April 12, 2005
vs.
San Francisco Dons (23-11, 8-4 WCC)
Tuesday, April 12 (6:00 pm, PT)
TBA vs. TBA
TUESDAY'S LIVE GAME COVERAGE
KZSU 90.1 FM/gostanford.com Audio Broadcast (Scott Allen and Sean Bruich)
Gametracker
STANFORD-SAN FRANCISCO SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Stanford 80-13-2 (since 1959)
2004 Results: Series - Stanford 1-0 (at Stanford, May 18) Stanford 3-1
Series Notes: Stanford and San Francisco have split the last four games the teams have played at Sunken Diamond with the Cardinal winning in 2002 and 2004, while the Dons capturing victories in 2001 and 2003 Stanford was also a winner the last time the teams played in San Francisco in 2001
Arizona State (22-15, 3-3 Pac-10)
Friday, April 15 (6:30 pm, MT/5:30 pm, PT)
LHP Mark Romanczuk (5-3, 4.23) vs. TBA
Saturday, April 16 (6:30 pm, MT/5:30 pm, PT)
RHP Jeff Gilmore (5-1, 4.03) vs. TBA
Sunday, April 17 (1:00 pm, MT/12:00 pm, PT)
TBA vs. TBA
FRIDAY-SUNDAY'S LIVE GAME COVERAGE
Television - AZ-TV (Friday and Saturday only in local Arizona area)
Audio Broadcast - KZSU 90.1 FM/gostanford.com (Sean Bruich and Alex Gyr)
Gametracker: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
STANFORD-ARIZONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Stanford 80-78
2004 Results: Series - Stanford 2-1 (at Stanford, May 28-30) Stanford 5-0, Stanford 10-3, Arizona State 15-5
Last Meeting At Arizona State: Series - Arizona State 7-6 (11 inn.), Stanford 9-8 (10 inn.), Stanford 4-2
Series Notes: Stanford has won two-of-three games in each of its last two series with Oregon State after the Beavers had won two-of-three from the Cardinal in a three-game set in Corvallis during the 2002 campaign Stanford has won five of the six series played between the clubs since the Pac-10 North and South Divisions merged in 1999, including three-game sweeps of the Beavers in 1999 and 2001
STANFORD NOTES
Two-Time Defending Pac-10 Champs - Two-time defending Pac-10 champions Stanford has won at least a share of a Pac-10 or Southern Division title in six of the last eight years and has picked up 20 conference titles in school history Stanford, who was picked in a preseason poll of the Pac-10 coaches to win the conference title again in 2005, is currently fourth in the Pac-10 standings with a 4-2 conference record that 2.5 games behind Pac-10 leader Arizona (8-1 Pac-10)
Rankings - Stanford falls four spots to No. 14 in this week's Baseball America poll (April 4) after having moved back into the Top 10 for the first time since February 14 last week at No. 10 Stanford also dropped three spots to No. 14 in Sports Weekly/ESPN rankings, four spots to No. 15 in the NCBWA (+1) poll, and six sports to No. 18 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings Stanford has been ranked No. 1 in the Baseball America poll at some point in the season during seven of the last eight campaigns prior to this season but has not reached the top in 2005 Texas is the No. 1 teams this week in the Baseball America, NCBWA and Sports Weekly polls, while Tulane is Collegiate Baseball's top squad
This Week's Remaining Opponents (San Francisco/Arizona State) - (San Francisco) The Dons are off to a 23-11 start and have an 8-4 league mark to sit in second place of the West Coast Conference West Division standings The Dons have produced a stellar 2.64 ERA and have fielded at a solid .977 clip, while hitting a respectable .292 Nick Pereira and Scott Cousins both have 7-2 records, while Patrick McGuigan has recorded five saves Offensively, Stefan Gartrell is hitting .400 with four homers and 34 RBI, while Daniel Morales (5 HR) and Tavo Hall (11 SB) are offensive leaders in other primary categories Arizona State is 22-15 overall and 3-3 in the Pac-10, sitting in sixth-place and one game behind the Cardinal in the conference standings The Sun Devils have swung the bats well with a .309 batting average that ranks third in the Pac-10 but have struggled on the mound (4.57 ERA) and defensively (.959 fielding percentage) Jeff Larish leads the Pac-10 with 13 homers, while Seth Dhaenens' .362 batting average leads the seven Arizona State players hitting .300 or better Tuffy Gosewisch paces the club with 42 RBI, while Colin Curtis has a team-high 10 of the club's Pac-10 leading 65 stolen bases Erik Averill leads the team in both victories with a 6-2 record and has the lowest ERA (3.05) among pitchers with at least one inning pitched per game played by the team
Home Series Streak Ends At 14 - Stanford had won 14 straight regular season home series before Oregon State took two-of-three at Sunken Diamond last Saturday and Sunday Stanford had last lost a home series when Arizona won two-of-three on The Farm from April 25-27, 2003 The Oregon State series victory also ended a run of five consecutive home Pac-10 series victories
