Players often only pay lip service to the idea of playing hard through the end of a frustrating season. But fresh off a three-game win streak, Stanford baseball has shown that it’s not packing up for the summer just yet.

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Alvin Chow

Jeffrey Inman, shown above in a May 11 contest with Washington, and his teammates won their first Pac-10 series of the year last weekend. They hope to keep the positive momentum in their corner this weekend as they take on former Stanford star Ed Sprague’s Pacific team.

This weekend, the Cardinal (22-27, 6-15 Pacific-10 Conference) has a chance to get three games closer to .500 against a Pacific team that it has historically dominated. Stanford holds a 46-6-1 all-time record against the Tigers and won both games last year, 2-1 and 14-8.

“We’ve always tried to win, but there’s a tendency to get snowballed by bad circumstances,” junior outfielder Michael Taylor said. “There’s been an appreciable change in the mood of the team over the last little streak because you’re a little more upbeat when you’re winning ballgames and coach Marquess is a little happier, so it makes practices and everything else in your life and the game easier.”

Over the last five games, the biggest difference has been Stanford’s arms going longer more consistently. In Tuesday’s game against Santa Clara, junior David Stringer stabilized the team with seven innings of relief without an earned run. Since a loss at Washington State on May 7, Stanford’s ERA is 4.20 — almost two full runs below its 6.14 season mark.

“It always comes down to pitching,” head coach Mark Marquess said. “Normally, when you feel good after a game, it means you pitched well. If you won 13-12, you don’t feel as good as if you won 2-1 because you know you didn’t pitch effectively.”

Those playing behind the mound credit a more aggressive approach.

“As a defense, you can live with a guy getting hit — that’s just part of the game — but sometimes you can be lulled to sleep when guys walk a lot of people or get in running counts,” Taylor said. “It’s that much easier to play behind a pitching staff that’s coming in and throwing strikes and [junior] Erik Davis, Stringer, and [sophomore] Jeremy Bleich have been throwing strikes early.”

Offensively, Stanford continues to produce. The Cardinal has scored double-digit runs in its last two games and matched its season-high of 14 on Tuesday. Taylor has led the way with four homers and a .421 average in the last dozen games.

Stanford’s best contact hitter, junior Adam Sorgi, is hitting .391 on the season, and if he plays in all of the remaining games, will be eligible for Pac-10 and NCAA leaderboards.

Four years into the job at Pacific, former MLB and Stanford third baseman Ed Sprague is having his most difficult year in Stockton. Sprague, who played under Marquess on both of Stanford’s NCAA Championship teams, won 30 games in each of the past two seasons. But in 2007, the Tigers (13-40, 1-17 Big West) have managed just one win in conference.

“I’ve coached against former players before like David Esquer at Cal and Eddie,” Marquess said. “Eddie was a great player, a major-league player with a World Series ring and a gold medal. He’s a real special baseball player who comes from a baseball family.”

Hampered by preseason suspensions, Pacific has struggled in both phases of the game. The Tigers’ poor ERA (6.31) is very similar to the Cardinal’s, but they have also struggled from the plate, hitting only .267 as a team. Junior infielder Justin Baum has been one of the few offensive bright spots, hitting a team-high .361 with eight home runs.

“They’ve had a rough year, like we’ve had a rough year, but they lost four or five players for disciplinary reasons before the season, which is really almost impossible to overcome,” Marquess said. “But they’re still a tough team that’s played in a couple tight games and won at UCLA.”

The series will be somewhat unique in that the games are split between Stanford and Stockton. In Friday night’s opener, freshman Jeff Inman (4-3, 5.02) will take on lefty Curtis Pasma (1-6, 4.63) before fireworks night at Sunken Diamond. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

On Saturday, the Cardinal will go to Stockton, Calif. with Bleich (1-8, 5.88) starting against Cole Akins (2-2, 4.89).

Sophomore Erik Davis — who has started the last three Sundays without being announced until the weekend — has officially been named Sunday’s starter against Jason Haar (2-2, 5.32) in Stanford’s penultimate home game of the season. Senior Night is scheduled for next Tuesday against UC Davis.