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No. 24 Stanford Resumes Pac-10 Play At California Friday-Sunday

No. 21 Stanford Returns To Sunken Diamond Against UCLA Friday-Sunday

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May 11, 2005

No. 21 Stanford Cardinal (27-18, 8-7 Pac-10)
vs.
UCLA (12-33, 1-14 Pac-10)

Friday, May 13 (6 pm, PT)
RHP Jeff Gilmore (8-1, 3.24) vs. RHP Hector Ambriz (2-5, 4.00)

Saturday, May 14
LHP Mark Romanczuk (5-4, 4.31) vs. RHP Bryan Beck (0-9, 5.87)

Sunday, May 15
TBA vs. TBA

FRIDAY-SUNDAY'S LIVE GAME COVERAGE
Webcast: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Audio Broadcast: KZSU 90.1 FM/gostanford.com/KZSU.org (Sean Bruich and TBA)
Gametracker: Friday | Saturday | Sunday

STANFORD-UCLA SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Stanford 180-134
2004 Results - Series Stanford 2-1 (at UCLA, April 2-4) Stanford 11-4, Stanford 15-13, UCLA 6-5
Last Meeting At Stanford - Series Stanford 2-1 (May 16-18, 2003) Stanford 9-1, UCLA 9-5 (12 inn.), Stanford 9-8 (10 inn.)
Series Notes: Stanford has won two-of-three games in each of the last six series it has played versus UCLA since the Pac-10 North and South Divisions merged and the teams began playing each other just three times a year in 1999 • The 2004 series was highlighted by Jonny Ash's two-run homer in the top of the ninth to defeat the Bruins in Saturday's game, 15-13, while UCLA took the series finale in dramatic fashion on a solo walkoff homer by Preston Griffin to leadoff the bottom of the ninth • In 2003, each team also had dramatic homers in extra innings to claim victory with UCLA's Brett McMillian clearing the bases with a grandslam in the top of the 12th to lead UCLA to a 9-5 victory in Saturday's contest, before the Cardinal clinched the outright Pac-10 title on Sunday when Donny Lucy's leadoff homer in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted the Cardinal to a thrilling 9-8 win • The Cardinal swept all six games from the Bruins in the last year of the Pac-10 Southern Division in 1998 • The last time the Bruins won both a series and a season-series against the Cardinal was when UCLA won four-of-six games between the teams in 1997, taking two-of-three at Stanford (April 19-20) before doing it again at UCLA (May 9-11)

STANFORD NOTES
Pac-10 Update
Two-time defending Pac-10 champion Stanford currently sits in sole possession of fifth-place in the conference with an 8-7 league mark after dropping two-of-three games in its most recent series at California (May 6-7, 9) • The Cardinal continues conference play by hosting UCLA at Sunken Diamond this Friday-Sunday, May 13-15 • Stanford has lost three conference series (Oregon State, at Arizona State, at California) for the first time since 1997 and the first time since the conference reduced its number of series to eight (from 10) with the Pac-10 North and South Division merger in 1999 • Stanford is currently 4.5 games behind league-leader Oregon State (14-4 Pac-10), who is followed by Arizona (12-3 Pac-10), Arizona State (10-5 Pac-10), USC (9-6 Pac-10), Stanford (8-7 Pac-10), California (11-10 Pac-10), Washington (7-8 Pac-10), UCLA (1-14 Pac-10) and Washington State (0-15 Pac-10) • Stanford has won at least a share of a Pac-10 or Pac-10 Southern Division title in six of the last eight years and has picked up a total of 20 conference titles in school history • The Cardinal has finished either first or second in the prestigious Pac-10 a total of 22 times in the last 24 seasons with the club not finishing out of the top two since a sixth-place showing in 1993 • Stanford was picked in a preseason poll of the Pac-10 coaches to win the conference title again in 2005

Home Sweet Home
Stanford will return to Sunken Diamond to start its final homestand of the season with a three-game Pac-10 series against UCLA this Friday-Sunday, May 13-15 • The Cardinal will also host Saint Mary's (Tuesday, May 17) and Arizona (Friday-Sunday, May 20-22) during the stretch • Despite losing more games at home this season (18-7) than all of last year (29-5 home record in 2004), Stanford is back on a roll at Sunken Diamond • The Cardinal had won six straight games at home before having the string snapped with an upset loss to Santa Clara in its most home outing on April 26 • Stanford is 58-13 overall in its last 71 games on The Farm

