May 19, 2007
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PACIFIC TIGERS (14-40)
2007 SERIES (PACIFIC 1-0)
Friday, May 18 - Pacific 13, at Stanford 7
Saturday, May 19 (1 pm, PT) - RHP Cole Akins (2-2, 4.89) vs. LHP Jeremy Bleich (1-8, 5.88)*
Live Game Coverage: Gametracker | PC Webcast ($)
Sunday, May 20 (1 pm, PT) - RHP Jason Haar (2-2, 5.32) vs. RHP Erik Davis (3-2, 4.54)^
Live Game Coverage: Gametracker
| PC Webcast | Mac Webcast
^at Stanford, CA;*at Stockton, CA
STANFORD-PACIFIC SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Stanford 46-7-1 (since 1959)
2006 Results: Series - Stanford 2-0 (at Stanford, April 10) - Stanford 2-1; (at Pacific, May 24) - Stanford 14-8
Current Game Win Streak: Pacific - 1 (May 18, 2007)
Current Series Win Streak: Stanford - 1 (February 19-20, 1983)
Current Regular Season Series Win Streak: Stanford - 3 (1999-2006)
Series Notes: Stanford and Pacific are currently playing their first full-blown three-game series since the Cardinal swept a three-game series way back February 19-20, 1983. The two clubs had not met for five seasons from 2000-04 before resuming play against each other in 2005. Stanford won two-of-three over the Tigers in 2005 and then took both meetings in 2006, before dropping the first meeting between the clubs in 2007. Both of Pacific's wins since the teams begin playing have come at Sunken Diamond. The clubs have played just twice in Stockton since the last Stanford road loss at Pacific when the Cardinal dropped a 10-2 decision on February 28, 1995.
THIRD STRAIGHT FIREWORKS NIGHT LOSS
Stanford's 13-7 loss to Pacific on May 18 on Town & Country Village Fireworks night marked the third straight season Stanford has dropped a game on the annual event. Stanford lost to Arizona in 2005 and UC Davis in 2006 after having won on four straight fireworks nights from 2001-04.
THREE-GAME WIN STREAK SNAPPED
Stanford's three-game win streak with a pair of victories over Washington (May 12, May 13) followed by a win at Santa Clara (May 15) was snapped with a loss to Pacific on May 18. The three-game win streak was Stanford's second-longest streak of the year and its longest since the Cardinal won a season-high eight in a row from February 18 - March 4.
PUSH TO FINISH .500
Stanford needs to win all six of its remaining regular season games to finish an even .500 and avoid its first losing season since the club was 27-28 and failed to qualify for the postseason in 1993. Stanford has gone to the postseason and posted winning seasons for each of the last 13 seasons from 1994-2006.
SWEEP BY SANTA CLARA AVOIDED
Stanford's victory at Santa Clara on May 15 helped the Cardinal avoid being swept in the 2007 season series by the Broncos, who had won the first three meetings between the clubs.
SERIES LOSING SKIDS SNAPPED
Stanford two-of-three games series victory over Washington in its most recent Pac-10 series last Friday-Sunday (March 11-13) snapped two significant series losing skids of seven series each. The Cardinal had dropped seven straight overall series since a non-league sweep of California March 2-4, 2007) that was its longest since dropping eight straight series from April 13, 1978 - March 31, 1979. Stanford had also dropped seven straight Pac-10 series with its previous conference series win coming just one day shy of an entire year to winning the Washington sreies when the Cardinal swept a three-game set at Washington (May 12-14, 2006). Stanford's seven straight Pac-10 series losses were the most in the school's recorded history.
RUBBER GAME SLIDE ALSO BROKEN
Stanford won its first rubber game of the season when the Cardinal wrapped up its series versus Washington with a 10-7 victory over the Huskies on May 13. Stanford was playing its fourth rubber game of the season as well as its fourth in as many series as the Cardinal had lost rubber games in each of its previous three series at California (April 22), versus Oregon State (April 29) and at Washington State (May 7).
