May 18, 2004
Tuesday, May 18, 6 pm, PDT
TBA vs. TBA
Gametracker: Tuesday
Live Audio: gostanford.com with Sean Bruich and Chris Wheat on the microphones ... A Gametracker with live stats will also be available from a link at gostanford.com.
QUICK TEAM NOTES
Top-ranked Stanford (39-10) returns home to start a seven-game homestand that will conclude the regular season with its final non-conference game of the campaign versus San Francisco on Tuesday (6 pm, MST) ... Stanford returns home after dropping two-of-three at Arizona State last Saturday-Monday to drop its second straight Pac-10 series of the season (Stanford also lost two-of-three at Washington, May 7-9) ... The back-to-back series losses have dropped the Cardinal into second-place in the Pac-10 with a 12-6 league mark, one-half game behind first-place Washington (14-7 Pac-10) ... Stanford lost the final two games at Arizona (May 16-17) to drop back-to-back games for the first time this season ... Stanford still needs just one more victory to extend its school record string of 40-win seasons to 10 ... Despite its current two-game losing streak, Stanford moved up one spot to the top of the latest of all four major college baseball national polls released on Monday, May 17 (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA and Sports Weekly/ESPN) after former No. 1 Texas was 0-2 in a pair of games versus North Carolina State last week ... Stanford had spent a total of four weeks (March 22-29, May 3, May 17) as the nation's unanimous No. 1 squad this season and has been on top of the Baseball America poll nine weeks (February 23 - April 5, May 3, May 17) ... Stanford has won 15 games in a row at home, has a 22-1 home mark this season and has won 31 of its last 32 at Sunken Diamond ... Stanford struggled to a 5-7 record in its final 12 regular season road games but still finished with a 17-9 regular season road mark this season ... Stanford has come from behind in 17 of its 39 wins this year ... Stanford is 6-3 this season against ranked teams and 2-1 in extra-inning contests ... Stanford has been errorless in 19 of its first 49 games and is 17-2 in those contests ... Stanford has won by three or more runs in 32 of its 39 victories and is 22-2 in games decided by five or more runs ... Prior to losing 9-2 at Washington on May 9 and 11-2 at Arizona on May 17 in its biggest two margins of defeat this year, Stanford's previous four losses had been by one run ... The Cardinal is just 2-5 in one-run games, losing each of the last five one-run games it has been involved in ... Stanford is leading the Pac-10 in all three major team categories with a .331 batting average, a 4.37 ERA and a .975 fielding percentage ... Stanford is averaging 8.9 runs per contest and has posted double-digit runs in 22 games this year ... The Cardinal has also reached double digits in hits on 38 occasions, including 21 of its last 25 contests ... Stanford has hit 84 homers to lead the Pac-10 and has a legitimate chance to break the school record of 102 hit by the 1997 club ... Stanford is looking to extend its school record string of consecutive appearances at the College World Series to six ... 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 most offensive categories - batting average (.406), runs scored (63, Pac-10 leader), doubles (18), triples (4, co-leader with Brian Hall), homers (16, Pac-10 leader), RBI (63, Pac-10 leader), extra-base hits (38), total bases (152, Pac-10 leader), slugging percentage (.792, Pac-10 leader), bases on balls (38), on-base percentage (.504), sacrifice flies (5, shares team lead) and multiple-RBI games (18) ... Lowrie also ranks second on the club in hits (78) and multiple-hit games (23) ... Lowrie had a career game in Stanford's 19-18 loss at Arizona on May 16, going 6-for-6 for his first career six-hit game while also hitting his first career grandslam, setting a new career-high with five RBI, tying a career-high with three doubles and picking up a team single-game season-high 12 total bases ... Danny Putnam leads the team in hits (81) a current nine-game hit streak that began with eight consecutive multiple-hit games ... Putnam also leads the squad in multiple-hit games (27) with 10 in his last 12 contests, while ranking second in homers (14) and tied for second in RBI (50) ... Hall, who has hit safely in 30 of his last 