Rankings
Stanford moved up three spots to No. 21 in the most recent Baseball America poll released on Monday, May 9 after winning three-of-four games last week • The Cardinal also moved up one place to No. 22 in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll, while staying at No. 21 in Sports Weekly/ESPN rankings and No. 27 on the NCBWA list • Stanford has been ranked No. 1 in the Baseball America poll at some point during seven of the last eight campaigns prior to this season but has not reached the top in 2005 with No. 6 the highest ranking the Cardinal has attained • Tulane held onto its top spot in the Collegiate Baseball, Sports Weekly/ESPN and NCBWA polls, while Cal State Fullerton retained its No. 1 ranking in the Baseball America rankings

This Week's Remaining Opponent
(UCLA) Has struggled to a 12-33 overall record and a 1-14 mark in the Pac-10 but has managed to split its last six games • The Bruins were swept at home by Pac-10 leader Oregon State in their most recent conference series from May 6-8 after having won two in a row but snapped the three-game skid with a win at UC Irvine in their most recent contest on May 10 • UCLA started the season with a 7-4 mark before dropping 19 in a row from February 26 - April 15 • The Bruins are last in the Pac-10 in both batting average (.259) and fielding percentage (.952), while ranking one spot better than Washington State on the bottom of the ERA list with a 5.84 team mark • Individually, two-way player Hector Ambriz leads the Bruins with a .333 batting average and has also recorded a team-low 4.00 ERA • Brett McMillan has nearly half (7) of the team's Pac-10 low 17 homers and has knocked in a team-high 28 runs • Brian Schroeder leads the club with three wins, while Adam Simon has a pair of saves

2004 Stanford vs. UCLA
(April 2 - Stanford 11, at UCLA 4) Stanford kicked off its Pac-10 schedule with an 11-4 win at UCLA as Mark Romanczuk struck out 10 in 8.0 innings of work, while Chris Minaker (2-5, HR, career-high-tying 4 RBI) hit the first homer of his career, a three-run shot in Stanford's six-run sixth. Brian Hall (3-4) also had a three-hit game for Stanford

(April 3 - Stanford 15, at UCLA 13) Jonny Ash's two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning on the first pitch he saw from UCLA reliever and losing pitcher Adam Simon lifted Stanford to a wild 15-13 win over UCLA. Ash (4-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI) also hit a solo homer in the seventh inning, drove in four runs and collected four hits for the first time in his career. Ryan McCarthy (4-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI) also hit two homers and drove in four for the Bruins. David O'Hagan picked up the victory for the Cardinal

(April 4 - at UCLA 6, Stanford 5) Preston Griffin's walkoff homer on the first pitch he saw from Cardinal reliever and losing pitcher Jeff Stimpson leading off the bottom of the ninth lifted UCLA to a 6-5 victory over Stanford in the series finale, snapping an eight-game win streak for the Cardinal. Stanford had led 5-3 before Brandon Averill tied the game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth

Road Trip
Stanford concluded a season-long six-game road trip with a 6-5 loss in 12 innings at Santa Clara on May 10 • The loss was Stanford's season-high-tying third straight both overall and on the road after the Cardinal also dropped the final two games of its most recent Pac-10 series at California (2-1 in 11 inn., 9-5) on May 7 and 9 • The Cardinal had begun the trip with back-to-back shutout victories at UC Davis (8-0) and Nevada (13-0) on May 2 and 3, before making it three in a row with a win at California (7-5) in the opener of a Pac-10 series on May 6 • Stanford's road record after it had briefly risen above the .500 mark for the first time this season at 9-8 after winning the first three contests but has since dropped back down to 9-11 • Stanford has been swept twice (at Texas, February 18-20; at Arizona State, April 15-17) on the road this season but also won a season-high five straight road games (March 20 - April 3) prior to the sweep at Arizona State