PLAYING WELL ON CAMERA
Stanford has won each of its last three TV games over Oregon State (April 28, FSN), at Washington State (May 5, FSN Northwest) and versus Washington (May 13, CSTV) after losing its first two TV games of the campaign at Arizona State (April 7, FSN Arizona) and versus Oregon State (April 27, CSTV). Stanford does not have any of its seven remaining regular season scheduled to be televised.
SERIES OPENER PROBLEMS
Stanford's 6-4 win in a Pac-10 series opener at Washington State on May 5 is the only time in seven conference series this season the Cardinal has won the opener. Stanford is just 4-11 overall in series-openers.
FINAL MONTH OF REGULAR SEASON
Stanford is in its final month of the 2007 regular season and has a 4-5 record in its first nine games of May. The Cardinal has six more games scheduled in the month with contests at Pacific (May 19), versus Pacific (May 20) and UC Davis (May 22), and at USC (May 25-27). Stanford is attempting for a winning month for just the second time this season as the Cardinal was 7-5 in February.
TRYING TO GET OUT OF THE CELLAR
Stanford is currently in last place in the Pac-10 with a 6-15 conference record that is 2.5 games behind eighth-place Washington State's 9-13 mark. Stanford has finished at the bottom of the Pac-10 just twice in 30 previous seasons under current head coach Mark Marquess, tying for fifth in a six-team league with a 13-17 conference record in 1979 and taking sixth of six teams with a 10-20 mark in 1993.
TOUGH STARTS
Stanford started 2007 Pac-10 play with an 0-8 league mark that was the worst in recorded school history before winning its first conference game against Arizona on April 15. Stanford also started the season with an 0-3 record to mark the first time since 1989 the Cardinal had lost its first three games of the season. In addition, the sweep at Cal State Fullerton was also the first time Stanford had been swept in a three-game season-opening series in the school's recorded history.
TEAM STATS
OFFENSE - Stanford's offense is its most improved area as the Cardinal has moved up to tied for third in the Pac-10 in hits (521), fifth in batting average (.295), sixth in home runs (33) and seventh in runs scored (284). Stanford is still last with 23 stolen bases.
PITCHING - Stanford has struggled tremendously on the mound with an uncharacteristically high 6.20 ERA that is last in the Pac-10 by 81 points over eighth-place Washington State (5.39 ERA) and 84 points higher than the highest ERA in the school's recorded history when the 1979 pitching staff posted a 5.36 mark. The team's .317 opponents' batting average is also last in the Pac-10.
FIELDING - Stanford also ranks last in the Pac-10 in fielding percentage (.960) despite eight errorless games in its last 21 contests.
TEAM LEADERS
OFFENSE - Sean Ratliff and Michael Taylor are battling for the team lead in several categories. Ratliff and Taylor have amazingly put up identical team co-leading numbers in home runs (9, #7T Pac-10), hits (65, #9T Pac-10), at bats (203), total bases (112, #8 Pac-10), slugging percentage (.552), games played (46) and games started (46). They are also both tied for third on the club with identical .320 batting averages. Ratliff has the edge in runs scored (52), stolen bases (9) and triples (4, #5T Pac-10), while Taylor paces the club by himself with 45 RBI and seven hit-by-pitches, and shares the club lead with 14 doubles (#10T Pac-10). Adam Sorgi leads the club in both batting average (.397) and on-base percentage (.473) but needs to play in each of the team's final six games to hit the required 75% of the team's games needed to qualify for the Pac-10 or NCAA stats. Other offensive team leaders or co-leaders include Cord Phelps (14 2B, #10T Pac-10, co-leader; 20 BB), Brent Milleville (4 SF) and Joey August (4 SAC).
