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Stanford To Visit California For Non-League Game Monday

Stanford To Visit California For Non-League Game Monday

May 1, 2006

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Stanford Cardinal (19-19, 5-10 Pac-10)
at
California Golden Bears (21-22, 8-10 Pac-10)

MONDAY, MAY 1 (2:30 pm, PT)
TBA vs. TBA
LIVE GAME COVERAGE: Audio Broadcast | Gametracker

STANFORD-CALIFORNIA SERIES HISTORY
ALL-TIME SERIES: Stanford 233-211

2006 RESULTS: Series - Tied 1-1 (Non-Conference at California, March 3-4) California 7-6, Stanford 6-5 (11)

2005 RESULTS: Series - Tied 3-3 (Non-Conference at Stanford, March 5-6DH) Stanford 10-3, Stanford 3-2 (DH Game 1), California 10-4 (DH Game 2); (Conference at California, May 6-7, 9) Stanford 7-5, California 2-1 (11 inn.), California 9-5

SERIES NOTES: California has won four of the last six meetings between the teams but the clubs have split eight contests over the last two seasons after Stanford had previously won an amazing 18 in a row over the Golden Bears • California had won three straight over the Cardinal at Evans Diamond before Stanford snapped the streak with a 6-5 win in 11 innings in its most recent game in Berkeley this past March 4

THE MATCHUP: Today's game is the makeup of a non-conference contest that was postponed due to rain on March 5 and features a pair of teams in similar situations • Both teams are near the bottom of the Pac-10 standings with California (8-10) currently in seventh and the Cardinal ninth • But both teams also have reason to be optimistic after taking two-of-three in home series against ranked teams this past Friday-Sunday with the Golden Bears winning a series against UCLA and the Cardinal taking down Arizona State • The Cardinal has put up decent pitching numbers (4.55 ERA) to rank fifth in the league but is seventh in fielding (.963) and eighth in hitting (.268) • California has put together a nice season both on the hill (3.71 ERA, #3 Pac-10) and defensively (.969, #4 Pac-10) but has struggled offensively with a .264 team batting average that is last in the Pac-10

STANFORD SNAPSHOT
• FIVE-SERIES LOSING STREAK - Stanford needs one win the final game of its current series with Arizona State on Sunday to end a five-series losing streak (at USC, Washington State, USC, at Oregon State, at Arizona) that is its longest since the Cardinal dropped seven in a row in its final six series of 1993 (at UCLA, Arizona, at Arizona State, at California, UNLV, UCLA), as well as its first series in 1994 (Cal State Fullerton) • The last time the Cardinal has won a series this year is when the club took two-of-three in a non-conference set at Fresno State (February 24-26)

• STANFORD HAS LOST FOUR OF LAST FIVE - Stanford ended its three-game losing skid with its impressive 7-1 victory over Arizona State in Friday's series-opener but its 11-7 loss to the Sun Devils on Saturday makes it four of the last five the Cardinal has lost

• A QUICK LOOK AT THE PAC - Stanford is in an unfamiliar spot in the Pac-10 race in last place with its 4-10 conference mark • Oregon State (9-3) is in sole possession of first-place, followed by USC (10-7), Arizona State and UCLA (8-6), Washington (7-7), Washington State and Arizona (6-8), California (7-10) and Stanford (4-10)

• 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 • Stanford is playing its 17th game of April today and has 17 more scheduled for May with one contest versus Santa Clara still a possibility to be rescheduled

• MARQUESS TIED FOR 13TH ON ALL-TIME LIST - Mark Marquess moved into a tie for 13th place on the all-time win list for NCAA Division I coaches with Stanford's victory over Arizona State on Friday night • He has an all-time record of 1242-609-5 (.671) and is in his 30th season as Stanford's head coach

• TWO MORE TV GAMES ON TAP NEXT WEEK - After making its 2006 television debut on CSTV Friday night, the Cardinal will have two more games televised live on Comcast Sports Net and FOX Sports Bay Area Net in back-to-back contests against California at Sunken Diamond next Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6 (6 pm, PT; 4 pm, PT)

• 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 five in a row before leading from wire-to-wire in Friday night's win over Arizona State

