April 11, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Leading Off
The No. 17-ranked Stanford (15-9, 3-3 Pac-10) will return to the Bay Area for the next two weeks, hosting Pacific (10-18) on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. and No. 9-ranked Oregon State (24-7, 5-1 Pac-10) this weekend for a three-game series on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. Stanford spent five of the first six weekends on the road, playing 15 of its first 24 on the road. The Cardinal will now play the next 10 games in the Bay Area, with the only away games at Santa clara on April 19 and at Sainta Mary's April 26. Stanford is 8-1 at Sunken Diamond this season. The OSU series will be the fourth weekend series of the year against a top-20 opponent and the start of likely three-straight weekends against the top-25-- the Beavers, UCLA and at Arizona State. All home games will be webcast on CBS College Sports' All-Access paid service through the gostanford.com website. All games will be on KZSU, kzsu.stanford.edu and on your iPhone by downloading the Stanford App and then listening to KZSU.
Stanford-Pacific Series
(April 12 at Stanford, May 9 at Pacific)
Series: Stanford 54-9-1; Last: Tied in 2010, 1-1
The two programs have met every year since 2005, with Stanford going 12-4. The two programs did not meet from 2000 to 2004. The two, split games last year with Stanford winning 11-6 in Stockton and the Tigers winning 9-4 at Stanford. The March 23 game at Pacific was rained out and rescheduled for May 9.
About the Tigers: Former Stanford great, Ed Sprague, is in his eighth year at the helm of the Pacific program. The Tigers had its first back-to-back 30-win seasons in 2005 and 2006 and went 31-23 last year, setting a school-record for victories. Senior outfielder Matthew Carvutto is hitting .357, while Brian Martin is chipping in a .333 average from first base. Pacific is batting .268 on the season with a .971 fielding clip and 6.04 team ERA. Pacific has dropped two of three from both Long Beach State and UC Davis to begin Big West play at 2-4.
Stanford in the Rankings
Stanford after remaining at No. 11 for the previous two weeks, dropped to No. 17 in Baseball America, 21st in Collegiate Baseball and No. 23 in the USA Today/ Coaches Poll. Stanford began the season No. 10 and moved up to No. 8 on February 21. Stanford's RPI according to boydsworld to begin the week is 15.
Stanford Strikes Out in Los Angeles
After opening up its three-game series at USC with an 8-1 win, paced by 17 hits, the No. 11-ranked Cardinal dropped its next two games to the Trojans, 3-1 and 6-2 following career highs in strikeouts from Austin Wood and Logan Odom, who boht finished with eight. In the opener, Mark Appel (2-3) pitched his first ever complete game, a four-hitter in which he allowed one unearned run. Appel struck out a career-best seven for the second-straight week, retiring 13 in a row, while pitching six no-hit innings. Seven Cardinal had multi-hit games. On Saturday, Jordan Pries lost for the first time since March 4, getting outdueled in a 3-1 Trojan win. On Sunday, Dean McArdle could not get out of the third inning, as USC went up 4-0 and never looked back behind the arm of Odom. Stanford completed its fifth weekend out of six on the road to start the season.
Pitching Shuts Down San Jose State
Four Stanford pitchers combined for a four-hitter as Stanford won its sixth midweek game of the season, over San Jose State, 5-2. Danny Sandbrink pitched three perfect innings and gave up a walk over four no-hit innings, before Spartan Nick Borg had the first of his two hits in the sixth off A.J. Vanegas.
Home Cooking, Finally
The Cardinal after spending nearly two months on the road to start the season, will return home to the Bay Area for the next two weeks, hosting Oregon State and UCLA in two key top-25 Pac-10 matchups. Stanford played five of its first six weekends on the road, playing in Texas twice, Tennessee, Southern California and Washington.
Closing the Door
Continuing in the footsteps of Nationals closer Drew Storen, who led the Cardinal in saves in 2008 and 2007 with a combined 15 saves, lefthander Chris Reed has stepped into the closer's role this year. After a seven-run start on day two of the season, Reed has allowed just two runs in 11 relief appearances, lowering his ERA to 2.95 on the season with four saves. Stanford leads the conference with seven saves.
Late Into the Game
Stanford starters Mark Appel and Jordan Pries have each gone late in the game, tossing 43.2 and 41.0 innings respectively to lead the team. Appel has reached the sixth in all six of his weekend starts and into the seventh in his last four, while Pries has hit the seventh in each of his last three starts and four of his five weekend twirls. Appel is 2-3 with a 3.09 ERA, Pries is 4-2 with a 2.63 ERA.
Most Impressive on Friday
In Mark Appel's six weekend starts, the sophomore righthander has allowed two runs or less in four outing. Appel (2-3, 3.09 ERA) is coming off a complete game four-hitter in which he allowed just one unearned run. Appel has struck out a career-best seven in each of the last two Pac-10 starts.
Getting on Base
Two-sport standout and starting leftfielder Tyler Gaffney enters the week, leading the Cardinal in on-base percentage, at .458 thanks to a team-best 18 walks. Gaffney reached base safely in 10-straight plate appearances last week, thanks to three walks, two hit by pitches and five hits. Gaffney has also come around to score 16 times. He ranks fifth in the Pac-10 in on-base percentage.
Finals Break Heats Up the Cardinal
After taking a longer than expected finals break, 15 days, due to a rainout with Michigan, Stanford hitters are hitting at a tune of .331 with 10 steals, while averaging just over seven runs a game. The Cardinal are 9-4 over that time.