PITCHING - Jeffrey Inman (4-4, 5.74, 73.2 IP, 62 SO) co-leads the team in wins and complete games, while pacing the club in strikeouts. Inman has also posted the lowest ERA among any pitcher with at least one inning pitched per team game played. Jeremy Bleich (1-8, 5.88, 82.2 IP, 49 SO) has the team lead in innings pitched (#9 Pac-10) and starts (14, #7T Pac-10). Nolan Gallagher (4-6, 7.96, 57.2 IP, 41 SO) has equaled Inman's four wins and also has the club's only other complete game and the team's only shutout. David Stringer (1-2, 5.47, 7 SV, 49.1 IP, 32 SO) paces the club with 28 appearances and seven saves, ranking tied for first and tied for seventh in the Pac-10 in those two categories.
HOT BATS REACH MAINTAIN SEASON-HIGH
Stanford maintained its current season-high team batting average at .295 after recording double digit hits for the 14th time in its last 16 contests in its most recent game versus Pacific on May 18. The team has its batting average 24 points during the span. Stanford is hitting .2during the stretch with Adam Sorgi (.484, 30-62, 6 2B, 1 3B, 16 RBI) the club's top hitter during the period.
FIFTH ALL-TIME WINNINGEST PROGRAM
Stanford is the fifth all-time winningest program in college baseball history with a record of 2512-1578-32 (.613) in 4122 games over 114 seasons including 2007. Fordham, Texas, USC and Michigan are the top four.
DAY AND NIGHT
Stanford is a respectable 17-15 during day games but just 5-13 at night. Stanford has lost 10 of its last 11 games under the lights with its only victory under the lights during the span a win at Santa Clara on May 15 to end a nine-game losing streak in night games.
THIS WEEK'S STATS (SANTA CLARA/PACIFIC)
OFFENSE - Stanford has been productive offensively in the first two games of its current week of action, averaging 10.5 runs per game and hitting at a .312 clip. Toby Gerhart (.571, 4-7), Ryan Seawell (.500, 4-8, 3 RBI, SB) and Brendan Domaracki (.500, 2-4, HR, 3 RBI) have been the club's top hitters.
PITCHING - Stanford's pitching has once again been troublesome with a team ERA that is at 6.00 this week. Despite the team ERA, a total of five different Stanford pitchers have had scoreles outings this week with one by David Stringer (1-0, 1 APP, 7.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) at Santa Clara on May 15 the most effective.
FIELDING - Stanford has made a pair of errors in each of its two games this week and is fielding at just a .952 clip in the two contests.
LAST SERIES STATS (WASHINGTON)
OFFENSE - Stanford had arguably its most productive offensive series of the season versus Washington with a .400 team batting average and a 7.7 run per game average. Six Stanford players -- Joey August (.583, 7-12, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI), Michael Taylor (.571, 8-14, 2 2B, 1 3B, 5 RBI), Sean Ratliff (.556, 5-9, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 RBI), Brian Juhl (.500, 3-6) and Ryan Seawell (.500, 3-6, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 SB) all hit .500 or better in the series.
PITCHING - Stanford posted a respectable 4.67 ERA in its most recent series versus Washington despite allowing a .313 opponents' batting average. The success primarily came thanks to just seven walks in 27.0 innings of work. Starters Erik Davis (1.35, 1-0, 1 APP, 1 GS, 6.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO), Jeremy Bleich (3.86, 0-0, 1 APP, 1 GS, 7.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB) and Jeffrey Inman (4.26, 0-1, 1 APP, 1 GS, 7.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 SO) all made strong starts. Andrew Clauson (0.00, 0-0, 1 APP, 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 SO) had a scoreless outing out of the bullpen.
FIELDING - Stanford had one of its best defensive series of the season with just two errors and a .982 fielding percentage. The Cardinal was errorless in the middle game of the series and made just one in the other two.
