Baseball: Young team hits road for Pac-10 opener against Wazzu

April 1, 2011, 1:48 a.m.

After enduring one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation, the No. 11 Stanford men’s baseball team has no time to rest as it begins conference play this weekend in the Pac-10, generally regarded as the best conference in collegiate baseball.

Baseball: Young team hits road for Pac-10 opener against Wazzu
Junior righty Jordan Pries threw a gem against Long Beach State, twirling seven innings of five-hit ball in Stanford's 5-1 victory. Pries is now 3-1 with a 2.28 ERA (IAN GARCIA-DOTY/The Stanford Daily).

Riding a three-game winning streak, the Cardinal (11-6) travels to Pullman, Wash. to face the Washington State Cougars (10-10) for a three-game series starting Friday.

Stanford took the final two games from Long Beach State over the weekend behind a strong pitching performance by junior Jordan Pries on Saturday and a Herculean effort by the bullpen on Sunday. After sophomore starter Dean McArdle failed to escape the first inning, freshman reliever A.J. Vanegas and juniors Scott Snodgress and Chris Reed combined for 8.1 innings of one-run baseball.

On Tuesday, Stanford committed six errors, including four by usually sure-handed sophomore shortstop Kenny Diekroeger, but was able to survive a scare from Saint Mary’s.

To beat the Cougars though, the Cardinal will need to perform better on both sides of the ball.

“We’ve been hitting the ball pretty well, but we need to play better defense,” said designated hitter Ben Clowe, who added two hits in the win over the Gaels.

Washington State has had an up-and-down season thus far. The Cougars sandwiched a six-game skid between a four-game winning streak and a 17-11 slugfest over a tough Gonzaga team.

Stanford and Washington State share one common opponent: Cal. Wazzu opened its Pac-10 season in Berkeley against the No. 16 Golden Bears this past weekend and though they lost all three games, only one was a blowout the series finale went 11 innings. The Cardinal defeated the Bears on Feb. 22 at Sunken Diamond in a 3-2 nail-biter.

Aside from both playing Cal, however, Stanford and Washington State’s schedules differ greatly. The Cardinal has played three series against teams ranked in the top-20 nationally, including two in the top-10. The only ranked team the Cougars have faced is Cal. As Pac-10 teams begin to beat each other up, Cardinal players hope be used to playing under pressure.

“We like playing against the best teams in the country,” Clowe said. “We may lose some games, but we know we’re more battle-tested and tougher than any other team.”

That experience is especially valuable for this year’s Cardinal, which featured four freshmen in the lineup against Saint Mary’s. Often, freshmen-heavy teams tend to bend under the grind of Pac-10 play. Having already faced No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 6 Texas and No. 17 Rice, coach Mark Marquess has seen that he can lean on his talented freshman class.

And over the last four games, Marquess has learned he can certainly depend on his bullpen, too. As the rotation is seemingly set with Mark Appel, Pries and McArdle, relievers are starting to settle into their roles.

“Our bullpen has been great so far,” said junior pitcher Danny Sandbrink. “Reed has assumed the closer role, [Snodgress] has been dominating as a setup guy, and A.J. [Vanegas] has stepped up as a freshman in an extended relief role.”

As well as the preseason has gone for Stanford, the team needs to turn the recent momentum into strong conference play.

“It’s so important for us to get off to a good start,” Clowe said. “We don’t want to fall behind in the league, and we’re going to have to beat Washington State to do that.”

The Cardinal will face lefty Adam Conley (4-2, 2.38 ERA) in the series opener, followed by two righties, James Wise (2-2, 3.48 ERA) and Chad Arnold (0-1, 7.71 ERA).

The first pitch on Friday night is set for 5:30 p.m.

 

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