Last Game at Santa Clara
(May 10 - at Santa Clara 6, Stanford 5 ... 12 inn.) Eric Newton's RBI single with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning brought home David Hoffmire with the game-winning run to give Santa Clara a 6-5 upset win over Stanford. The contest had been tied at 3-3 before Michael Taylor gave the Cardinal a 5-3 lead with a two-run homer in the ninth before Santa Clara scored twice in the bottom of the 10th to extend the game. Taylor (2-6, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, SB), Jed Lowrie (2-6, 2B) and Chris Lewis (2-6, 2B) all had two-hit games for the Cardinal, while Dustin Realini (3-5, SB) and Kris Watts (2-3, HR, 2 RBI) had multi-hit games for Santa Clara.

Last Series vs. California
(May 5 - Stanford 7, at California 5) Stanford won for the seventh time in its last eight games with a 7-5 victory at California. The Cardinal jumped out to a 7-0 lead before California scored five unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh. Jeff Gilmore pitched the first 7.0 innings to earn the win, while Matt Manship held the Golden Bears scoreless over the final 2.0 frames for the save. Stanford hit three long homers early in the contest as John Hester and Michael Taylor blasted back-to-back shots in the second inning before Adam Sorgi's two-run blast in the third.

(May 6 - at California 2, Stanford 1 - 11 inn.) Stanford dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker at California when pinch-hitter Travis Howell's bases loaded squeeze bunt with no outs in the bottom of the 11th brought home Chris Errecart with the game-winning run. Stanford starter Mark Romanczuk had matched California's Erik Dworkis with nine consecutive scoreless before both pitchers were charged with a run in the 10th. Travis Talbott earned the save by holding the Cardinal scoreless in the 11th, while Nolan Gallagher suffered the loss for Stanford.

(May 9 - at California 9, Stanford 5) Stanford fell by a score of 9-5 in the rubber game of a series at California as Allen Craig (4-5, 2 2B, SB) had four hits for the Golden Bears, while Chris Errecart (2-4, HR, 3 RBI) and Matt Einspahr (2-4, 3 RBI) drove in three runs each. Stanford's Adam Sorgi (3-5, 2B) continued his hot hitting, extending his career-high hit streak to 11 games with his third multiple-hit game of the series, while Jed Lowrie blasted a three-run homer. California relievers Matt Swanson and Travis Talbott held the Cardinal without a run in 7.1 innings of work with Swanson taking the win. Stanford starter Matt Leva suffered the loss, allowing six runs on six hits in 1.2 frames.

Stanford Starts New Series Streak At Sunken Diamond
Stanford had won 14 straight regular season home series before Oregon State took two-of-three at Sunken Diamond on April 9-10 • The Cardinal, who did suffer a loss in its most recent game at Sunken Diamond against Santa Clara on April 26, rebounded by sweeping Washington in its last three-game set at home April 22-24

Pitching Staff Looking For ERA Under 4.00 Again
Stanford's pitching staff has a current ERA of 3.91 and is looking to record a team ERA under 4.00 for the fourth time in the past six seasons • The staff has highlighted its season with a string of 37.0 consecutive innings without giving up an earned run from April 26 - May 7 • The streak started with the final inning of a game versus Santa Clara on April 26 and lasted through the ninth inning of Stanford's games at California on May 7 • Stanford posted back-to-back shutouts during the run at UC Davis (May 2) and Nevada (May 3), marking the first time Stanford has posted back-to-back shutouts since blanking San Jose State and UCLA in back-to-back contests on April 23 and 26, 1996

Month Of May
Stanford has traditionally played some of its best baseball in May • The Cardinal is 79-21 (.790) in May games since the Pac-10 North and South Divisions merged prior to the 1999 campaign • Stanford is 3-3 in May this season, winning its first three games of the month this season prior to its current three-game losing skid

Head Coach Mark Marquess Reaches Top 15 On All-Time Win List
Head coach Mark Marquess, in his 29th season at the helm of the Stanford program, is now tied for 15th place on the all-time win list with an all-time record of 1217-583-5 (.676) • 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 also currently ranked eighth among active Division I coaches in wins

