Well, things are going quite nicely on our end.

We’ll get to that in a minute, though. First, let’s talk about the game that happened before ours: Michigan State and Fresno State.

Both teams swapped runs early in the game – by the end of the first inning, it was 2-2, and the score stayed that way through five until Fresno State’s Trent Garrison broke through and drove in a run in the sixth on a two-out double. Fresno State tacked on another run in the seventh (the fourth run they scored with two outs in this game), then survived a scare in the bottom of the inning when the Spartans had two men on but failed to score.

Oh, and then there was a triple play. Strange things were happening tonight at Sunken – there was an oddity in the Stanford game, too. But we’ll get to that later. Fresno State scored a run before that triple play, then added three more in the top of the ninth to make the score 8-2. That was the final. Michigan State is done for the year with a 37-24 record.

And then…it was our turn.

» Continue reading “Palo Alto Regional: Day Two”

Austin Wilson after his fourth inning three-run home run. (Photo: Mac)

No. 2 Stanford hosted the Rice Owls on Mar 10 at Sunken Diamond.

Iron Chef Brett Mooneyham took the mound for his 4th start of the season, opposing righty Austin Kubitza.

» Continue reading “Mooneyham, Offense Cook Rice”

Here is a gratuitous screencap of Wedge Antilles because I have the biggest crush on him. Completely seriously.

We defeated San Jose State last night 3-1. It was a nice rebound start for Dean McArdle, who is no longer a weekend starter. This is pretty cool. On the flip side, our record stands at 22-16 right now, and we’re 6-9 in Pac-10 play, which basically means we’ve only got three teams with worse standings in the conference. This isn’t so cool.

However, today is an international holiday. The name of this website comes from a Star Wars quote, so it’s only natural that we celebrate here today. (Nine is our coach, Mark Marquess, which isn’t from the films, although we think he’d be a really badass character.) As for that ‘shot first’ part…well, here.

Get it? If you still think Greedo shot first, you’re a moron. Because he totally didn’t. So there.

Now, as this is a holiday, let’s make sure to remember to actually rejoice, because most holidays are set aside for reflection, rejoicing, or both. This is a rejoicing holiday because it celebrates nerdy people and we like them because they keep the world turning.

So here is the unremastered ending to Return of the Jedi, featuring the Yubnub song.

And if you haven’t seen this yet, you need to – it’s the Yubnub song performed by a barbershop quartet.

May the 4th be with you, everybody!

No, we didn’t actually sneak into USC in a wooden horse. But that headline got your attention, didn’t it?

I spent my weekend scouting Minor Leaguers (I was unsuccessful in catching former Cardinal Erik Davis in Harrisburg on Saturday) and I have some photos to sift through, but here’s basically what happened in Southern California (and let’s be honest, NorCal is better except for Berkeley, which is icky).

• Friday: Mark Appel gave up four hits over six innings and we won. That was pretty neat.
• Saturday: Jordan Pries only gave up three runs, but USC only gave up one. And Kenny Diekroeger’s hit streak was snapped, which was not so neat.
• Sunday: Dean McArdle actually lost. That should say it all.

In happier news, Lonnie Kauppila was Pac-10 Player of the Week last week, and we’re very proud of him. You can watch this lovely video of him and get to know him a little better!

Yeah. That first game against Washington State, where Mark Appel left with an 8-2 lead? Let’s forget about that one. It didn’t go as planned. Walk-off homers from the other team kind of put a damper on things.

Now that second game – let’s talk about that one. Jordan Pries struck out a season-high seven batters over five innings, and despite the fact that  there was snow – yes, snow – the Cardinal ended up scoring 22 runs. They haven’t scored over 20 since April of 2008, which they did against USC. (2008 means they still had players like Jed Lowrie and John Mayberry Jr. on the roster. That makes this fairly impressive.) Ragira had a grand slam and seven RBIs, Lonnie Kauppila had six hits and drove in five runs, and Austin Wilson went 4-6 and drove in four more. That’s sixteen of the runs right there.

Basically, that game was good.

And the third one – oh, the third one. You see, the third one gave Nine his 1400th career win, and that’s why it’s easily the most important one in this series despite the high-scoring affair from the day before. After taking a 4-0 lead, errors allowed Washington State to creep back into it before Chris Reed shut them down with a five-out save. And of course, Dean McArdle started this one, which means he still refuses to lose a game. Ever.

A couple of notes:

• Zach Jones, who had been struggling to open the season, drove in seven runs between Friday and Saturday after having just one RBI the entire season up to this point.
• Kenny Diekroeger has a 14-game hitting streak. Keep tabs on Kenny.
• Stanford is playing San Jose State on Tuesday at home before heading off to USC for the weekend. The San Jose State game starts at 5:30 pm PST.
• There are six players and two GMs in the Majors right now who hail from Stanford. I’m sure at some point this season you will hear about all of them here, because Steph is crazy.

Dean McArdle is undefeated, everyone! He came pretty close yesterday, though.

McArdle couldn’t escape the first inning, giving up four runs and being chased from the game. A.J. Vanegas took over for him and pitched a solid 4.1 innings – a career-best – to keep the Card in it. They ended up getting McArdle off the hook, picking up one run in the second and four runs in the third, and adding one in the sixth to answer an LBSU score in that inning. Therefore, they won 6-5 and it was good. The winning pitcher was Scott Snodgress, who relieved Vanegas and threw 1.1 innings, and Chris Reed followed him to seal the deal.

Stanford’s offensive star of the game was actually LBSU’s third baseman Michael Hill, who made two timely errors that ended up allowing quite a few runs for the Cardinal. Stephen Piscotty also had a two-run single in the third to kick off the four-run rally.

Stanford plays next against Saint Mary’s on Tuesday at Sunken before heading off to Washington State to kick off Pac-10 play. Stuff’s about to get real.