COLLEGE BASEBALL
STANFORD ROUNDUP
Stanford not a hit at plate
Women’s gymnasts take a shot at NCAA title Men’s volleyball opens MPSF playoffs on Saturday night; women’s tennis plays host to Cal with title still up for grabs by Rick Eymer
Opposing pitchers have taken the bat out of the Cardinal’s collective hand
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by Rick Eymer t wasn’t so long ago that Stanford’s offensive statistics were among the best in Pac-12 baseball. The Cardinal enjoyed a team batting average of over .300 before last weekend’s series with visiting Oregon. A week and four games later, Stanford’s offensive numbers have taken a slide. Much of that has to do with pitching. The Ducks currently rank 19th in the nation with a team ERA of 2.87. The 10th Cardinal (5-7, 22-10) managed to win one of the three games against Oregon despite scoring all of six runs and collecting 16 hits in the series. “A lot of the lack of hitting can be attributed to good pitching,” Stanford coach Mark Marquess said. “We’ve hit balls hard but right at people.” San Jose State brought one of the nation’s top 30 pitching staffs to town Tuesday and held the Cardinal to two runs on five hits in a Spartans’ 3-2 victory. Stanford will be facing an even better staff this weekend when Arizona State visits for a three-game series beginning Friday at 5:30 p.m. The Sun Devils boast two of the country’s top pitchers in terms of ERA, and the third-best pitching staff overall at 2.57. Stanford is no slouch when it comes to pitching either, as Mark Appel and Brett Mooneyham lead a staff that sports a 3.01 ERA. In fact, Arizona State, Oregon and Stanford rank 1-2-3 in Pac-12 pitching. After 12 conference games, the Cardinal have faced five of the
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Casey Valentine/stanfordphoto.com
Casey Valentine/stanfordphoto.com
Mark Appel will face visiting ASU on Friday night.
Stanford freshman Alex Blandino hit a two-run homer in a 3-2 loss to San Jose State on Tuesday and has raised his average to .277. top 10 pitchers, and Stanford’s Josh Hochstatter, who threw four innings against the Spartans, is one one of the 10. Stanford contends with Arizona State’s Brady Rodgers (6-1, 1.12) and Trevor Williams (7-2, 1.41) in the first two games of the series. Appel (4-1, 2.86) and Mooneyham (5-3, 3.18), the top two strikeout leaders in the Pac-12, will oppose the Sun Devils. “They have one of the better pitching staffs in the conference,” Marquess said. “It will be tough and we need to play well.” Oregon, UCLA and Arizona are in a three-way tie for first place in the Pac-12 and Stanford is 1-5 against the trio, with a series yet to be played against the Bruins. The only reason Arizona State is a game back of the co-leaders is a sloppy defense, something that has also haunted Stanford. The seventh-place Cardinal and Sun Devils are ranked eighth and ninth, respectively, in team fielding. It’s the offense of that that has to have Stanford scratching its collective head. The team batting average has fallen to .288 after dropping three of its last four games. The Cardinal is hitting .232 in conference games and has a .188 average in its 10 losses. “You’re going to see good arms every Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” Stanford freshman Alex Blandino said. “It comes down to who puts the ball in play and who gets the key hits.” Blandino, a Palo Alto resident and St. Francis High grad, has put together a string of quality at-bats lately. He hit a two-run home run to
account for both of Stanford’s runs Tuesday night and has seen his average rise to its current .277. “He’s done a good job and made adjustments,” Marquess said. “He’s still learning.” Blandino, last year’s WCAL Player of the Year, said it was easy to work hard with the kind of ethic displayed by Stanford veterans. “Every guy who is back from last year has been a real role model,” Blandino said. “These are guys who have played in regionals and super regionals. Right now we have a couple of injuries and coach is giving guys some looks. It’s all a matter of taking advantage of your opportunities.” He’ll get plenty more chances now that shortstop Lonnie Kauppila’s season is over. The sophomore injured his left knee on a ground ball up the middle on Sunday. Blandino, who made the start at third base Tuesday, hit his third home run of the season, a two-run shot that disappeared into the trees beyond the left field, to give Stanford a 2-0 lead in the third against the Spartans. Stanford pitcher Dean McArdle, who entered the game in the fifth, made a sudden departure in the sixth. Spartans’ outfielder Nick Shulz hit a line drive that drilled McArdle just above his right wrist. McArdle tracked down the ball along the first base line but his awkward throw was not in time and he continued running into the Stanford dugout. He was replaced by Sahil Bloom. McArdle was able to flex his right hand and may have been lucky to be hit in a meaty part of his arm. N