Head Coach Mark Marquess - Head coach Mark Marquess, in his 29th season at the helm of the Stanford program, now has an all-time record of 1209-576-5 (.677) On March 5, 2005, he became just the 16th NCAA Division I head coach to reach the 1200-career win mark when Stanford defeated California by a score of 10-3 at Sunken Diamond He is currently ranked ninth among active Division I coaches in wins and is 16th on the NCAA's all-time list
Recent Action - Despite being swept in a doubleheader by Oregon State on April 9, Stanford has won five of its last seven games overall (April 10 - Stanford 4, Oregon State 3) Stanford avoided a three-game sweep by coming from behind for a 4-3 win over Oregon State. Jed Lowrie's RBI single scored Adam Sorgi with the eventual game-winning run in the seventh, while Stanford relievers Blake Holler and Matt Manship earned a win and a save by holding the Beavers scoreless over the final 5.0 innings (April 9, Game 1 - Oregon State 9, Stanford 7; Game 2 - Oregon State 11, Stanford 10) Oregon State swept a doubleheader over Stanford with a couple of close victories, 9-7 and 11-10. Jacoby Ellsbury's two-run single in the top of the eighth inning drove in the tying and winning runs in the opener as the Beavers scored three times in the eighth and added another insurance run in the ninth. Stanford led 9-2 in the nightcap before Oregon State stormed back, getting the eventual game-winning run and capping a four-run seventh frame when Chris Campos scored all the way from second base on a wild pitch after a strikeout that would have been the third out of the inning Chris Lewis' first career grandslam in the opener was the top highlight for Stanford on day that saw the Cardinal swept in a doubleheader at Sunken Diamond for the first time since dropping back-to-back NCAA Regional games to Florida State and Cal State Northridge on May 25, 1996 with the last sweep in a regular season doubleheader at Sunken Diamond coming at the hands of Arizona State on March 28, 1993 (April 5 - at Stanford 7, Santa Clara 6) Brendan Domaracki's RBI triple in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Michael Taylor with the game-winning run to lift Stanford to a 7-6 comeback victory over Santa Clara in a non-conference game. Domaracki (2-2, 3B, RBI), Jim Rapoport (2-3, SB) and Michael Taylor (2-4, SB) had two hits each for the Cardinal, while John Mayberry, Jr. and Jed Lowrie both drove in a pair of runs. Matt Manship recorded the victory as the third of five Stanford pitchers by shutting the Broncos out in the sixth and seventh frames, allowing just one hit and striking out two. Stanford trailed 6-0 after four innings before mounting its comeback.
Jed Lowrie - Stanford's National Player of the Year candidate and First Team Preseason All-American has put up nice power numbers this season leading the team in homers (10, #2 Pac-10), RBI (42, #2T Pac-10), slugging percentage (.661, #6 Pac-10), total bases (74), sacrifice flies (8, #1 Pac-10), walks (20) and multiple-RBI games (14) to go with a .330 batting average that is second on the club Defensively, he has made just one error in 134 defensive chances for a .993 fielding percentage while starting all 30 of the team's games
John Mayberry, Jr. - Stanford's First Team Preseason All-American leads the club in hits (39), doubles (10) and multiple-hit games (14), while ranking second on the club in RBI (32) and third in RBI Mayberry also boasts the team's second-longest hit streak of the season at eight games (February 5-20) and has a team-high 14 multiple-hit games overall, while ranking second on the team with 10 multiple-RBI contests
Mark Romanczuk - Has won 28 career games at Stanford (28-7), good for a sixth-place tie on Stanford's all-time win list with Bruce Mignano (1979-82) and is just nine victories behind all-time school-leader Jeff Ballard's 37 from 1982-85 Romanczuk, who has a current 5-3 record that ties for eighth in the Pac-10 in victories and a 4.23 ERA, leads the team in strikeouts (48) and innings pitched (61, #4 Pac-10) over a team-leading 10 starts (#2T Pac-10) He is on the Roger Clemens Award Watch list for the award given annually to the nation's top pitcher
Jeff Gilmore - Has posted a 5-1 record that ties for eighth in the Pac-10 in victories with a 4.03 ERA that is the lowest among Stanford's regular starters Second on the club in innings pitched (60.1, #6 Pac-10), strikeouts (44) and starts (9, #8T Pac-10), as well as tied for second in appearances (10)
 Blake Holler leads the Cardinal and ranks tied for second in the Pac-10 in wins with a 6-1 record  | |
