May 3, 2006
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California Golden Bears (23-22, 8-10 Pac-10)
at
Stanford Cardinal (20-20, 5-10 Pac-10)
Friday, May 5 (6 pm, PT)
RHP Brandon Morrow (7-2, 1.59) vs. RHP Greg Reynolds (4-3, 3.66)
Live Game Coverage: Comcast Sports Net (Ted Robinson, F.P. Santangelo) | Audio Broadcast (Alex Gyr) | Gametracker
Saturday, May 6 (4 pm, PT)
RHP Tyson Ross (4-4, 3.78) vs. TBA
Live Game Coverage: FOX Sports Net (Jim Watson, Jerry Kindall) | Audio Broadcast (Alex Gyr) | Gametracker
Sunday, May 7 (1 pm, PT)
TBA vs. TBA
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast (Alex Gyr) | Gametracker|
Webcast
STANFORD-CALIFORNIA SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Stanford 233-212
2006 Results: Series - California 2-1 (Non-Conference at California, March 3-4, May 1) California 7-6, Stanford 6-5 (11), California 4-3
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 five of the last seven meetings between the teams Stanford won two-of-three the last time the teams played at Sunken Diamond in a non-conference series from March 5-6, 2005 Stanford had previously won an amazing 18 in a row over the Golden Bears before the Golden broke the skid with a 10-4 victory over the Cardinal at Sunken Diamond in the second game of a doubleheader on March 6, 2005
THE MATCHUP
Friday's game begins a crucial series for both teams in their quest of keeping their hopes alive to qualify for the 2006 NCAA Tournament Stanford and California have already played three-non conference games this season that have all been decided by one run with the Golden Bears winning a pair Both squads kept those hopes alive by taking two-of-three in home series against ranked teams last Friday-Sunday with the Golden Bears capturing a series from No. 22 UCLA and the Cardinal taking one against No. 16 Arizona State Although both teams are near the bottom of the Pac-10 standings with California (8-10 Pac-10) currently in seventh and the Stanford (5-10) ninth, both are seemingly within striking distance of all the teams in the Pac-10 standings with the probable exception of league-leader Oregon State (9-3 Pac-10) with USC's 10-8 mark currently good enough for second-place The Cardinal has struggled in all three areas, ranking sixth in pitching (4.48 ERA), as well as eighth in both hitting (.268) and fielding (.965) California has put together a nice season both on the hill (3.75 ERA, #2 Pac-10) and defensively (.968, #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 SNAPPED - Stanford won two-of-three games against Arizona State in its most recent Pac-10 series last Friday-Sunday to win its first series in over two months (at Fresno State, 2/24-26) and snap a five-series losing streak (at USC, Washington State, USC, at Oregon State, at Arizona) that was 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)
CARDINAL SPLITS FIRST TWO GAMES OF BUSY WEEK - Monday, May 1: Stanford started a five-game week with a 4-3 loss at California when the Golden Bears scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to erase a 3-1 Cardinal lead. Brennan Boesch drew a bases loaded walk from Stanford reliever Austin Yount to force home Rob Nesbitt with what proved to be the game-winning run. California took advantage of two walks and a hit batsman by Cardinal relievers in the inning that started with Jordan Karnofsky's leadoff double and also included an RBI single from Chris Errecart. All nine Stanford starters had one hit each Tuesday, May 2: Stanford scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to rally for a 6-2 victory over San Jose State. Brent Milleville's one-out RBI single in the eighth snapped a 2-2 tie, scoring Ryan Seawell with the eventual game-winning run. Chris Minaker (2-4, HR, 3 RBI) also hit his team-high sixth homer with a solo shot in the fourth inning to tie the game at 1-1 and continued his hot hitting by extending his hit streak to 10 games.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE PAC - Stanford is only 3.5 games out of second-place but still in an unfamiliar last-place spot in the Pac-10 race in last place with its 5-10 conference mark Oregon State (9-3) is in sole possession of first-place and has upped its lead over second-place USC (10-8) to 2.0 games and five games in the loss column, Arizona State, UCLA and Washington are in a three-way tie for third, and followed by Washington State (7-8), California (8-10), Arizona (6-9) and Stanford (5-10)
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 played 17 games in April and has 17 more scheduled for May with one contest versus Santa Clara still a possibility to be rescheduled
MARQUESS 13TH ON ALL-TIME LIST - Mark Marquess has moved into sole possession of 13th place on the all-time win list for NCAA Division I coaches, reaching the mark in a win over Arizona State on April 30 He has an all-time record of 1244-610-5 (.671) and is in his 30th season as Stanford's head coach
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 13 of its 20 wins, including eight of its last nine victories
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 seven weeks through the polls of May 1
HOT HITTERS - Chris Minaker has a current 10-game hit streak (.455, 20-44, 6 2B, 3B, HR, 15 RBI) with seven multiple-hit contests, as well as a trio of three-hit games and three-RBI contests during the run The hit streak is just one shy of his season-high of 11 and three short of his career-high of 13 he set in 2005 Minaker (.352, 25-71, 10 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 19 RBI, SB) and Ryan Seawell (.347, 17-49, 3 2B, 5 RBI, 2 SB) put up the team's top offensive numbers in 17 April games
DEFENSIVE WOES - Stanford was finally able to end a string of 11 consecutive games with at least one error when the Cardinal did not make a miscue against San Jose State (5/2) The Cardinal, who has made at least one error in 16 of its last 18 games, is fielding at a clip of just .965 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
REYNOLDS WRAP - Stanford ace Greg 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 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 40 games with Minaker playing every inning at shortstop, while John Hester has started 38 of 40 behind the plate Pitcher Matt Manship had made starts in the team's weekend rotation for the first 11 weeks before coming out of the bullpen to get a win in his most recent action versus Arizona State on April 30
ROOKIE CLASS - Cord Phelps (26), Joey August (25) and Jason Castro (22) have all started more than half of the team's games, while Brent Milleville (17), 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
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 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 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 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
Tuesday, May 2
at Stanford 6, San Jose State 2
Monday, May 1
at California 4, Stanford 3
Sunday, April 30
at Stanford 11, Arizona State 4
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