SEAN RATLIFF'S OFFENSIVE FOCUS PAYS OFF
Sean Ratliff is having a big season and has arguably been the team's most consistent hitter in 2007. Ratliff is leading or co-leading the Cardinal in nearly every offensive category, including home runs (9, co-leader, #7T Pac-10), stolen bases (9), triples (4, #5T Pac-10), runs scored (52, #4 Pac-10), hits (65. co-leader, #9T Pac-10), total bases (112, co-leader, #8 Pac-10), slugging percentage (.552, co-leader), at bats (203, co-leader, games played (49, co-leader) and games started (49, co-leader). He has also contributed 30 RBI and a .320 batting average that rank second and tied for third on the club among regulars, respectively. Ratliff just had a career-best 13-game hit streak (.400, 24-60, 17 R, 5 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 12 RBI) that was also the longest by a Stanford player this season snapped in his most recent at Santa Clara (May 15). Ratliff was 0-for-14 with 10 strikeouts last season and has still struggled with his strikeouts in 2007 with a Pac-10-high 61.
ADAM SORGI NOW BATTING AVERAGE LEADER
Adam Sorgi has reached the minimum number of at bats (2.5 per team game played) needed to officially qualify for Stanford's team lead in stats (however he still needs to play in all six regular season games remaining to reach the Pac-10 and NCAA minimum requirement of playing in 75% of the team's games). Sorgi is currently hitting .397 and is looking to become only the seventh Stanford player to hit .400 or better in a season. He also boasts a team-high .473 on-base percentage. Sorgi has returned from a shoulder injury that caused him to miss 2006 and limited his action early in 2007.
MICHAEL TAYLOR ON FIRE
Michael Taylor has notched 11 multiple-hit games in his last 13 contests and is hitting .426 (26-61) during the period with six doubles, a triple, four homers and 17 RBI. Taylor has raised his average 32 points to its current season-high-tying .320.
ERIK DAVIS NAMED IN ROTATION
Erik Davis has been named the Sunday starter for the team's current series versus Pacific. Davis has actually started each of the team's last three Pac-10 series finales but had never been officially announced in the role at the beginning of the week. In his last two starts, Davis is 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA while striking out 10 batters in 13.2 innings.
LONG GAMES
Stanford has clocked in at 3:00 or over in 32 of its first 50 games this season, gone 3:40 or longer 15 times and more than 4:00 on three occasions, including a season-long 4:12 against UCLA on March 31.
COMEBACK WINS
Stanford has come from behind in 15 of its 22 wins. Stanford's biggest comeback of the year came versus USC (March 11) when the Cardinal was down 8-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
EARLIER LOSING SKIDS
Stanford dropped six straight home games (March 24 - April 14) earlier this season and nine consecutive Pac-10 contests (May 21, 2006 - April 14, 2007) that dated back to the final conference contest of last year that were both the longest in recorded school history.
40-HOMER STREAK
Stanford has 33 homers in its first 50 games this season and and still needs seven more to extend the team's string of 40-homer seasons to 20 in a row.
PLAYING THE BEST
Stanford has played seven of its first 12 three-game series and 21 of its first 50 games against teams ranked in at least one national poll at some point.
SUNKEN DIAMOND
Sunken Diamond has served as a host site for 13 NCAA Regionals, as well as NCAA Regionals on five occasions. Stanford has clinched 10 of its 15 trips to the CWS at Sunken Diamond. However, Stanford is currently just an even .500 (15-15) at Sunken Diamond in 2007 and still needs to win one of its two remaining regular season home games to avoid the first home losing season in recorded school history. Stanford's worst home record ever came in 1964 when the Cardinal was 13-13 at Sunken Diamond.