• 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 six weeks

• HOT HITTERS - Chris Minaker has a current seven-game hit streak (.452, 14-31, 5 2B, 3B, 9 RBI) with five multiple-hit contests during the stretch • Chris Lewis (.356, 21-59, 5 2B, 2 3B, HR, 11 RBI) has been Stanford's hottest hitter in 16 April games with Minaker (.333, 22-66, 9 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 17 RBI, SB) and Ryan Seawell (.333, 15-45, 3 2B, 5 RBI, 2 SB) right behind

• DEFENSIVE WOES - Stanford is fielding at a clip of just .963 after posting a .971 or better mark in each of the past six years to account for six of the top eight fielding percentages in school history • The Cardinal has made at least one error in nine straight games and 14 of the last 15

• REYNOLDS WRAP - Stanford ace Greg Reynolds has won his last two decisions and three of his last four to lower his ERA from a season-high 4.09 to its current 3.66

• 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 37 games with Minaker playing every inning at shortstop, while John Hester has started 36 of 37 behind the plate • Pitcher Matt Manship has made all 11 of his scheduled starts on the mound

• ROOKIE CLASS - Stanford has also received significant contributions from its freshman class this season • Cord Phelps (25), Joey August (23) and Jason Castro (20) have all started more than half of the team's games, while Brent Milleville (15), Austin Yount (9), J.J. Jelmini (2) and Sean Ratliff (1) have also made starts as position players • Jeremy Bleich has a team-high seven saves and had been the team's closer for most of the season before being inserted into the starting rotation each of the last three weeks at Oregon State (4/14) and Arizona (4/21), and versus Arizona State (4/29) • Max Fearnow, Ratliff and Yount have also seen action on the hill

• LEAGUE RANKINGS - Stanford ranks fifth in the Pac-10 in pitching (4.59 ERA), seventh in fielding (.963) and eighth in hitting (.266)

• 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 2475-1542-32 (.615)

• STANFORD BASEBALL IN THE BIGS - Stanford has sent 74 players on to play Major League Baseball, including six (Joe Borchard - Seattle Mariners • Eric Bruntlett - Houston Astros • Mike Gosling, Cincinnati Reds • Jeremy Guthrie - Cleveland Indians • Rick Helling - Milwaukee Brewers • Mike Mussina - New York Yankees) that have played in The Show in 2006

• STANFORD IN THE MINOR LEAGUES - Stanford has 21 former players currently in Minor League Baseball (Jonny Ash - Corpus Christi Hooks, Houston Astros AA • Chris Carter - Tucson Sidewinders, Arizona Diamondbacks AAA • Jason Cooper - Buffalo Bisons, Cleveland Indians AAA • Scott Dragicevich - Dunedin Blue Jays, Toronto Blue A Advanced • Pete Duda - Unassigned, Arizona Diamondbacks • Sam Fuld - Daytona Cubs, Chicago Cubs A Advanced • John Gall - Memphis Redbirds, St. Louis Cardinals AAA • Jody Gerut - Unassigned, Pittsburgh Pirates • Jeff Gilmore - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Seattle Mariners A • Mike Gosling - Cincinnati Bats, Cinncinnati Reds AAA • Brian Hall - Unassigned, Toronto Blue Jays • Jed Hansen - Fresno Grizzlies, San Francisco Giants AAA • John Hudgins - Oklahoma RedHawks, Texas Rangers AAA • Mark Jecmen - Lake County Captains, Cleveland Indians A • Jed Lowrie - Wilmington Blue Rocks, Boston Red Sox A Advanced • Donny Lucy - Winston-Salem Warthogs, Chicago White Sox A Advanced • John Mayberry, Jr. - Clinton LumberKings, Texas Rangers A • Chris O'Riordan - Mobile Bay Bears, San Diego Padres AA • Danny Putnam - Midland RockHounds, Oakland A's AA • Carlos Quentin - Tucson Sidewinders, Arizona Diamondbacks AAA • Mark Romanczuk - Unassigned, Arizona Diamondbacks)

• 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 him

RECENT STANFORD RECAPS
Sunday, April 30
at Stanford 11, Arizona State 4

Saturday, April 29
Arizona State 11, at Stanford 7

Friday, April 28
at Stanford 7, Arizona State 1

Tuesday, April 25
Santa Clara 6, at Stanford 1 (10)

Sunday, April 23
at Arizona 12, Stanford 3

Saturday, April 22
at Arizona 14, Stanford 4

Friday, April 21
Stanford 10, at Arizona 6