Jed Lowrie
Stanford's National Player of the Year candidate (USA Baseball Golden Spikes Watch List, Wallace Award Watch List) and First Team Preseason All-American has put up solid offensive numbers this season, leading the team in homers (12, #3T Pac-10), RBI (52, #3T Pac-10), slugging percentage (.609, #8 Pac-10), total bases (103), sacrifice flies (10, #1 Pac-10), walks (30, #4T Pac-10) and multiple-RBI games (16) to go with a .314 batting average that ranks third on the club • Defensively, he has made just three errors in 223 chances for a .987 fielding percentage while ranking second on the team in both assists (131, #4 Pac-10) and fielding double plays (33, #9 Pac-10)

John Mayberry, Jr.
Stanford's First Team Preseason All-American paces the club in multiple-hit games (19), while ranking second in hits (55), RBI (42, #8 Pac-10), doubles (15), multiple-RBI contests (12), as well as tied for second in home runs (5) • Defensively, he has made just two errors in 440 defensive chances (#3 Pac-10) for a .995 fielding percentage (#10 Pac-10) • Mayberry also leads the team in putouts (415, #3 Pac-10) and fielding double plays (38, #3 Pac-10)

Jim Rapoport
Leads the team with a .340 batting average (#7 Pac-10), a .439 on-base percentage, 10 stolen bases (#10T Pac-10) and six sacrifice bunts (#5T Pac-10) • Also ranks second on the team in walks (27) and third in hits (55) • Walked a career-high and team-season-high five times that was one shy of the NCAA single-game record at UC Davis (May 2) • Raised his average 168 points from .224 to a season-high .392 during a stretch in which he hit safely in 19 of 20 games from February 27 - April 17, including a career-high and team season-high 13-game hit streak from March 26 - April 17 (.521, 25-48)

Adam Sorgi
Posted a career-high 11-game hit streak (April 17 - May 9; 21-45, 467, 13 RBI) that was finally snapped in his most recent game at Santa Clara on May 10 • Paces the club with 58 hits, while co-leading the team with a pair of triples, and ranking second in batting average (.328), runs scored (41) and sacrifice flies (7, #2 Pac-10) • Also third on the club in RBI (32) and walks (24), as well as tied for third in doubles

Jeff Gilmore Named Pac-10 Pitcher Of The Week
Earned his first career Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week selection on May 10 after going 2-0 without giving up an earned run in 10.0 innings for the week of May 2-9 • Moved into the team's No. 1 starter role versus Washington on April 22 and has responded by allowing just one earned run in 19.0 innings since, including his first complete game of the season and the third of his career to post a 2-1 victory over the Huskies • Leads the team and tied for third in the Pac-10 with in wins (8-1), while posting a 3.24 ERA (#7 Pac-10) and a .233 opponents' batting average (#9 Pac-10) that are both the lowest among Stanford pitchers that have pitched at least one inning per team game played with the opponents' batting average being the lowest by any Stanford pitcher • Also paces the club in innings pitched (86.0, #4 Pac-10) and starts (13, #6T Pac-10, co-leader), while ranking second in strikeouts (63) • Ranks sixth on Stanford's all-time won-loss percentage list (.857) with an 18-3 career record

Mark Romanczuk
Pitched 14.0 consecutive innings without giving up an earned run before he was charged for a run in the 10th frame of Stanford's 2-1 loss in 11 innings at California (May 7) in his most recent outing • Has won 28 career games at Stanford (28-9), good for a sixth-place tie on the school's all-time win list with Brian Mignano (1979-82) and is just nine victories behind all-time school-leader Jeff Ballard's 37 from 1982-85 • Has a 5-4 record and a 4.31 ERA this season, while leading the team in strikeouts (66, #10 Pac-10) and starts (13, #6T Pac-10, co-leader), as well as ranking second on the club in innings pitched (85.2, #5 Pac-10) • On the Roger Clemens Award Watch list for the award given annually to the nation's top pitcher

Blake Holler
Has developed into one of Stanford's top relievers, posting a 6-2 record and a 3.00 ERA (#6 Pac-10), ranking second on the club in both victories and ERA • Leads the team with 17 appearances and has an 8.80 strikeout per nine innings ratio that is second on the club