34 games and is batting a phenomenal .500 (35-70) in 18 Pac-10 games, is fourth on the team with a .370 overall batting average ... Jonny Ash ranks fourth on the team in batting average (.374) ... Hall paces the club in stolen bases (12) and co-leads the team in triples (4), while ranking second in doubles (12), and tied for second in RBI (50), as well as fifth in homers (9) ... John Mayberry, Jr. is second on the team in stolen bases (9) and tied for second in RBI (50), as well as third in homers (13) and fifth in batting average (.353) ... Donny Lucy is sixth in batting average with a .329 mark and has contributed 11 homers, 42 RBI and five stolen bases ... Ryan Seawell (.324, 7 RBI) and Chris Carter (.311, 8 HR, 35 RBI, 1 SB) are also hitting over .300 ... Carter had the second two-homer game of his career at Arizona (May 16) and followed that with his first career four-hit day (4-4) the following day ... Carter is hitting .420 with five homers and 18 RBI in just 50 Pac-10 at bats ... Sam Fuld (.275, 3 HR, 27 RBI, 6 SB) is Stanford's all-time leader for runs scored (258) and at bats (1029, also Pac-10's all-time leader),258, while ranking second on Stanford's all-time lists for hits (345) ... Fuld is just 23 hits behind all-time Stanford and Pac-10 leader John Gall (368 hits/1027 at bats, 1997-2000) ... Fuld also ranks among Stanford's career leaders in games played (249, #3), triples (16, #3T) and doubles (58, #6T) ... Mark Romanczuk (10-1) leads the team and co-leads the Pac-10 with 10 wins, while ranking fifth on Stanford's all-time won-loss percentage list (22-3, .880) ... David O'Hagan is 5-1 with a team-high six saves and the lowest ERA (2.82) among Stanford pitchers with 1.0 inning per game played or more, while ranking sixth on Stanford's all-time won-loss percentage list with a 12-2 (.923) career record.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Stanford holds an all-time series advantage of 47-7 over San Francisco (since 1977). San Francisco won the only meeting between the teams last season with a 9-5 upset victory over the Cardinal at Sunken Diamond on April 1. Stanford had won the previous two times the teams had met (4-1, at Stanford, April 2, 2003; 8-6 at San Francisco, May 9, 2002) but the Dons also picked up an upset victory over the Cardinal by a score of 5-4 on April 17, 2002).
2003 VERSUS SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco 9, at Stanford 5 (April 1, 2003) - USF surprised Stanford with a 9-5 victory over the Cardinal. The game was tied 4-4 before the Dons scored twice in the sixth and added two more runs in the seventh. Ryan Hanson (3-4, RBI) had three hits for the Dons, while Andrew Smith and Nick Cirbo each drove in a pair of runs. USF reliever Kevin Annis picked up the victory by scattering a run and three hits in 2.0 innings before Derek Tate came on to hold the Cardinal scoreless over the final 2.2 innings to earn the save. Ryan Garko (3-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI) had a pair of doubles and three hits with three RBI, while Carlos Quentin (2-3, 2 2B, RBI) picked up his 200th career hit for the Cardinal with a first inning double. Sam Fuld (2-4) also had a multiple-hit game. Billy Paganetti suffered the loss, allowing two runs (one earned) and two hits in 3.0 innings.
LAST WEEK
at Stanford 3, Santa Clara 1 (May 11, 2004) - Stanford scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and held on for a 3-1 win over Santa Clara to complete a four-game season sweep of the Broncos. Stanford won its 15th straight home game and improved to 22-1 at Sunken Diamond this season. Danny Putnam (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI) had a key two-RBI double in the bottom of the first inning and was the only player on either team with a multiple-hit or multiple-RBI contest. Donny Lucy immediately followed Putnam's first inning double with an RBI double of his own to bring home Putnam. Blake Holler earned the victory in a predetermined pitching rotation, striking out two in a hitless top of the first; while David O'Hagan picked up the save by retiring all six batters he faced. Seven Stanford pitchers limited the Broncos to one run and four hits and struck out 10 batters. Santa Clara starter Bryan Fleming (0-1) took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts over the first 4.2 innings.
