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NewsvineAfter facing and overcoming the No. 1 team in the country last weekend at Sunken Diamond, Stanford baseball will now look to continue its recent success against the nation’s best when it takes on two-time defending national champion Oregon State in Corvallis.
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Stanford’s pitching has been stretched thin as the Cardinal has used a multitude of pitchers in their recent two games, both extra-innings affairs. The first game was a tie against California on Monday; the second, a loss to UC-Davis on Wednesday.
The No. 10 Cardinal (15-10-1, 4-2 Pac-10) took two of three games last weekend from then-No. 1 Arizona State before struggling in a pair of midweek games on Monday and Wednesday against No. 7 California and UC-Davis.
The Cardinal tied the Golden Bears, 5-5, in 13 innings, and lost to the Aggies 9-8 in 12 innings after blowing an 8-6 ninth inning lead. There has been a developing trend of strong play on Saturdays and Sundays and disappointments on weekdays for the squad. Stanford is 10-0 on Saturdays and Sundays but just 5-10-1 in games played the other five days of the week.
It is certainly an exciting prospect, therefore, for the Cardinal to get to return to the field against the two-time defending national champion Beavers (15-10, 3-3). Conference standings will again be on the line as Stanford enters the series in a three-way tie with Cal and ASU for first in the Pac-10 with a 4-2 record against league opponents, while Oregon State is one of three other teams just a single game back of the conference leaders’ pace.
Stanford will be looking for its tenth straight series victory this weekend but will have to overcome a spate of recent failures against the Beavers; the team has dropped ten of its last 14 against OSU, including a 1-7 record dating back to 2006.
The Beavers’ starters have struggled to start the 2008 campaign, with Friday’s likely starter, Mike Stutes, currently carrying a 4.50 ERA and a 2-4 record. He is allowing opponents to hit at a .289 clip against him. Another likely starter on the weekend, Jorge Reyes, has started even slower, posting a 7.26 ERA (and a surprising 2-1 record) in seven starts.
The Beavers’ starters have been better of late, though, as Stutes has allowed just two runs over his last 17 innings of work while Jorge Reyes pitched 6.2 innings against Cal on Sunday, allowing just five hits.
Offensively, senior infielder George Drew leads the Beavers with a .390 average and .480 on-base percentage. Sophomore catcher Ryan Ortiz and junior infielder Jason Ogata are not far behind, boasting .378 and .376 averages, respectively. Ogata has hit a team-high four home runs on the year while Ortiz leads the Beavers with a .610 slugging percentage.
For the Cardinal offense, the 2008 season has seen juniors Cord Phelps at second base, Sean Ratliff in center field and Jason Castro at catcher come alive at the plate.
Phelps, who has served as Stanford’s leadoff hitter for the 2008 campaign, has 24 runs on the year while getting on base at a .452 clip to go along with a .383 batting average. Castro and Ratliff, meanwhile, have provided the thunder to go with Phelps’ spark at the top of the lineup.
Ratliff currently leads in a statistical tug-of-war for the team lead that has been going on all season. He’s hit eight home runs, has 26 RBIs and a .690 slugging percentage, while Castro is close behind with seven homers, 24 RBIs and a .641 slugging percentage.
The weekend’s action begins tonight at 5 p.m. in Corvallis, Ore. followed by games on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. Stanford will then return home for non-conference games Monday and Wednesday against Santa Clara and San Francisco, respectively, which will serve as preparation for another Pac-10 series next weekend against UCLA.