Publication Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2004
STANFORD ROUNDUP
Stanford baseball all set for its Pac-10 opener
Stanford baseball all set for its Pac-10 opener
(March 31, 2004) by Rick Eymer
Menlo School grad Ryan Seawell helped the Stanford baseball team rev its engines as it heads to Los Angeles to open Pac-10 play this weekend with a three-game series at UCLA beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
Seawell had three hits and drove in three runs as top-ranked Stanford completed a sweep of visiting Cal Poly with a 10-3 victory on Sunday.
The Cardinal (20-3) opened with a 16-4 victory on Friday, and won Saturday's game, 3-1 as they are off to their best start since 1998, when they began the year 20-2-1.
Stanford also enters conference play with its fewest losses since that same 1998 team opened Pac-10 play with a 10-0-1 mark.
"We're playing well and our record indicates that," said Stanford coach Mark Marquess. "Hopefully, we can continue to do that. There will probably be a few bumps in the road because we're playing some good people but this group is working hard and hopefully we'll continue to get better."
Stanford has won five straight entering Tuesday night's nonconference game at San Jose State, and 11 of 12.
Seawell, a freshman, got the start at designated hitter on Sunday, and batted in the seventh spot in the order. He seems to fit well - he's hitting .545 (6-of-11).
"It's really exciting to contribute to an offense like ours," said Seawell, who made his second start of the season. "I lot of what I did is due to their help."
Stanford sophomore John Mayberry, Jr. also continued his hot hitting, as he went 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBI in Sunday's win.
Sophomore Jeff Gilmore (5-1) allowed one run on five with no walks and two strikeouts over seven innings to gain the victory.
Gilmore faced three over the minimum during his stint, benefiting from a caught stealing and a double play in facing just 24 batters.
"The difference for me was being able to mix my pitches," said Gilmore, tied with Mark Romanczuk for the team lead in wins. "I didn't have any one dominating pitch, but each pitch was working. I could use each one of them in every at bat, and that kept the hitters off-balance for the most part."
Jonny Ash, Sam Fuld and Brian Hall each had two hits in the game, as Stanford recorded its 17th double-digit hit game, and scored in double figures for the 10th time.
Danny Putnam had his career-high-tying 10-game hit streak snapped by going 0-for-4. Lucy was hit by his team-leading sixth pitch to lead off the fifth.
Stanford has now won 20 of its past 21 home games and 43 of 50 overall dating to last season. The Cardinal are also 23-2 in their past 25 road games.
Romanczuk allowed two earned runs on seven hits in seven innings to win Friday night's contest. He struck out four.
Jed Lowrie drove in four runs, including three on his eighth homer of the season. Putnam had three hits and drove in three runs while Hall, Fuld and Ash all had multi-hit games. Donny Lucy drove in two runs.
Freshman Blake Holler (3-1) continued an impressive rookie campaign by allowing one run on nine hits over a career-high eight innings in Saturday's victory. David O'Hagan recorded the final three outs for his fourth save.
"In the middle innings of the game, I got into a groove and became more confident," said Holler. "We played great defense, and I felt like all of my pitches were working down the stretch."
O'Hagan helped Stanford record its 10th save, already nearly halfway to the record 23 saves recorded by the 2001 club.
"When a pitcher battles so long and hard like Blake did, and gives you the opportunity to win, you don't want to be the guy to spoil it," said O'Hagan, who lowered his ERA to 1.30 and his opponents' batting average to .194. "When you pitch like he did, you deserve to get the win."
Stanford has won the last six series against UCLA, but last year had to go to extra innings to win the rubber match after losing an extra-inning game to the Bruins. The Cardinal are 13-5 against UCLA since the beginning of 1998.
Softball
Stanford senior Dana Sorensen pitched a no-hitter as the 12th-ranked Cardinal defeated Hawaii, 1-0, in the final game of the Stanford Classic on Sunday.
Stanford (27-7) won all five games it played in the tourney, and takes a season-high seven-game winning streak into the Pac-10 opener against visiting Oregon State on Friday at 7 p.m.
Sorensen (15-4) faced just 22 batters, one over the minimum. She hit a batter in the fifth inning to end her bid for a perfect game. She didn't walk a batter and struck out 13.
Catalina Morris drove in the game's only run with a single. Jackie Rinehart and Lauren Lappin each had two hits.
Sorensen also blanked Hawaii, 1-0, on two hits earlier in the tournament. She struck out 15 in that game.
Leah Nelson drove in the only run of the game, while catcher Jessica Allister had two hits.
In all, Sorensen won three games and recorded a save, her fourth, in the tournament. She did not allow a run in 23 1/3 innings of work and gave up just seven hits while striking out 44.
Sophomore pitcher Laura Severson (10-4) won twice, beating UC Riverside, 3-1, and Brigham Young, 7-5.