STANFORD CAREER STATS VERSUS PACIFIC
Joey August (.200, 1 GP, 1 GS, 1-5, 1 SO)
Jeremy Bleich (0.00, 1-0, 1 APP, 1.0 IP, 2 SO)
Jason Castro (.500, 2 GP, 1 GS, 3-6, 2 R)
Erik Davis (6.75, 0-0, 2 APP, 1 GS, 4.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO)
Brendan Domaracki (.222, 4 GP, 1 GS, 2-9, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1 GDP)
Grant Escue (.000, 1 GP, 0-2, 1 BB, 2 SO)
Max Fearnow (0.00, 0-0, 2 APP, 2.0 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 SO)
Nolan Gallagher (0.00, 0-0, 1 APP, 1.0 IP, 2 SO)
Toby Gerhart (.600, 1 GP, 1 GS, 3-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 SO)
Jeffrey Inman (31.50, 0-1, 1 APP, 1 GS, 2.0 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 SO)
Brian Juhl (.333, 1 GP, 1 GS, 1-3, 1 SO)
Brent Milleville (.125, 3 GP, 1 GS, 1-8, 2 RBI, 3 SO)
Randy Molina (.222, 4 GP, 2 GS, 2-9, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 SO)
Cord Phelps (.167, 2 GP, 2 GS, 1-6, 1 R, 2 BB)
Sean Ratliff (27.00, 0-0, 1 APP, 1.0 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO)
Ryan Seawell (.250, 5 GP, 2 GS, 4-12, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 HBP, 4 SO, 1 GDP)
Adam Sorgi (.143, 4 GP, 4 GS, 2-14, 3 R, 2 RBI, 6 BB, 3 SO)
Tom Stilson (0.00, 0-0, 1 APP, 1.0 IP, 1 H)
David Stringer (4.15, 0-0, 2 APP, 45.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 SO)
Michael Taylor (.368, 6 GP, 6 GS, 7-19, 7 R, 2 2B, 6 BB, 1 HBP, 3 SO, 1 GDP, 1 SAC)
Kyle Thompson (0-0, 0.00, 1 APP, 1.0 IP, 1 R, 2 BB)
Jeff Whitlow (.250, 1 GP, 1 GS, 1-4, 1 R, 1 SO)
Austin Yount (2.45, 1-0, 2 APP, 7.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 SO)
2007 STANFORD-PACIFIC GAMES
May 18, 2007 - at Pacific 13, Stanford 7
Pacific scored seven runs in the first three innings and cruised to a 13-7 victory over Stanford in the opener of a three-game non-conference series. The home season-high crowd of 2262 was treated to the ninth annual Town & Country Village Fireworks Show following the game. The loss assured Stanford will not finish the 2007 campaign with a winning season to end a string of 13 consecutive winning campaigns. Stanford can still finish with an even .500 record with victories in each of its six final regular season contests. John Joines (3-4, 4 RBI) led nine Pacific starters that all had at least one of the Tigers' 17 hits. Toby Gerhart (3-5, 2B) had his first career three-hit game for Stanford, while also tying a career-high with two runs scored. Pacific starter Curtis Pasma got the victory, spreading out six Stanford runs on 10 hits and three walks with seven strikeouts over 7.0 innings. Curtis Neimeyer got the final six outs for the Tigers. Stanford starter Jeffrey Inman suffered his second consecutive loss in his second shortest start of the year, allowing seven runs on nine hits with one strikeout in just 2.0 innings. Inman faced four batters in the third without getting an out before he was removed.
Quote of the Day ... "What can you say except Pacific just really hit the ball well tonight." - Chris Minaker
2006 STANFORD-PACIFIC GAMES
April 10, 2006 - at Stanford 2, Pacific 1
Chris Minaker's bouncing RBI single through the left side of the infield with no outs in the bottom of the ninth scored John Hester with the game-winning run to lift Stanford to a 2-1 victory over Pacific. Jeremy Bleich struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning to earn the win as the third of three Cardinal pitchers that struck out 13 Tigers.
Quote of the Day ... "All the teams we're playing are quality teams, so we need to get wins whenever we can." - Chris Minaker
May 24, 2006 - Stanford 14, at Pacific 8
Stanford came from behind for a 14-8 non-conference victory over Pacific a. Chris Lewis (4-5, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, SB) led Stanford's 19-hit offense, while Chris Minaker (3-6, 2B, 3 RBI), Ryan Seawell (3-5, 2B) and Jason Castro (3-5) added three hits each. Austin Yount shut the door on Pacific with 4.1 scoreless innings of relief, striking out five while scattering four hits and walking just one. Stanford had trailed 8-4 after Pacific put up five runs in the bottom of the fifth but answered with a six-spot in the top of the sixth. The victory extended Stanford's run of consecutive 30-win seasons to 13.