Matt Manship
Had been charged with only one run in his first 23.1 innings of work over 16 appearances before allowing two runs in his most recent outing at Santa Clara (May 10) • Manship is still 2-0 with a team-low 1.03 ERA while allowing an opponents' batting average of just .234 • Has also recorded a team-high-tying three saves and has 15 in his career, good for a tie for fourth-place on Stanford's all-time list

Outstanding Defense
Stanford played errorless baseball for the 21st time in 45 contests in its most recent game at Santa Clara (May 10) and has a .978 fielding percentage that ranks second in the nation and leads the Pac-10 • Stanford's current .978 mark is also one percentage point ahead of the school record pace of .977 set by the 2001 club • Stanford has also played outstanding defense in the five seasons prior to 2005 with five of its top seven team fielding percentages recorded during the period

Offensive Struggles
Stanford's batting dropped under the .290 mark for the first time since it stood at .280 after being shutout by Pacific on March 29 • Stanford has hit at least .307 in each of the nine previous seasons • Stanford's current 6.6 run per game average is down 1.7 runs from last season's final average, when the Cardinal scored 8.3 runs per contest

Sorgi Emerges In Tight Battle For Team Lead In Hits
Adam Sorgi has emerged as the team's leader in a tight battle for the club's lead in hits • Sorgi now leads the way with 58, followed by John Mayberry, Jr. (55), Jim Rapoport (54), Jed Lowrie (53), Chris Minaker (52) and John Hester (50)

Comeback Kids
Stanford has come from behind in 11 of its 27 victories this season • The club's biggest comeback win (turning a 6-0 deficit into a 7-6 victory) came against 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), Pacific (March 20), Washington State (April 3), Oregon State (April 10) and Washington (April 22, 23)

Soggy Season
Stanford has had eight games postponed due to wet weather conditions this season • The weather has moved back games versus Fresno State (January 28), Kansas (February 11), California (February 25), Pacific (March 19), San Jose State (March 22), Oregon State (April 8), Washington (April 23, start delayed five hours) and California (May 8) • The Cardinal made up the first four games as part of doubleheaders, while playing the Pacific contest on March 24 and the second California postponement on May 9 • The San Jose State rainout has not been rescheduled yet

Four In A Row
Stanford has put together three win streaks of four games this season but has yet to put together five straight victories • The Cardinal won four in a row from February 6-13, April 1-5 and April 19-24

Tough Time In Close Ones
Stanford has lost 14 of its 18 games this season by two runs or less • The Cardinal is 6-9 in one-run games and 1-5 in two-run contests for a record of just 7-14 in games decided by two runs or fewer

Day And Night
Stanford has fared much better in day games than night contests this season, going 20-10 in day games and 7-8 at night

Same Starters
Stanford has had five players - Jed Lowrie (2B), Chris Lewis (LF/RF), John Mayberry, Jr. (1B), Chris Minaker (SS), Adam Sorgi (3B) -- start all 45 games this season • John Hester (C) and Michael Taylor (RF) have started 44 contests, while Jim Rapoport (CF) has been in the starting lineup on 43 occasions • All of the players except for Lewis (44 LF, 1 RF) have made every one of their starts at the same position • Mayberry and Minaker have played every inning at their respective spots

Winners
Stanford has won 40 or more games in a school record 10 consecutive campaigns and has posted 11 consecutive winning seasons, as well as 39 in the last 40 years and 56 in the past 58 • The Cardinal needs three more victories to guarantee a winning season in 2005

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)

Southern California Ties
With UCLA on the docket this Friday-Sunday, a scan of the Stanford roster reveals seven players with hometown ties to the Southern California area (Jeff Gilmore, Huntington Beach, CA/Edison HS • Ryan Kissick, Pacific Palisades/Harvard Westlake HS • Chris Lewis, Santa Margarita/Northwood HS • Randy Molina, South Gate, CA/South Gate HS • Jim Rapoport, Westlake Village, CA/Chaminade College Prep • Adam Sorgi, Mission Viejo/Capistrano Valley HS • Jeff Stimpson, Redondo Beach, CA/Redondo Union HS)