Stanford 11, at Arizona 9 (May 15, 2004) - Stanford gave up five runs in the bottom of the first inning but rallied for an 11-9 victory over Arizona. Brian Hall (2-4, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, SB) drove in three runs with a key third inning bases loaded triple, while Danny Putnam (3-5, RBI) continued his hot stretch by hitting safely for the 19th time in the last 20 games. Chris Lewis hit the game's only home run and drove in a pair of runs, while Jed Lowrie (2-5, RBI) had a multiple-hit game and Chris Carter picked up a pair of RBI. Mark Romanczuk (5.0 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 8 SO) picked up the victory, while David O'Hagan (2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) earned the save. Richard Mercado (3-3, 2B, RBI), Jason Donald (2-5, 3 RBI) and Jeff Van Houten (2-5, 3B) had multiple-hit contests for Arizona, while Trevor Crowe doubled and drove in three runs. Arizona starter Koley Kolberg (4.2 IP, 9 R, 8 ER, 9 H, 5 BB, 3 SO) took the loss.
at Arizona 19, Stanford 18 (May 16, 2004) - John Hardy drew a bases loaded walk on a 3-2 pitch from David O'Hagan with no outs in the bottom of the ninth to bring home pinch-runner Terrence Taylor with the game-winning run and give Arizona an unbelievable 19-18 heartbreaking victory over Stanford. Richard Mercado had tied the game earlier in the bottom of the ninth with a bases loaded three-RBI double. Stanford had scored six runs in the top of the ninth to take an 18-15 lead as Jed Lowrie (6-6, 3 2B, HR, 5 RBI, SB) hit his first career grandslam with one out to put the Cardinal ahead. Lowrie's six-hit game was the first of his career, while his five RBI was a career-high and his three doubles tied a career-best. Stanford homered seven times in the game as Chris Carter (2-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI) recorded the second two-homer game of his career, while John Mayberry, Jr. (3-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 SB), Danny Putnam (2-5, HR, 4 RBI), Donny Lucy (1-6 HR, 3 RBI) and Sam Fuld (1-5, HR, RBI, SB) also went deep for the Cardinal. Trevor Crowe (4-4, 2 2B, 2 3B, 5 RBI) and Derek Decater (4-5, 2 2B, 4 RBI, SB) had four hits each for Arizona, while Moises Duran (3-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI), Jason Donald (3-6, RBI) and Jeff Van Houten (3-6, 2 RBI) posted three-hit games. John Hardy (2-6, HR, 4 RBI) hit Arizona's only home run, while Jordan Brown (2-6) also had a pair of hits and Mercado (1-3, 2B, 3 RBI) drove in three runs with his ninth inning double. All 19 players that had at least one official at bat in the game had at least one hit as the teams combined for 37 runs on 42 hits, while drawing 12 walks and being hit by a pair of pitches. Arizona reliever Derek Rodriguez got his first win of the season despite allowing four runs (three earned), while O'Hagan took his first loss of the campaign by giving up four runs without recording an out in the ninth.
at Arizona 9, Stanford 2 (May 17, 2004) - Stanford lost its second straight game for the first time in 2004 with an 11-2 loss at Arizona in the rubber match of a three-game series. Arizona starter John Meloan earned the victory, allowing just two runs while spreading out 10 hits and three walks with seven strikeouts over 8.0 innings. Brad Mills (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 SO) recorded the final three outs. Stanford's Chris Carter (4-4, RBI) picked up the first four-hit game of his career, while Chris Minaker (2-5, RBI) and Sam Fuld (2-5, RBI) also had multiple-hit games for the Cardinal. Fuld and Danny Putnam both extended their hit streaks to nine with Fuld also breaking the all-time Pac-10 and Stanford records for at bats during the contest. Stanford starter Matt Leva suffered the loss while making his first Pac-10 start, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts in 4.0 innings.