Stanford will take on Cal this weekend at Sunken Diamond, as the No. 6 Cardinal hosts its last home series of the season.

The Cardinal (28-16-2, 10-5 Pac-10) was on a tear throughout April but could not close the month well, dropping three straight games, all to weaker opponents. Stanford turned it around at the beginning of May, winning its first three games, but their latest contest was a 13-9 defeat at the hands of San Francisco, where the Dons scored seven runs in the fourth inning to take a commanding lead they would not relinquish.

The score is indicative of where the Cardinal is as a team: the offensive firepower is almost always there but the pitching — while certainly better than in years past — has a tendency to be sporadic.

This cannot be the case against a potent Cal offense, which has propelled the Golden Bears (30-15-2, 9-9 Pac-10) to a No. 16 national ranking. Their latest victory was a 13-4 drubbing of UC-Davis, a team Stanford has lost to twice this year.

Stanford coach Mark Marquess, in an interview with GoStanford.com, was quick to acknowledge Cal’s strengths.

“Cal is a premiere team in this league,” he said. “[They] have unbelievable power in their lineup.”

Indeed, Cal is second in the Pac-10 — behind Arizona State — in homeruns, with 65, and batting average, at .314. Stanford, by contrast, stands at 49 and .304, respectively.

It adds up to a difficult situation for the Stanford pitching staff, but they’ll roll out some of their best arms against the Golden Bears.

Junior Austin Yount, who held USC scoreless through seven and a third innings two weeks ago — following the performance up with a seven-inning, four-hit, one-run performance against San Jose State last weekend — will take the mound for the Cardinal tonight. Yount, a converted infielder, has been a welcome surprise for Stanford. Staff ace senior Erik Davis, who will pitch on Saturday, will follow him. The ever-consistent sophomore Jeffrey Inman will take to the rubber on Sunday.

Marquess was complimentary of his pitchers and pointed to Davis’s performance in particular as being one of the main reasons behind the Cardinal’s success.

“We have really had great contributions from a lot of pitchers,” he said. “Erik Davis though has really stepped up and has had a phenomenal year for us.”

The pitchers will have a hot offense to back them up.

Junior Sean Ratliff, who was in a slump through most of April, has come alive over the past few games, hitting four homeruns in his last three games.

Fellow juniors Cord Phelps, Brent Millville and Jason Castro — as well as senior Randy Molina — help form one of college baseball’s best lineups, which has carried the Cardinal throughout the year.

“We have hit the ball hard and been able to put up a lot of extra base hits, which has really helped us,” said Marquess.

But they’ll be matched by Cal’s stars, the best of whom are senior second baseman Josh Satin and junior first baseman David Cooper. Satin has put together a phenomenal season: he’s batting over .400 and has 16 homeruns and 49 RBIs. Cooper leads the Golden Bears with 19 dingers.

Stanford will also likely face off against one of the west coast’s best hurlers, Tyson Ross, who owns a 7-2 record and the high praise of Marquess.

“They have one of the best pitchers in the country in Tyson Ross,” he said.

Cal and Stanford have already met twice this season. In March, the Golden Bears downed the Cardinal, 8-3, on a rare off-night for the Stanford offense. In a wild, early April, non-conference game, the two teams tied in 13 innings at five runs apiece, as Marquess went through ten pitchers before the game was called because of darkness.

If anything, both teams match up well against each other, which should make for an entertaining series between the two rivals.

“The rivalry is always healthy as it is with many of the sports we have here. California is a very good team and has always been a good program and they will be tough to beat this weekend,” said Marquess. “They have been playing well and we will have to play well this weekend.”