April 22, 2006
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Stanford Cardinal (17-15, 3-7 Pac-10)
at
Arizona Wildcats (15-20, 3-7 Pac-10)
Friday, April 21
Stanford 10, at Arizona 6
Saturday, April 22 (6 pm, MST/PDT)
LHP Jeremy Bleich (2-2, 2.08) vs. LHP Brad Mills (3-3, 4.09)
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast | Gametracker | ArizonaAthletics.com Webcast (Register)
Sunday, April 23 (12 pm, MST/PDT)
RHP Matt Manship (1-4, 5.31) vs. LHP David Coulon (1-3, 7.00)
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast | Gametracker | ArizonaAthletics.com Webcast (Register)
THE MATCHUP
Stanford and Arizona are now tied for last in the Pac-10 standings with both teams probably needing to win each of the final two games of the series to keep alive any hopes of returning to the Pac-10 race
STANFORD-ARIZONA SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Stanford 94-56
2005 Results: Series - Arizona 2-1 (at Stanford, May 20-22) Arizona 9-4, Stanford 5-4, Arizona 11-8
Last Meeting At Arizona: Series - Arizona 2-1 (May 15-17, 2004) Stanford 11-9, Arizona 19-18, Arizona 11-2
Series Notes: Arizona has had the Cardinal's number of late, taking two-of-three over Stanford in each of the last three series between the clubs and seven of the last 11 games against the Cardinal overall, but Stanford needs just one victory in the final two games of this three-game set to end the series losing streak Stanford had taken 14 consecutive series between the team's before Arizona's current run of three in a row The teams have played some wild games in recent years, especially in Tucson Arizona was a 19-18 winner over the Cardinal on May 16, 2004 In 2002, Stanford scored a 5-4 victory in 18 innings to open the series and won 19-1 in high-wind conditions the following day before the Wildcats came from behind for a 15-13 victory in a game that was shortened to eight innings due to Stanford's travel plans
STANFORD SNAPSHOT
TWO IN A ROW - Stanford's current two-game win streak is its longest since the Cardinal won four straight from February 19-24 with a pair of victories against Texas, as well as wins versus Nevada and at Fresno State The Cardinal has won more than two in a row just twice this year
FIVE-GAME PAC-10 LOSING STREAK OVER - Stanford snapped a five-game Pac-10 losing streak with its 10-6 win at Arizona on Friday night The streak had been Stanford's longest conference stretch without a win since the Cardinal dropped seven straight from February 25 - March 11, 1989
FOUR-SERIES LOSING STREAK - Stanford needs just one more victory in the current Arizona series to end its current four-series losing streak (at USC, Washington State, USC, at Oregon State) at Arizona The streak is its longest since Stanford dropped seven in a row by dropping its final six series of 1993 (at UCLA, Arizona, at Arizona State, at California, UNLV, UCLA), as well as in its first series in 1994 (Cal State Fullerton)
A QUICK LOOK AT THE PAC - Stanford is in an unfamiliar spot in the Pac-10 race as the Cardinal is tied for last with its 3-7 conference mark The race has tightened up recently with former league-leader USC dropping three in a row to fall to third-place with an 8-5 record, being passed by both Arizona State and Oregon State with 7-3 conference marks Washington (5-5), UCLA (5-5), California (6-7), Washington State (5-7), Stanford (3-7) and Arizona (3-7) follow the leaders\
BUSY SECOND HALF - Rescheduled games caused by earlier weather-related postponed contests and a normally more compacted second half of the schedule have combined to contribute to Stanford having its final 28 games scheduled over the last 42 days of its regular season after playing its first 28 contests in the first 72 days
MARQUESS ONE WIN FROM 13TH ON ALL-TIME LIST - Mark Marquess has moved to within the one win of 13th on the all-time win list with his all-time record of 1241-605-5 (.671) in his 30th season as Stanford's head coach
TV GAMES ON THE HORIZON - Stanford is scheduled to play three games on three different television entities in the near future Stanford's 2006 television debut will come on CSTV in the opener of a three-game home series versus Arizona State next Friday, April 28 (6 pm, PT) The Cardinal is also scheduled to be televised on Comcast and FOX Sports Net in back-to-back contests against California at Sunken Diamond on Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6 (6 pm, PT; 4 pm, PT) All three games will be broadcast live with the Fox Sports Net contest being shown live locally on FOX Sports Network Bay Area