Quote of the Day ... "That's been our mode of operation lately. We just keep fighting and believe that it's never too late for us, and that we shouldn't be counted out." - Chris Lewis
STANFORD HEAD COACH MARK MARQUESS
One of the nation's premier collegiate coaches and the winningest coach in Stanford Baseball history, Mark Marquess is in his 31st season at the helm of the Cardinal and his 39th associated with the program in 2007. Marquess has won more games than any coach in any sport ever at Stanford with the amazing numbers he has posted during his long tenure on The Farm. Marquess has a 1279-645-5 (.664) all-time record in 1929 career games, as well as equally impressive marks in postseason (112-52, .683), NCAA Regional (68-25, .731), NCAA Super Regional (10-4, .714), CWS (34-23, .596) and Pac-10 (507-342, .597) action. He is currently ranked sixth among all active NCAA Division I coaches in victories and 11th on the all-time list among Division I coaches. Marquess became the 23rd coach in the history of NCAA Division I baseball to reach the 1000-win mark with a victory over Florida State on February 9, 2001. Just over two years later, he picked up win No. 1100 versus Nevada on February 17, 2003. He became the 16th NCAA Division I head baseball coach to win 1200 collegiate games just over another two years after that when the Cardinal defeated California at Sunken Diamond on March 5, 2005. He also won his 100th career postseason game in Stanford's NCAA Super Regional clinching victory over Long Beach State (June 7, 2003). The 1969 Stanford graduate has led the Cardinal to two CWS titles and three runner-up showings in five CWS championship appearances, as well as 13 College World Series trips, five NCAA Super Regional titles, 14 NCAA Regional championships and 12 Pac-10 crowns (includes Southern Division and shared titles). Stanford's two CWS championships under Marquess came in back-to-back fashion in 1987 and 1988 as the Cardinal is just one of four teams to have ever won back-to-back Division I College World Series titles. The three runner-up showings have all come this decade with the Cardinal taking second in Omaha in 2000, 2001 and 2003. Maybe even more amazing, all 13 teams that Marquess has taken to the College World Series have won at least one game. Stanford has qualified for the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship 24 times in the first 30 seasons under Marquess with a current school record run of 13 straight appearances in postseason play. He has been named NCAA Coach of the Year three times and has received Pac-10 or Pac-10 Southern Division Coach of the Year honors on nine occasions, most recently with his Pac-10 selection in 2003. The Cardinal recorded 29 winning seasons in the first 30 campaigns under his leadership but will not reach the standard in 2007. His clubs have finished either first or second in the prestigious Pacific-10 (formerly Pac-10 Southern Division) 22 times in the last 26 seasons including 2006. Stanford has had 134 players drafted by professional baseball in the past 22 campaigns, including 18 in the last 20 years that were drafted either in the first round or as a Compensation A pick. Stanford has had more first round picks (6) since 2000 than any other school in the nation, most recently with the selection of Greg Reynolds as the No. 2 overall pick in 2006. A member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Marquess was the head coach of the 1988 United States Olympic baseball team that captured the gold medal. He was also an accomplished football and baseball standout on The Farm, and is a member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame. He is one of only 10 people to have ever both played and coached in the College World Series. Marquess was the starting first baseman and a First Team All-American on Stanford's 1967 CWS squad and played four seasons in the minor leagues with the Chicago White Sox organization.
STANFORD COACHING STAFF
Dean Stotz is in his 31st season with Stanford Baseball and his eighth as the team's associate head coach after he was promoted to the position prior to the 2000 season following 23 years of service as an assistant. Stotz currently coaches third base while also handling various offensive and defensive aspects of the game. Tom Kunis is in his eighth season as Stanford's pitching coach, while Dave Nakama is also in his eighth campaign over two stints as an assistant.