At the season’s beginning, Stanford baseball had every reason to expect to be playing well into June. After notching 29 winning seasons in the past 30 years, the Cardinal program had built a long-term record that justified those expectations. But with this weekend’s series at Southern California, Stanford will finish just short of June — and possibly short of a winning season.

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Right fielder Michael Taylor has heated up at the plate to power the Cardinal’s offense down the stretch. The junior slugger earned his first All-Pac-10 Team honors on Wednesday. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/7590
Masaru Oka

Right fielder Michael Taylor has heated up at the plate to power the Cardinal’s offense down the stretch. The junior slugger earned his first All-Pac-10 Team honors on Wednesday.

The Cardinal needs a sweep of the Trojans (27-26, 8-13 Pacific-10 Conference) to pull its overall record back up to .500 to close out the year. USC previously took two of three from Stanford (25-28, 6-15) this year, in a non-conference series at Sunken Diamond Mar. 9-11.

“I know USC is struggling this year as well, but they’re always a solid ballclub,” sophomore starting pitcher Jeremy Bleich said. “They play good baseball, and it would be great to end on a good note for us as a team, and allow us to have sort of a stable feeling back, going into next year.

“[The series is] huge for us,” he continued. “It’s one of our goals, to get back to .500, but going into the weekend you can’t say ‘Oh, I want the sweep.’ You’ve got to take it game by game, and hopefully on Sunday we end up .500.”

Bleich’s performance of late has been key to the Cardinal’s recent turnaround. Stanford has won six of its last seven contests, and the southpaw has gone 1-0 with five runs allowed in 16 innings pitched over that span, lowering his ERA by almost 60 points to 5.50.

As the starter for Friday night’s contest against the Trojans, Bleich believes a new mentality has propelled him to his recent success on the mound.

“[I’ve been] trying to let the game come to me,” he said. “[I’m] trying to relax, trying to pitch. I think in some of my previous outings before that I’d get into trouble and I’d push it, I’d press. The last few weeks I’ve just tried to stay even-keeled and stay relaxed.”

Another factor in the Cardinal’s return to its winning ways has been a surging offense, led by junior right fielder Michael Taylor, sophomore center fielder Sean Ratliff and junior second baseman Adam Sorgi. Stanford has been averaging just over nine runs per game over its seven-game run of success.

The Cardinal’s lone senior, third baseman Ryan Seawell, has been making his presence felt in the lineup as well, raising his average by 20 points to .283 over the span while knocking in seven runs. For several Stanford players, the weekend’s series against USC could be their final collegiate competition, depending upon when and if they are selected in the annual MLB Draft on June 7. But Seawell enters the series as the only team member who knows his time playing for the Cardinal is rapidly drawing to a close.

“It’s no different than any other series for me right now,” Seawell said on Wednesday. “I’m sure it’ll change when I get down there, but we’re just trying to win those three games and even it up at .500. That’s really all I’m thinking about.”

Of the chance to wipe away the squad’s losing record with a sweep, Seawell was well aware of the onus on his shoulders as the Cardinal’s lone senior.

“It’s huge; we all want to get back there [to a .500 record],” he said. “I can’t remember the last time that Stanford baseball finished under .500, and I definitely don’t want to be the senior during the year when that happens.”

Friday night’s opener at USC is scheduled for 7 p.m., with Saturday’s contest is slated for 1:30 p.m. and Sunday’s for 1 p.m.

The Cardinal received a good deal of recognition despite its disappointing record on Wednesday, when the All-Pac-10 Team was announced. Taylor, Ratliff and Sorgi were all named to the first team for the first time in their respective careers, while sophomore outfielder Joey August earned honorable mention.

“We’re really excited about these selections,” Stanford head coach Mark Marquess told GoStanford.com. “I think they’re all deserving, and I think it says something to get these honors, especially when we didn’t have a spectacular season. To stand out and perform well enough to be recognized by the conference is a credit to them.”