Cardinal will try to halt three-game skid

The No. 22 Stanford baseball team (13-11, 3-3 Pac-10) continued its struggles Wednesday, falling to visiting Saint Mary’s 7-3 at Sunken Diamond.

The Cardinal has now lost five of its last six after a promising start to the season.

The same problems that have haunted the Cardi

nal all season—wild pitching and a lack of clutch hitting—came into play Wednesday.

Stanford outhit the visiting Gaels eight to five, but Cardinal pitchers issued seven free passes (and hit a batter) and Saint Mary’s capitalized on the miscues.

The Cardinal jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a pair of RBI singles by freshman third baseman Kenny Diekroeger and junior shortstop Jake Schlander.

The lead was short lived, however, as the Gaels pushed across five runs—on only one hit—in the top of the third.

Freshman pitcher Garrett Hughes, who came on in the second inning, suddenly lost his control in the third, walking four batters and leaving with two outs and the bases loaded with a run already in. Another freshman reliever, Dean McArdle, came on and was greeted rudely by Gaels’ third baseman Patrick Wisdom, who crushed a grand slam.

It would be the first of two home runs on the day for Wisdom—he added a two-run shot in the top of the sixth off the otherwise effective junior Danny Sandbrink.

Hughes (0-1) took the loss for Stanford.

Junior outfielder Dave Giuliani believes that Stanford’s hitters need to do a better job of focusing, regardless of how their pitcher is throwing.

“The only thing you have to worry about with the walks is not losing concentration and intensity,” Giuliani said. “I think we’ve been doing that the last few games, and it translates into bad at-bats.”

The Cardinal squandered a few chances to get back in Wednesday’s game. In the bottom of the sixth, trailing 7-2, sophomore designated hitter Christian Griffiths bounced into a double play with the bases loaded and one out, ending a potential rally. An inning later, Schlander was stranded at second after he doubled with nobody out to score Diekroeger. The Cardinal also left two on in the bottom of the eighth.

Schlander says that the team understands its weaknesses and is working to correct them.

“We need to play better as an entire team,” he said. “We have to cut down on the walks, get timely hits at the plate and have better at-bats.”

Although the Cardinal appears to be sputtering, the game did not come without its bright spots.

Sophomore pitcher Brett Mooneyham, who started the game, has struggled immensely with his control this season—he has walked 32 batters in 26.1 innings. Although he went just an inning, he looked sharp in retiring the Gaels in order.

It is unclear whether Mooneyham, who has been in the weekend rotation all season, will make his scheduled start this Sunday versus Oregon. The fact that he went just an inning yesterday appears to indicate that head coach Mark Marquess is likely to stick with his hard-throwing lefty.

The Cardinal needs to get out of its recent slide this weekend when it hosts the Ducks for a three game Pacific-10 Conference series.

“This is an opportunity to turn it all around and get back on track,” Schlander said. “We could use a good Pac-10 series win to jump start the team again.”

Oregon, which is only in its second season playing Division I baseball, is a surprising 19-10 on the year under head coach George Horton. The Ducks won a series earlier in the season against perennial powerhouse—and former employer of Horton—Cal State Fullerton, and also handed Arizona State its first loss of the season last weekend.

The Ducks boast four solid starters and are expected to use a rotation of sophomore left-hander Tyler Anderson on Friday, senior right-hander Zack Thornton on Saturday and sophomore right-hander Alex Keudell on Sunday. All three boast sub-4.00 ERAs and have excellent control.

Although Stanford’s rotation is not set yet, Marquess is likely to send sophomore Brian Busick to the mound on Friday for the second consecutive week. On Saturday the Cardinal’s most consistent pitcher this season, sophomore Jordan Pries, is likely to take the ball, and it appears Mooneyham will go on Sunday.

Marquess will likely continue to juggle his lineup—as he has all season—until he finds a combination that will consistently produce runs. Recently he has been using freshman outfielder Tyler Gaffney in the leadoff spot and junior catcher Zach Jones in the two-hole, providing a lot of speed at the top of the lineup. Gaffney, who is hitting .317 on the season, has provided a spark with his hustle and ability to find his way on base, while Jones leads the team with four home runs.

This is a critical series for the Cardinal, which currently sits in a tie for fifth in the Pac-10 at 3-3. Oregon, on the other hand, is in a four-way tie for seventh in the conference at 2-4.

Tonight’s first pitch will be at 5:30 p.m. at Sunken Diamond. Saturday’s will be at 1 p.m. and Sunday’s will be at 12 p.m.