"We are showing signs of some improvement, and hopefully a little more consistency offensively," Marquess said. "We're building on that, but if we're going to be competitive in our league, we have to continue to get better in all phases--especially offensively, because it gets a lot tougher from here."
Stanford took a 10-6 record into today's Pacific-10 Conference Southern Division opener against Arizona State (9-5 and 2-1) in Sunken Diamond. The three-game series continues Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be broadcast by KZSU (90.1 FM).
As the Cardinal embarks on its Six-Pac season, Marquess also enters a new plateau in his career. He won career game No. 700 in Hawaii on Sunday, and captured No. 701 on Tuesday as Stanford pounded visiting Pacific, 14-4.
The 12th-ranked Cardinal got an 18-hit attack, as Dusty Allen had three hits (including two doubles), scored three runs and drove in three. Junior second baseman Jed Hansen continued his hot hitting with three hits in four at-bats.
In preparing for the Six-Pac opener, Marquess used five pitchers. Sophomore left-hander Mike Robbins (1-1) picked up the win in relief.
Men's golf
Notah Begay III, a junior, posted a final-round 69 en route to winning his second straight title this season at the Taylor Made/Aldila Big Island Intercollegiate at The Kings Golf Course in Waikoloa, Hawaii.
Begay won by two shots while helping Stanford finish second in the team competition with 855 strokes. Arizona State won with 851. The Cardinal also received strong performances from junior William Yanagisawa (seventh at 214) and junior Casey Martin (tied for 11th at 217).
Women's tennis
Stanford tuned up for its Pac-10 season opener today against Arizona (1:30 p.m.) by routing UC Santa Barbara, 9-0, Tuesday at the Stanford Tennis Stadium.
The Cardinal, which also will play host to Arizona State on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., improved to 11-0 in dual matches with the easy victory over the Gauchos.
Laxmi Poruri, Kristine Kurth, Katie Schlukebir, Beth Berris, Emma Woodhouse and Sandra De Silva all won in singles to raise their combined dual-match season record to 55-2.
Gymnastics
The Stanford women will close out their home schedule tonight by hosting Cal, UC Davis and Minnesota in the Chili's "Red Hot" Invitational in Maples Pavilion at 7:30 p.m.
The Cardinal is 4-6 and ranked 15th nationally, coming off a season-best performance of 190.175 points in a win over Cal State Fullerton .
Men's volleyball
Tonight's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match between Stanford and host Long Beach State can be heard in the Bay Area at 8 p.m. on radio station KTNN (660 AM).
--Keith Peters
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