he 10th-seeded Stanford women’s gymnastics team will be looking for its best performance of the season when it takes to the floor in the first session of the NCAA championships Friday at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. Stanford (18-7) competes alongside No. 2 seed UCLA, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 6 Nebraska, No. 7 Utah, and No. 11 LSU in their six-team session that begins at 9 a.m. PT. The top three from each of the two sessions advance to the Super Six team final Saturday. “I think we’ll surprise some people for sure,” Stanford coach Kristen Smyth said. “Our whole plan this year was to start off a little slower, to build throughout the year, to get athletes healthy and to add difficulty as we moved along.” Stanford will follow the same rotation schedule that led to a secondplace finish at the NCAA Champaign (Ill.) Regional. The Cardinal begins with a bye and follows with floor exercise, vault, bye, uneven bars, and finishes on the balance beam. The top four individuals in each event (plus ties) from Friday’s semifinals will compete in the individual-event competition Sunday. Stanford qualified for the NCAA Championships for the fifth time in six years and for the 12th time in its history. The Cardinal hopes to advance to the Super Six for the fifth time in nine years. “We’re in a good position,” Smythe said. “We are going to have to do our jobs, hit 24 out of 24 routines. It will not be easy. If we can do that, we can compete with anybody.” Juniors Ashley Morgan and Nicole Dayton and sophomore Shona Morgan will also be competing at the NCAA meet. Perhaps the development of the freshmen class will make a huge difference at the national meet. It is comprised, after all, of two-time U.S. senior national champion and Pac-12 vault champion Ivana Hong, former U.S. national team member Samantha Shapiro, 2008 British Olympian Rebecca Wing, and two-time Junior Olympic national qualifiers Alex Archer and Pauline Hanset. “We’re continuing to get better,” Smythe said. “Every day in the gym the girls are improving, squeezing all the deductions out of our work. We haven’t peaked yet and that’s a huge motivating factor.” Hong was limited by injuries early, but now is in the lineup in multiple events. Shapiro has largely competed in one as she overcomes injuries of her own. All have made an impact in the lineup. Shapiro has scored 9.875s on bars and vault, Hong has scored 9.9’s on vault and beam, Wing should perform at leadoff in two events at nationals. Hanset has scored six 9.85’s or higher on floor, and Archer has been in the
vault lineup in four meets. “We’ve had exceptional leadership from all three of our seniors,” Smythe said. “They have all done a great job, but who stands out in my mind is Alyssa Brown, who has been a leader since she’s arrived on campus.” Softball No. 16 Stanford heads returns to Tempe hoping to extend its threegame Pac-12 winning streak. The Cardinal (6-9, 32-13) meets No. 4 Arizona State (8-2, 36-5) in a threegame series beginning Friday at 7 p.m. Stanford, which currently resides in seventh place in the conference, three games behind third-place Oregon, recorded a sweep of visiting Oregon State last weekend. Senior infielder Jenna Becerra hit 6-for-15 (.400) last week, and all six of her hits went for extra bases. She hit three doubles and three home runs, including two grand slams. Becerra finished the week with 11 RBI, five runs scored and a 1.200 slugging percentage. Men’s tennis No. 12 Stanford notched its third shutout of the year on Wednesday, blanking Pacific 7-0 in its final home match of the regular season, ending a two-match losing streak. The Cardinal (15-7, 4-2 Pac-12) travels to Berkeley on Friday to face No. 14 California in the regular season finale for both teams. Women’s tennis Despite suffering a loss to topranked UCLA last weekend, Stanford (7-1, 16-1) is still in the running for the Pac-12 title, or at least a share of it. The No. 5-ranked Cardinal needs to beat No. 10-ranked Cal on Saturday (noon) at Taube Family Tennis Stadium. Stanford, Cal, UCLA and USC each have one league loss, so this weekend’s matchup with the Bears is critical for the Cardinal. Mallory Burdette will bring a 16-0 dualmatch record into the showdown. Men’s volleyball Stanford (20-6) will play host to Pepperdine (14-14) in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoff opener on Saturday in Maples Pavilion at 7 p.m. The No. 2-seeded Cardinal needs to win the league tourney to be guaranteed a berth in the Final Four on May 3 and 5 in Los Angeles. Leading the way for Stanford will be senior outside hitter Brad Lawson, who was named Sports Imports/AVCA Men’s Division I-II National Player of the Week for his role in a pair of victories last weekend. Lawson, a two-time AVCA firstteam All-America, led Stanford to three-set victories over visiting UC Santa Barbara and UCLA to lift the Cardinal from fifth to a secondplace finish in the MPSF. N
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