After undefeated start, Stanford plays No. 3 Texas

The Stanford baseball team, coming off an 11-6 win over Pacific on Wednesday, is off to its first 4-0 start since its 2000 College World Series runner-up season. After the first week of play at Sunken Diamond, the preseason-No. 25 Cardinal is currently No. 18 after its sweep of No. 5 Rice and the win against the visiting Tigers. With renewed confidence in its offensive talent after its stellar hitting display against Pacific, Stanford is in a good position to give No. 3 Texas (2-2) a tough matchup in this weekend’s series.

Wednesday’s game saw five lead changes through six innings, as Pacific had led 2-0, 3-2 and 5-4, while the Cardinal had led 4-3 in the fifth. Though for a while it was unclear who would eventually take the lead for good, junior Colin Walsh clinched the victory for the Cardinal with a sixth inning grand slam. Walsh picked an excellent time to send his first career home run over the right field wall, giving Stanford the momentum it needed to hold on to the lead for the rest of the game.

Junior catcher Zach Jones also hit his second home run of the season, a three-run shot in the eighth to put the game out of reach, giving the Cardinal an 11-5 lead.

Stanford’s freshman class once again contributed to the victory, as left fielder Stephen Piscotty drove in two runs to tie the game in the third and his classmate, third baseman Kenny Diekroeger, went three-for-three with two doubles and an infield single.

Piscotty’s smart base-running in the fifth inning also gave the Cardinal the edge when he scored from second, beating Pacific catcher Joe Oliveira to home following a throwing error out of left field.

Stanford’s offensive success so far has been a pleasant surprise for head coach Mark Marquess, who expected that his team would win games because of its defensive talent. On the contrary, the Cardinal enters this weekend’s series averaging 9.5 runs per game and batting .336, while nine errors have been made on the defensive end.

“We are swinging the bat well,” Marquess said. “But we have been sloppy defensively, and there have been too many errors up the middle. We didn’t field some bunts well, and that hurt us tonight.”

Wednesday’s winning pitcher was sophomore Brian Busick (1-0), who managed to hold the Tigers to a scoreless sixth inning. Once the Cardinal gained a solid lead, Marquess was able to cycle several young relief pitchers through the rotation in order to let them gain some early experience. Freshman Mark Appel, freshman Chris Jenkins and sophomore Elliott Byers saw time on the mound in the final innings of the game and held the lead for Stanford.

Pitching will play a huge role in this weekend’s series against Texas for both the Card and the Longhorns, who are coming off a 7-2 win over Dallas Baptist on Wednesday and a series loss to New Mexico last weekend. The team has allowed just 10 earned runs over its first 36 innings of play (for a 2.50 ERA), and has held its opponents to a batting average of .257.

“Texas might have the best pitching we will face all season,” Marquess said.

Ranked No. 1 in the preseason, Texas returned its entire weekend rotation. Last year the Longhorns posted the second-lowest ERA in the country (2.95), went 50-16-1, and “is even better than last year,” according to Texas head coach Augie Garrido.

The two programs have met annually for a three-game series since 1998 and Stanford leads the regular series 16-13-1 since that time. Despite a combined 50 College World Series appearances, Stanford has faced Texas only three times in Omaha: 1982, 1987 and 2002.

The series will open today in Austin, Texas at 1 p.m. PST, with sophomore right-hander Jordan Pries (1-0) on the mound for the Cardinal against Texas right-hander Taylor Jungmann (1-0).