each homered to lead Stanford to a 5-1 win over Sacramento State. Jonny Dyer, the second of four Stanford pitchers, was credited with his first victory of the season despite allowing a run and two hits in 1.2 innings of work. Matt Manship picked up a save by retiring all four batters he faced with a pair of strikeouts after coming on with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
THIS WEEK
at Stanford 10, Saint Mary's 5 (April 20, 2004) - Stanford reached the 30-win mark after its first 35 games for only the second time in 111 years of baseball on The Farm with a 10-5 victory over Saint Mary's. Greg Reynolds earned the win in his first collegiate start, striking out four while scattering two runs and five over the first 5.0 innings. Chris Lewis (2-2, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) hit his first homer and drove in a pair of runs, while Chris Minaker (3-5, 2B, 2 RBI) and Sam Fuld (3-6, RBI) had three hits each as all nine Stanford starters contributed at least one hit in the Cardinal's season-high-tying 18-hit attack. The victory was Stanford's 19th in a row over Saint Mary's dating back to the last Gael win in the all-time series by a score of 1-0 at Sunken Diamond on February 1, 1994.
LAST WEEK
at Stanford 12, Santa Clara 3 (April 13, 2004) - Sam Fuld scored twice to tie the school's all-time runs scored record in Stanford's 12-3 non-conference victory over Santa Clara. The Cardinal scored five times in the bottom of the first inning as Danny Putnam's three-run homer keyed the outburst. Jed Lowrie (3-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) and John Hester (3-5, 3 RBI) added three hits and three RBI each for the Cardinal with Lowrie blasting a two-run shot in the second inning for his team-leading 10th long ball of the season. Brian Hall extended his career-high hit streak to 16 games and stole his team-leading ninth base. Matt Leva - the first of five Stanford pitchers that combined on a six-hitter - was credited with the victory. Nathan Faulkner (2-4, HR, 2 RBI) homered and had a pair of hits for the Broncos.
at Stanford 7, California 4 (April 16, 2004) - Brian Hall (4-4, 2B, RBI) tied a career-high with four hits to lead Stanford to a 7-4 victory over California. Mark Romanczuk picked up the win by allowing just five hits and four runs over the first 7.0 innings, while Jeff Stimpson came on to pitch 2.0 hitless innings of relief with two strikeouts to earn his first collegiate save. Danny Putnam (2-3, 3B, RBI) and Chris Carter (2-3, RBI) had two hits each for the Cardinal, while Chris Minaker drove in a pair of runs. California scored all four of its runs by hitting three home runs. Jeff Dragicevich and Brian Horwitz had solo shots in the third and fourth innings for the first two Golden Bear runs, while a two-run homer by David Weiner with no outs in the eighth chased Romanczuk. California starter Adam Gold (5.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) suffered the loss.
at Stanford 9, California 2 (April 17, 2004) - Danny Putnam (3-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI) and Donny Lucy (2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI) each homered twice to lead Stanford a 9-2 win over California. Sam Fuld also broke Stanford's all-time record for runs scored, while Jeff Gilmore pitched the first complete game of his career and the first by a Stanford pitcher this season by allowing just two runs and five hits with a walk and four strikeouts. Chris Minaker (3-4, 2B, SB) and Jed Lowrie (3-4, RBI) added three-hit games for the Cardinal. Allen Craig was the only California player with more than one hit, while Chris Grossman drove in a pair of runs. California starter Mike Padgett (2.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) took the loss.
at Stanford 8, California 3 (April 18, 2004) - David O'Hagan pitched 5.1 one-hit innings of scoreless relief with five strikeouts to earn the victory and help Stanford to a come-from-behind 8-3 win over California. Jed Lowrie (2-4, HR, 2 RBI) hit his team-leading 11th homer of the season to lead the Cardinal offense. Danny Putnam (2-4, RBI) and Donny Lucy (2-4) also had two hits each, while Brian Hall drove home a pair of runs with a double to cap Stanford's four-run third inning that helped the Cardinal erase an early 2-0 deficit. James Holder accounted for the first two California runs with a two-run homer in the top of the second, while Jeff Dragicevich (2-4) was the only Golden Bear with more than one hit. California starter Matt Brown (2.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO) was tagged with the loss.