May 25, 2004
Walnut Creek, Calif. - Stanford senior infielder Jonny Ash (Oakland, CA/Bishop O'Dowd HS) earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors for the period ending May 23 on Tuesday, winning the honor for the first time this season and the second time in his career. Ash returned to the Cardinal lineup after missing 15 games due to an injury to help the Cardinal take two-of-three games versus USC last Friday-Sunday and move back into sole possession of first-place in the Pac-10.
Ash was 6-for-13 (.462) with two doubles, a triple, four RBI, four runs scored, one walk and one hit by pitch to go with a .769 slugging percentage and a .533 on-base percentage in the series. He played a huge role in Stanford's 8-2 victory in Sunday's rubber game of the series, going 3-for-4 with a triple and a career-high-tying four RBI.
"I was happy to be back in the lineup and just wanted to do anything to help the team win," said Ash after Sunday's victory.
Ash improved his season batting average to .382 during the three-game series.
His selection marked the 57th time a Stanford player has been selected for the award overall and the fourth time this season as Brian Hall (April 13, May 4) and Danny Putnam (April 20) were chosen earlier in the season.
Mark Romanczuk (March 9) and Jeff Stimpson (April 13) earned Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week honors earlier this season.
Stanford will conclude its 2004 regular season schedule with a three-game home series versus No. 19 Arizona State (Friday-Sunday, May 28-30, 6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PDT) with the Sixth Annual Town & Country Village Fireworks Show scheduled to take place after Friday's series-opener.
Stanford heads into the series needing to win two-of-three against Arizona State to pick up its second consecutive outright Pac-10 title. The Sun Devils had won 11 in a row before falling 13-7 at Arizona last Sunday. One Stanford win in the series would assure the Cardinal of at least a share of the conference championship with Washington. Arizona State (39-14, 12-9 Pac-10) is currently tied for third-place in the Pac-10 with UCLA (31-26, 12-9 Pac-10) and would need a sweep of the Cardinal to gain a piece of the Pac-10 title. UCLA, who plays at Oregon State in its final regular season series next Friday-Sunday, could still earn a share of the Pac-10 title with a sweep of the Beavers if Arizona State wins at least two games against the Cardinal.