May 20, 2006
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Stanford Cardinal (28-22, 10-12 Pac-10)
at
UCLA Bruins (29-21, 11-8 Pac-10)
Fri., May 19
at UCLA 8, Stanford 1
Sat., May 20 (2 pm, PT) - TBA vs. LHP Dave Huff (6-2, 2.77)
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast (Alex Gyr) | Gametracker
Sun., May 21 (1 pm, PT) - TBA vs. RHP Tyson Brummett (6-6, 4.43)
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast (Alex Gyr) | Gametracker
STANFORD-UCLA SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Stanford 182-136
2005 Results: Series - Stanford 2-1 (at Stanford, May 13-15) Stanford 3-2, UCLA 4-3, Stanford 11-1
Last Meeting At UCLA: Series - UCLA 2-1 (April 2-4, 2004) Stanford 11-4, Stanford 15-13, UCLA 6-5
Series Notes: Stanford needs to win the final two games of its current series versus UCLA to extend its series win streak over the Bruins to nine in a row UCLA last took a series over Stanford by taking two-of-three against the Cardinal at Stanford from April 19DH-20, 1997 Stanford had also captured the three prior series to make its current run over the Bruins to 10 of the last 11 series Despite Friday night's loss, Stanford has also still won four of the last six contests between the clubs
THE MATCHUP
Stanford had won a season-high seven in a row, nine of its last 10 games overall and five straight road games prior to its Friday night loss to the Bruins The Cardinal will now need to sweep the final two games of the series to extend its series win streak to four Stanford put up much improved numbers in all three primary team statistical areas while winning nine of 10 games prior to Friday night's loss with a .300 batting average, 2.91 ERA and .970 fielding percentage that are well above the team's season numbers of .274 (#8 Pac-10), 4.26 (#4 Pac-10) and .965 (#6 Pac-10) After Friday night's victory, UCLA has won four straight after losing four of its previous five contests The Bruins have also won four of their last five Pac-10 series UCLA leads the Pac-10 with a .976 fielding percentage (#9 NCAA) and ranks third in the conference with a 3.73 ERA UCLA has also shown power at the plate with 48 homers (#2 Pac-10), while hitting .290 (#6 Pac-10)
STANFORD SNAPSHOT
THREE STRAIGHT PAC-10 SERIES WINS - Stanford will need to win the final two games of its current series at UCLA to extend its string of series victories (all Pac-10) to four The current three-game streak started by winning two-of-three at home against California (5/5-7) and Arizona State (4/28-30), before sweeping a road series at Washington (5/12-14) The series streak is the first time the Cardinal has won three consecutive conference series since taking seven Pac-10 series in a row from May 3, 2003 - May 2, 2004
SEVEN-GAME STREAK OVER - Stanford had its season-high seven-game win streak snapped with its 8-1 loss at UCLA on Friday The streak had been its longest winning since also taking seven in a row from April 10-23, 2004
FIVE-GAME ROAD STREAK ALSO SNAPPED - Stanford had also won five straight road games before Friday's loss at UCLA, picking up victories at Santa Clara (5/9), Sacramento State (5/10) and Washington (5/12, 5/13, 5/14) to mark its longest road win streak since taking five in a row from March 20 - April 3, 2005
A QUICK LOOK AT THE PAC-10 STANDINGS - Stanford has moved up to sixth in the Pac-10 standings after winning seven of its first 10 games in the second half of league play following a 3-9 first half but was mathematically eliminated from any hopes of a conference championship with its loss to UCLA and Oregon State's win at Washington State on Friday Oregon State (14-6) held on to a two-game lead over both Arizona State and UCLA (11-8) on Friday as all three teams were winners USC (11-10, 3.0 GB) is the only other team over .500 in the standings and is followed by Washington State (9-10, 4.0 GB), Stanford (10-12, 4.5 GB), Washington (9-12, 5.0 GB), California (9-12, 5.0 GB) and Arizona (7-12, 6.0 GB)