Blake Holler - Has developed into arguably the team's top reliever, ranking tied for second in the Pac-10 in victories with a 6-1 record and sixth in ERA with a 2.53 mark Leads the team with 12 appearances and has a 9.00 strikeout per nine innings ratio that is second on the club
Pitching Staff - Stanford's pitching staff has a 3.89 ERA through 30 games as the Cardinal is attempting to record an ERA under 4.00 for the fourth time in the last six seasons Opponents are hitting just .254 against Cardinal pitching
Outstanding Defense - Despite making eight errors in its last five games, Stanford has a current overall team fielding percentage of .978 that leads the Pac-10 and is one percentage point higher than the school record pace of .977 set by the 2001 club Stanford has played errorless baseball in 13 of its 30 games, including a season-high stretch of four in a row from March 20-26 In fact, Stanford has played outstanding defense in the past five seasons with five of its top seven team fielding percentages recorded during the period
Offense Coming Back - Stanford's offense looks to be rebounding from its early season woes as the Cardinal had its batting average back up to .294 after five straight double-digit hit games from April 1-9 before falling to its current .291 after not reaching double-digit hits in either of its last two contests Stanford is trying to extend a string of consecutive seasons with a batting average of .300 or better to 10 in a row with the Cardinal actually hitting .307 or better in each of its last nine campaigns Stanford's current 6.7 run per game average is down 1.6 runs from last season's final average, when the Cardinal scored 8.3 runs per contest
Comeback Kids - Stanford has come from behind in nine of its 19 victories this season The team's last two comeback wins have been the most crucial with a 4-3 victory over Oregon State on April 10 and the biggest by turning a 6-0 deficit into a 7-6 victory over Santa Clara on April 5 Stanford has also trailed at one point in victories over Fresno State (January 29, January 30 - Game 2), Kansas (February 12), USC (February 26), California (March 5, March 6 - Game 2), Pacific (March 20) and Washington State (April 3)
Soggy Season - Stanford has had six games postponed due to wet weather conditions this season The Cardinal had its season-opener versus Fresno State (January 28) postponed, as well as series-openers against Kansas (February 11), California (February 25), Pacific (March 19) and Oregon State (April 8), and a single game against San Jose State (March 22) Stanford made up the first four games as part of doubleheaders and played the Pacific contest on March 24 The San Jose State rainout has been not rescheduled yet
Home Sweet Home - Despite losing more games at home this season than the Cardinal did all of last year with a 13-6 mark at Sunken Diamond, Stanford won 53 of its last 65 contests overall on The Farm
Great Improvement On The Road - Stanford has now won five straight road games after beginning the season with a 1-5 mark away from Sunken Diamond Stanford had also lost four straight regular season road series (its longest since dropping seven consecutive regular season series away from Sunken Diamond from April 29, 1988 - April 10, 1989) before sweeping Washington State in Pullman April 1-3
Winners - Stanford has won 40 or more games in a school record 10 consecutive campaigns and posted 11 consecutive winnings seasons, as well as 39 in the last 40 years and 56 in the past 58
Omaha - Stanford has captured two national titles (1987, 1988) and advanced to the College World Series 15 times, including 13 appearances in the last 23 years and for a school record five consecutive seasons from 1999-2003
Two Games At Arizona State To Be Televised - A pair of Stanford games at Arizona State (April 15, 16) will be televised locally in Arizona on AZ-TV The games are not on satellite and are available only in the Arizona area
Bay Area Boys - Stanford has an unusually high number of local products on its 2005 team this season with eight players from the Bay Area donning a Cardinal uniform (Erik Davis, Mountain View/Mountain View HS Darren Gemoll, San Jose/Leland HS Zach Gianos, Menlo Park/Menlo-Atherton HS Cameron Matthews, Mountain View/Los Altos HS Rex Petrill, Los Altos/St. Francis HS Greg Reynolds, Pacifica/Terra Nova HS Ryan Seawell, Menlo Park/Menlo School David Stringer, Palo Alto/Palo Alto HS)
Big Leaguers - A total of 72 former Stanford players have played Major League Baseball with four -- Eric Bruntlett (Houston Astros), Mike Gosling (Arizona Diamondbacks), David McCarty (Boston Red Sox) and Mike Mussina (New York Yankees) -- that have donned an MLB uniform this season