Women's swimming
Stanford senior Tara Kirk was named the Pac-10 Women's Swimmer of the Year, and diver Cassidy Krug was named Co-Newcomer of the Year.
Kirk became the ninth Stanford swimmer to earn the honor, and the first since Olympic gold medalist Misty Hyman in 1998.
Kirk was an easy choice after setting a world record in the 100 breast, and an American record in the 200 breast, at the NCAA championships
She finished her career with 11 NCAA titles, as well as 16 All-American honors. Kirk finished with a 35-0 record in the 100 breast during her college career.
Krug won the 1-meter and placing second in the 3-meter at her first Pac-10 Championships in February.
Women's tennis
Top-ranked Stanford (2-0, 16-0) opened the Pac-10 season with a pair of road victories, beating No. 7 Washington, 5-2, on Friday and defeating Washington State, 7-0, on Saturday.
Against Washington, two of the singles matches were extended to three games, Alice Barnes won her match, but Amber Liu was upset at No. 1.
Lauren Barnikow, Theresa Logar, and Emilia Anderson won in straight sets.
Against Washington State, Liu, Barnes, Barnikow, Logar and Story Tweedie-Yates all won their singles matches in straight sets.
Stanford hosts 12th-ranked California, and No.1 singles player Raquel Kops-Jones, on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Men's tennis
Stanford opened its Pac-10 season with a pair of victories over the weekend. The ninth-ranked Cardinal (2-0, 11-3) defeated visiting Washington, 6-1, on Friday, and topped visiting Oregon, 6-1, on Saturday.
Against Washington, the Cardinal took two of the three doubles contests to capture the doubles point. Sophomore KC Corkery and junior Sam Warburg teamed up to defeat the Husky tandem of Daniel Chu and Alex Vlaski, 8-6, in the No. 1 doubles spot, and the freshman team of James Wan and Chris Rasmussen claimed an 8-5 victory over Christoph Palmanshofer and Peter Sharler.
Against Oregon, the Cardinal took four of the six matches in straight sets: Warburg, Wan, Carter Morris, and Rasmussen.
Junior Phil Sheng rallied to defeat Oregon's Manuel Kost, 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 (5) at No. 3 singles.
Women's lacrosse
Stanford remained undefeated in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play with a pair of victories over the weekend.
The Cardinal (4-0, 6-4) edged visiting Hofstra, 9-8, in overtime on Friday, and then beat host Denver, 16-5, on Sunday.
Kim Cahill scored in the first minute of overtime, with an assist from Claire Calzonetti, to give Stanford the victory over the Pride. Megan Burker, Abbi Hills and Kelsey Twist each had two goals in the contest. Senior goalkeeper Christina Saikus recorded a game-high 14 saves.
Hills, who grew up near Denver, had a big day against the Pioneers, scoring six goals for Stanford on Sunday. Burker added three goals and one assist, while junior Julie Calzonetti and freshman Michelle DeChant each scored two goals for the Cardinal, who clinched the top seed in the upcoming MPSF championships.
Stanford hosts California on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Men's volleyball
Stanford split a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's matches over the weekend, beating visiting UC San Diego, 30-25, 30-27, 30-24, on Friday, but losing to second-ranked Long Beach State, 30-28, 30-22, 30-19, on Saturday.
The ninth-ranked Cardinal (5-11, 8-13) won their first match after nearly three weeks off for final exams.
"I wasn't sure how well we would pass the ball, but I thought we did a great job of that," said Stanford coach Don Shaw.
Patrick Bomhack led the Cardinal with a team-high 13 kills to go along with a .455 hitting percentage and seven block assists.
"Pat is becoming more of an offensive threat for us and we need that," said Shaw. "(Ben) Reddy did a good job off the bench for us as well."
Craig Buell added 10 kills while Kevin Hansen had 43 assists and David Vogel recorded 10 digs.
Stanford travels to Cal State Northridge on Friday, and then to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.
Women's water polo
Palo Alto grad Laurel Champion and Wendy Watkins each scored two goals as Stanford dropped a 14-7 exhibition decision to the visiting United States National Team on Saturday.
Team USA features four Stanford products: Jackie Frank, Brenda Villa, Ellen Estes ad Margie Dingeldein. Frank started in goal and recorded six saves for the Americans, and Villa and Estes each scored twice.
Synchronized swimming
Stanford placed second in the U.S. Collegiate Nationals on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. Stanford scored 96.833 to finish behind Ohio State's 98.167.
Katie Norris won the solo title for Stanford.
The top athletes will compete in the U.S. National Championships and U.S. National Team Trials beginning April 28 at Stanford.
Crew
Princeton won the lightweight women's varsity championship with a 10-second victory over the Stanford women's lightweight eight at the Windermere Collegiate Crew Classic at the Redwood Shores Lagoon on Sunday.
In the men's varsity event, California defeated Princeton by seven seats to take top honors.
In women's varsity racing, No. 6 Stanford was upended by Cornell.
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