LAST GAME AT UCLA - Friday, May 19, 2006 (at UCLA 8, Stanford 1): UCLA snapped a season-high seven-game win streak for Stanford with an 8-1 victory over the Cardinal. The Bruins jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first three innings to support winning pitcher Hector Ambriz (7-6), who gave up just one run while scattering eight hits and striking out eight without walking a batter over 8.0 frames. Ambriz also doubled and contributed a pair of RBI at the plate. Sean Smith (3-3, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI) and Ryan Babineau (3-4, HR, 3 RBI) both homered to lead the Bruins' offense, while Jermaine Curtis (2-4, 3B, RBI) and Brandon Crawford (2-5, 3B) each had a pair of hits including first inning triples that set the tone for the contest. Chris Minaker (3-4, RBI) and Grant Escue (2-4) had multiple-hit games for the Cardinal with Minaker extending his hit streak to seven in a row. Jason Castro extended his career-high hit streak to eight games with a fifth inning single, while Michael Taylor was held hitless to end his career-high hit streak at nine. Greg Reynolds (6-4) took the loss for Stanford to snap a four-game win streak, allowing career-high-tying totals of seven runs and 10 hits over 6.0 innings. LAST SERIES AT WASHINGTON - Sunday, May 14, 2006 (Stanford 10, at Washington 2): Stanford stayed hot by extending its longest win streak of the season to six games with a 10-2 victory over Washington to complete a three-game sweep of the Huskies. The Cardinal scored seven runs in the top of the fourth inning and then rode the pitching of winner Jeremy Bleich and reliever Matt Manship to the victory. Michael Taylor (3-4, HR, RBI), Jason Castro (2-4, HR, career-high 3 RBI) and Ryan Seawell (2-6, HR, RBI) homered for the Cardinal, while Grant Escue (3-5, RBI) and Chris Lewis (2-3, 2 2B) added multiple-hit game with Chris Minaker driving in a pair of runs Saturday, May 13, 2006 (Stanford 14, at Washington 6): Stanford scored nine runs in the top of the second inning and cruised to a 14-6 Pac-10 victory over Washington. Chris Minaker (3-6, 2B, HR, 4 RBI) and Chris Lewis (2-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) both had three-run homers in the Cardinal second, while Nolan Gallagher held Washington to one run over 7.0 innings of relief to earn the win after entering the contest to start the second frame Friday, May 12, 2006 (Stanford 5, at Washington 0): Greg Reynolds pitched a complete game shutout to lift Stanford to a 5-0 win over Washington. Reynolds struck out nine while scattering eight hits and a walk. Michael Taylor (2-5, 2B, 2 RBI) had a pair of hits and two RBI for the Cardinal, while Jim Rapoport (2-4, RBI) and Chris Minaker (2-5, 2B) each added a pair of hits.
MARQUESS MOVING UP ON ALL-TIME VICTORY LIST - Mark Marquess ranks 13th on the all-time win list for NCAA Division I coaches with an all-time overall record of 1252-612-5 (.671) in his 30th season as Stanford's head coach Marquess is now just three wins shy of Georgia Southern's Jack Stallings, who recorded 1255 victories in 39 seasons at Georgia Southern to rank 12th on the current list
COMEBACK KIDS - Stanford has come from behind in 18 of its 28 wins, including 13 of its last 17 victories
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 27 games scheduled over the last 42 days of its regular season after playing its first 28 contests in the first 72 days Stanford played 17 games in April and is scheduled to also play 17 in May
OFFENSE COMING ALIVE - Stanford's offense came alive during the club's recent hot play prior to Friday night's loss at UCLA The Cardinal scored double digit runs in three consecutive contests from May 13-16 (the first time that has happened since May 1-7, 2003) Stanford had its most prolific offensive series of the season against Washington in its previous three-game Pac-10 set last Friday-Sunday, May 12-14, scoring 29 runs, hitting .357 and blasting five homers Stanford has had plenty of offensive struggles for most of the season with a current .274 team batting average that is just eighth in the Pac-10 and the lowest by a Cardinal club since the 1980 squad also hit .274 Stanford also has only 31 homers this season but has hit eight in the last six games to move within nine long balls of extending its string of consecutive 40-homer campaigns to 20
HOT HITTERS - Several individuals keyed the team's hot stretch at the plate Michael Taylor posted a nine-game hit streak that was finally snapped at UCLA on Friday, while Jason Castro extended his career-best hit streak to eight versus the Bruins Chris Minaker has hit safely in seven in a row and 20 of his last 21 games Minaker also has a pair of homers and nine RBI in his last four contests
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT - Stanford was errorless in four of the 10 games in which it posted a 9-1 record from May 2-16 and fielded at a .972 clip during the period The numbers are much improved compared to a defense that is fielding just .965 this season 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
PITCHING PROWESS - Stanford's pitching was also top notch during the 9-1 stretch from May 2-16 with a 2.91 ERA during the period