Tops in the Majors
According to Collegebaseballinsider.com, Stanford was one of a half dozen programs with seven or more Major Leaguers on 40-man rosters to start the season. Long Beach State led with 11, followed by Arizona State and Miami (nine). Stanford and Cal had nine a piece. Of Stanford's Major Leaguers, former first round pick Greg Reynolds returned to the Majors after injury, joining Carlos Quentin (White Sox), Drew Storen (Nationals), Jed Lowrie (Red Sox), John Mayberry, Jr. (Phillies), Jeremy Guthrie (Orioles) and Sam Fuld (Rays). Jason Castro, who is on the DL with the Astros, was also on the list.
Young and Good
Stanford features seven underclassmen in its everyday lineup, with sophomore Kenny Diekroeger leading the team in average (.384) and runs (20), sophomore Tyler Gaffney leading in on-base (.458) and walks (18), freshman Brian Ragira leading in slugging (.506) and RBIs (23) and sophomore Jake Stewart leading the club in doubles (9) and steals (5).
First Loss in His Career
Sophomore righthander Dean McArdle picked up the first loss of his career last Sunday after nine consecutive wins. The nine wins without a loss was the sixth-longest streak by a Cardinal pitcher since 1996. McArdle went 5-0 as a freshman and is currently 4-1 with a 3.29 ERA this year in seven starts.
Sandy Earning a Look
Senior righthander Danny Sandbrink, who had a 2.81 ERA for the CWS-bound Cardinal as a freshman in 2008, is putting together his most impressive streak after two years in the bullpen. Following a 7.09 ERA in 2009 and a 4.87 ERA as a junior, Sandbrink pitched back-to-back no-hit midweek outings against Saint Mary's and San Jose State and then limited USC to two runs over 5.0 innings on Sunday in relief. Sandbrink's streak of 10.1 scoreless innings helped lower his ERA to 2.49 to enter the week over 21.2 innings. Opponents are hitting .208 against him.
Hit Streak Ends
Kenny Diekroeger's season-best 16-game hit streak ended on Saturday as the 0-for-4 Saturday and Sunday at USC were a rarity for the sophomore shortstop. Diekroeger had hit safely in 20 of the first 21 games this year and in 46 of 54 games last season. He had back-to-back 0-for's last year as well, just once, against USC, finishing as the leading hitter at .356. He is hitting .384 this year.
Tough Scheduling
When the end of April hits, Stanford will have likely opened the season with three top-20 teams in No. 17-ranked Rice, No. 3 Vanderbilt and No. 6 Texas and closed with another three top-20 teams, No. 9 Oregon State, as well as UCLA (currently as high as No. 12) and at Arizona State (No. 10).
Top Rated Class
For the first time in the history of Baseball America's 11-year annual recruiting survey, Stanford Baseball had the nation's No. 1 recruiting class. This year's class is headlined by Los Angeles outfielder Austin Wilson, Texas utility player Brian Ragira, San Lorenzo righthander A.J. Vanegas and Burbank infielder Lonnie Kauppila. This year's top class, adds to the No. 2 ranked class a year ago that featured Kenny Diekroeger, Stephen Piscotty, Jake Stewart and Mark Appel. Collegiate Baseball rated this year's class No. 11.
From the Diamond to a Degree
Stanford academics and athletics continues to rank amongst the nation's elite as Stanford Baseball, with an academic progress report number of 985, was ranked in the top-10 percent of all Division-I baseball programs. Some Cardinal Major Leaguers who have earned their degrees include: Gold Glove catcher Bob Boone, Cy Young Award winner Jack McDowell, All Star Mike Mussina, Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr., former manager A.J. Hinch and long-time Major Leaguers Mike Aldrete and Jeffrey Hammonds.
Smart at the Top
Of the 12 Major Leaguers in 2010, nine earned their degrees with Jason Castro and Drew Storen, both on pace to earn their degrees as well. An A1 feature in the San Jose Mercury News on February 28, featured both newly minted Major Leaguers. A Wall Street Journal report said that only two dozen Major Leaguers had earned their degrees in 2010. Jed Lowrie finished up his degree the last week of February giving the Cardinal nine of 12 Major Leaguers.
Professional Development
The 2010 season saw the debuts of Drew Storen (Nationals) and Jason Castro (Astros), the retiring of eight-year veteran and former MLB pitcher Mike Gosling and the return to form for former Major Leaguers Greg Reynolds (Rockies) and Jed Lowrie (Red Sox). Two future stars also continued to move up the charts in Indians infielder Cord Phelps and A's outfielder Michael Taylor as both former Cardinal stars finished the year in Triple-A. Stanford had a dozen players in the Majors in 2010 given them 86 all-time. Marquess has coached 52 Major Leaguers since 1977 (53 have made the Majors with current White Sox GM Kenny Williams only playing football at Stanford).
Tickets Available
Tickets for the team's home games are available at www.gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD.
Two-Sport Tradition
Including Heisman runner-up Toby Gerhart (running back and outfielder), current head coach Mark Marquess (who was a quarterback, defensive back and punt returner) and NFL Hall of Famer John Elway (and outfielder and quarterback), the Cardinal have had a number of great two-sport stars. One of the first was Ernie Nevers, who starred for the Cardinal in the early part of the 20th Centruy. That list has included: Major League pitcher Joe Borchard (also a QB), NFL and MLB player Chad Hutchinson (RHP and QB), 1940s Major Leaguer Lloyd Merriman, Brian Johnson (QB) and John Lynch (QB and RHP). Orange Bowl Champion and backup running back Tyler Gaffney is the latest two-sport athlete.