No. 14 Stanford Visits Arizona State For Key Pac-10 Series Friday-SundayNo. 14 Stanford Visits Arizona State For Key Pac-10 Series Friday-Sunday

No. 14 Stanford Visits Arizona State For Key Pac-10 Series Friday-Sunday

No. 14 Stanford Visits Arizona State For Key Pac-10 Series Friday-Sunday

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April 13, 2005

No. 14 Stanford Cardinal (20-11, 4-2 Pac-10)
at
Arizona State (22-15, 3-3 Pac-10)

Friday, April 15 (6:30 pm, MT)
LHP Mark Romanczuk (5-3, 4.23) vs. RHP Erik Averill (6-2, 3.05)

Saturday, April 16 (6:30 pm, MT)
RHP Jeff Gilmore (5-1, 4.03) vs. TBA

Sunday, April 17 (1:00 pm, MT)
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 last four seasons against Arizona State since the last time the Sun Devils beat the Cardinal in a series by taking two-of-three contests in Tempe from March 31 - April 2, 2000 • Stanford swept Arizona State in back-to-back series the last time the teams played in 1998 and the first time they met in 1999 • Arizona State's last sweep of the Cardinal came in 1997

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) • The Cardinal is one game ahead of its next opponent -- sixth-place Arizona State (3-3 Pac-10)

• Rankings - Stanford falls four spots to No. 14 in this week's Baseball America poll (April 11) after having moved back into the Top 10 for the first time since February 14 last week at No. 10 • Stanford also dropped to No. 14 in Sports Weekly/ESPN rankings (-3), No. 15 in the NCBWA poll (-4), and No. 18 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings (-6) • 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 with the highest spot the Cardinal has reached being No. 6 • Texas is the No. 1 team this week in the Baseball America, NCBWA and Sports Weekly polls, while Tulane is Collegiate Baseball's top squad

• This Week's Remaining Opponent (Arizona State) - 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, #7 Pac-10) and defensively (.959 fielding percentage, #8 Pac-10) • Jeff Larish leads the Pac-10 with 13 homers, while Seth Dhaenens' .362 batting average leads seven Arizona State players hitting .300 or better • Tuffy Gosewisch paces the club with 42 RBI (#2T Pac-10, 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 Sun Devil pitchers with at least one inning pitched per game played by the team

• Two Games At Arizona State To Be Televised - A pair of 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 in the Arizona area only

• Recent Action - (April 12 - Stanford 7, San Francisco 1) Stanford scored five runs in the first two innings and four pitchers limited San Francisco to one run in a 7-1 victory. Erik Davis notched his first collegiate victory by allowing just one run and scattering five hits over a career-long 5.0 inning outing. Relievers Jeff Stimpson, Greg Reynolds and Matt Manship blanked the Dons over the final 4.0 frames. Adam Sorgi (3-3, RBI) had three of Stanford's 14 hits, while Chris Minaker (2-3, 2B, 2 RBI) and Brendan Domaracki (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI) each added two hits and two RBI, while Jim Rapoport (2-3) and Michael Taylor (2-4) also had two-hit contests
(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 a 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

• Stanford Takes Five-Game Road Win Streak To Arizona State - Stanford will take a season-high five-game road win streak to Arizona State this Friday-Sunday after beginning the season with a 1-5 mark away from Sunken Diamond, equaling its longest since a five-game run from March 23 - April 3, 2004 • The last time the Cardinal won more than five in a row on the road a seven-game win streak from February 7 - March 6, 2004

• 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 • Prior to the series loss to the Beavers, 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 1210-576-5 (.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

• 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 (.647, #6 Pac-10), total bases (75), sacrifice flies (8, #1 Pac-10), walks (20) and multiple-RBI games (14) to go with a .328 batting average that is second on the club • Defensively, he has made just one error in 141 chances for a .993 fielding percentage while starting all 31 of the team's games

• John Mayberry, Jr. - Stanford's First Team Preseason All-American leads the club in doubles (10) and multiple-hit games (14), while ranking second in hits (39), RBI (32) and multiple-RBI games (10) • Mayberry also boasts the team's second-longest hit streak of the season at eight games (February 5-20)

• Jim Rapoport - Stanford's hottest hitter now leads comfortably leads the team with a .370 mark • Rapoport has a current career-high and team season-high 10-game hit streak, hitting an even .500 (18-36) during the run • He has also hit safely in 16 of his last 17 games to raise his average 139 points from the .231 mark he began the hot stretch with • He also leads the club with 40 hits, seven stolen bases, five sacrifice bunts and a .452 on-base percentage

• 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 club-high 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 third in appearances (10)

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Blake Holler leads the Cardinal in victories and ranks tied for second in the Pac-10 with a 6-1 mark in a team-high 12 appearances out of the bullpen

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• 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

• Matt Manship - Quickly moving up in the pecking order of the Cardinal bullpen, having not allowed a run in 10 appearances and 12.1 innings this season • Has a 2-0 record and one save

• Pitching Staff - Stanford's pitching staff has a 3.80 ERA through 31 games as the Cardinal is attempting to record an ERA under 4.00 for the fourth time in the last six seasons • Stanford has had a lower ERA only once in the past eight seasons when the Cardinal posted a 3.50 mark in 2001 • Opponents are hitting just .253 against Cardinal pitching

• Outstanding Defense - Despite making nine errors in its last six 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 31 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 has its batting average back up to .295, the highest its been since it stood at .324 after the team's third game of the season versus Fresno State but dropped all the way to .275 after getting just three hits the next game at Cal State Fullerton • 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

• Tight Battle For Team Lead In Hits - Stanford has a tight battle going on for the team lead in hits with seven players collecting between 35 and 40 hits this season • Jim Rapoport leads the way with 40, followed by John Mayberry, Jr. (39), Jed Lowrie (38), Chris Minaker (37), John Hester and Adam Sorgi (36), and Michael Taylor (35)

• Comeback Kids - Stanford has come from behind in nine of its 20 victories this season • The team's last two comeback wins have been the most crucial (a 4-3 victory over Oregon State on April 10) and the biggest (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 (29-5 home record in 2004) with a 14-6 mark at Sunken Diamond this season, Stanford has still won 54 of its last 66 contests overall on The Farm

• 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

• 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 already in 2005