REYNOLDS WRAP - Stanford ace Greg Reynolds had posted three consecutive complete game victories before going just 6.0 innings in an 8-1 loss at UCLA on May 19 Reynolds became the first Stanford pitcher to throw three or more straight complete games since Jeremy Guthrie tossed four in a row (the last three victories) from April 26 - May 17, 2002 Reynolds also won four straight starts prior to the UCLA loss Reynolds was named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week on May 2 after throwing the first complete game of his career and the first by a Stanford pitcher this season with a three-hitter in a 7-1 win over Arizona State on April 28 He followed that performance by outdueling California ace Brandon Morrow in a 3-2 Stanford win on May 5 and Washington ace Tim Lincecum with his first career complete game shutout in a 5-0 Stanford victory over the Huskies in Seattle on May 12, taking his second Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week honors on May 16
STURDY SENIORS - Senior position players Chris Minaker and Chris Lewis have each started all 50 contests with Minaker playing every inning at shortstop each of the last two seasons ... Both players have long consecutive games started streaks going with Minaker at 147 and Lewis at 109
SOGGY SEASON - Stanford has made 11 changes to its schedule this season due to soggy weather but is still on track to get 55 of its 56 scheduled regular season contests in
ROOKIE CLASS - Jason Castro (31), Joey August (27) and Cord Phelps (26) have all started more than half of the team's games, while Brent Milleville (19), 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 making five of his last six appearances as a starter at Oregon State (4/14), at Arizona (4/21), versus Arizona State (4/29), against San Jose State (5/2) and at Washington (5/10) Max Fearnow, Ratliff and Yount have also seen action on the hill
BIG INNINGS - Stanford has put up some big innings offensively of late with one inning of seven runs or more in three of its last four games as the Cardinal put up a season-high-tying nine-spot on the scoreboard at Washington in the second inning on May 13, seven at Washington in fourth inning on May 14 and eight in the fifth inning versus Santa Clara on May 16 Other innings of five or more runs for the Cardinal this season include a season-high-tying nine-run third versus Texas (2/20), six runs in the seventh in the first game of a doubleheader versus USC (4/1), a five-run sixth at San Jose State (4/8) and an eight-spot in the fifth inning versus Arizona State (4/30)
IT'S SIMPLE ... HIT THE LONG BALL AND WIN - Stanford is 10-0 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 2485-1545-32 (.616)
THE STANFORD 9 - The All-Time Starting 9 that represted the best of the first 30 years of the distinguished coaching career of Mark Marquess as votedupon be fans throughout the 2006 season was announced on Saturday, May 6 The team consisted of Mike Mussina (Pitcher, 1988-90), Ryan Garko (Catcher, 2000-03), John Gall (First Base, 1997-2000), Jed Lowrie (2nd, 2003-05), Ed Sprague (Third Base, 1996-98), Eric Bruntlett (Shortstop, 1997-2000), Joe Borchard (Outfield, 1998-2000), Sam Fuld (Outfield, 2001-04) and Jeffrey Hammonds (Outfield, 1990-92)
STANFORD BASEBALL IN THE BIGS - Stanford has sent 74 players on to play Major League Baseball, including six (Joe Borchard - Florida Marlins, Seattle Mariners Eric Bruntlett - Houston Astros Mike Gosling, Cincinnati Reds John Gall - St. Louis Cardinals 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 22 former players that have either been on a Minor League Baseball roster in 2006 or are a member of a current member of a professional baseball organization and yet to be assigned for the 2006 campaign (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 Jody Gerut - Unassigned, Pittsburgh Pirates Jeff Gilmore - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Seattle Mariners A Mike Gosling - Cincinnati Bats, Cinncinnati Reds AAA Jeremy Guthrie - Buffalo Bisons, Cleveland Indians 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
Friday, May 19
at UCLA 8, Stanford 1
Tuesday, May 16
at Stanford 11, Santa Clara 7
Sunday, May 14
Stanford 10, at Washington 2
Saturday, May 13
Stanford 14, at Washington 6
Friday, May 12
Stanford 5, at Washington 0
Wednesday, May 10
Stanford 5, at Sacramento State 4
Tuesday, May 9
Stanford 8, at Santa Clara 4 (15)
Sunday, May 7
at Stanford 6, California 4
Saturday, May 6
California 5, at Stanford 1
Friday, May 5
at Stanford 3, California 2