OFFENSE RETURNING - After scoring just one run in 25 innings and suffering back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1975 in the first two games of the Oregon State series (4/13-16), which was the team's lowest scoring output ever in a three-game regular season set, Stanford has scored 26 runs and belted out 40 hits in its last three games, including its first back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts of the season in 12-5 and 10-6 victories over Sacramento State in its last two contests For the season, Stanford is still averaging just 5.0 runs per game and hitting a Pac-10 low .270
SOGGY SEASON - Stanford has made 11 changes to its schedule this season due to soggy weather but is still on track to get 55 regular season contests in with a possible makeup date at Santa Clara to get to the maximum number of 56 games in a season
COMEBACK KIDS - Stanford has come from behind in 11 of its 17 wins, including each of its last five victories
WINNING THE CLOSE ONES - Stanford has a 6-4 record in one-run games this season, has won three of four contests that have been tied after eight innings and is 2-1 in extra inning contests
OUT OF THE POLLS - Stanford has not been ranked in any of the five major polls (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA, Rosenblatt Report, USA Today) for the last five weeks
HOT HITTERS - Chris Lewis has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games and is hitting .421 with a homer and nine RBI in 11 April games John Hester has hit safely in six of his last seven contests Ryan Seawell has three straight multiple-hit games and seven hits in his last 14 at bats
SPREADING OUT THE WINS - A total of 10 different Stanford pitchers have combined for the team's 17 wins with Greg Reynolds (3-3) the only one recording more than two
THE 100 CLUB - Michael Taylor picked up his 100th career hit with his third inning double at Arizona (4/21), while John Hester (4/13, at Oregon State), Chris Lewis (4/10, vs. Pacific) and Jim Rapoport (4/1 - Gm. 1, vs. USC) have also reached the mark this month Chris Minaker scored his 100th career run at Oregon State (4/16) and got to the 100 career RBI mark at San Jose State (4/8)
STURDY SENIORS - Stanford's four seniors have started all but one game possible between them this season Position players Chris Lewis and Chris Minaker have each started all 32 games with Minaker playing every inning at shortstop, while John Hester has started 31 of 32 behind the plate Pitcher Matt Manship has made all 10 of his scheduled starts on the mound
ROOKIE CLASS - Stanford has also received significant contributions from its freshman class this season Joey August (22), Cord Phelps (22) and Jason Castro (19) have all started more than half of the games, while Brent Milleville (11), Austin Yount (8), J.J. Jelmini (2) and Sean Ratliff (1) have also made starts Saturday's starter Jeremy Bleich has seven saves and had been the team's closer for most of the season before making his first start as a member of the rotation in his most recent outing at Oregon State (4/14) Max Fearnow, Ratliff and Yount have also seen action on the hill
LEAGUE RANKINGS - Stanford ranks fifth in the Pac-10 in pitching (4.29 ERA), sixth in fielding (.965) and ninth in hitting (.270)
IT'S SIMPLE ... HIT THE LONG BALL AND WIN - Stanford is 6-0 in games in which the Cardinal has two or more home runs
STANFORD BASEBALL HISTORY - Stanford has captured two College World Series titles (1987, 1988) and advanced to the CWS 15 times, including 13 appearances in Omaha in the past 24 seasons and a school record five in a row from 1999-2003 when the Cardinal finished as runners-up three times (2000, 2001, 2003) The Cardinal has also won five NCAA Super Regionals, 13 NCAA Regionals and 20 Pac-10 titles Stanford Baseball is in its 113th year of existence with an all-time record of 2474-1538-32 (.616)
STANFORD BASEBALL IN THE BIGS - Stanford has sent 74 players on to play Major League Baseball, including five (Joe Borchard - Seattle Mariners; Eric Bruntlett - Houston Astros; Mike Gosling, Cincinnati Reds; Rick Helling - Milwaukee Brewers; Mike Mussina - New York Yankees) that have played in The Show in 2006
STARS AT SUNKEN - Mike Mussina took in Stanford's game against USC at Sunken Diamond on April 2 and brought teammate (and 2005 AL MVP) Alex Rodriguez with himRECENT STANFORD RECAPS
Friday, April 21
Stanford 10, at Arizona 6
Tuesday, April 18
at Stanford 12, Sacramento State 5
Monday, April 17
San Francisco 9, at Stanford 4
Sunday, April 16
at Oregon State 12, Stanford 1 (7)
Friday, April 14
at Oregon State 1, Stanford 0
Thursday, April 13
at Oregon State 3, Stanford 0
Monday, April 10
at Stanford 2, Pacific 1
Saturday, April 8
Stanford 13, at San Jose State 3