There must be something about Alameda, California. Not only does it produce Stanford baseball players, but it very specifically produces Stanford baseball players who put themselves on YouTube:

When not asking people to prom on YouTube, Spenser is a left-handed pitcher.

Spenser Linney is from Alameda. So is AJ Vanegas. The other YouTube star we speak of, however, is former Stanford player Jordan Pries, whose car karaoke sessions have become the stuff of legend here at Nine Shot First. Naturally, this means that Spenser quickly won my heart.

He’s also on Twitter, so go and give him a follow here.

Let’s talk baseball now, though. Spenser was a 44th rounder this past June, going to the Padres, but he decided to come to Stanford instead, which makes me very happy because I’m excited about his cinematography skills. He’s also thrilled that Stanford has good coaches and is that perfect balance of academics and athletics that so many athletes desire. He’s gotten rave reviews from former teammates:

For proof of the lefty’s might, look no further than his former catchers. ”His fastball had so much movement on it that at times it was hard to even catch,” said Sean Harding, who now plays for St. Joseph Notre Dame. “Batters didn’t even have a chance.”

“Barely anyone could touch him back then,” said John Ruck, the current Alameda High catcher, who caught Linney in Alameda’s Babe Ruth League. “Now that he’s gotten so big, I can only imagine how he overpowers hitters.”

That’s a ringing endorsement. I like that. His coaches, too, have said some wonderful things:

“He’s a hard, diligent worker. When he goes out to the mound, he wants to dominate. He hates losing. That’s the mark of a true competitor,” said Gary Longoria, a longtime local coach who has known Linney since little league and was instrumental in the recruiting process.

“Spenser always finds a way to keep his best foot forward. He’s got more natural talent than you can shake a stick at, and that is a good combination,” said Joe Pearse, former Junior Varsity coach at Alameda High, who introduced Linney to Cardinal coach Mark Marquess two years ago. “I look for big things to come from Spenser Linney.”

Take a look for yourself:

You can read another interview with Spenser here. We’re really excited to have you, kid. Keep making videos!

…sort of.

In this lovely video from the Everett AquaSox, the Single-A affiliate of the Mariners that Jord is currently playing for, we learn all kinds of fantastic things about our favorite car karaoke guy. Like this expert dance move.

I'm not quite sure what this is.

If you’re not scared away yet, you can watch the video right here.

(Hat tip to my friend Emily for linking me to the video!)

Today, we here at Nine Shot First are proud to introduce a new weekly feature: From The Farm To The Farm, a weekly feature on former Stanford ballplayers currently in an organization’s farm system.

Our first player spotlight? None other than Jordan Pries, also known around these here parts for his rendition of Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold.”

Jord was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 30th round and signed on June 20th, 2011. He was assigned to the Everett AquaSox, the Mariners’ Class-A (short season) affiliate in the Northwest League.

He made his professional baseball debut on July 2nd, pitching 2 2/3 innings in relief. He gave up one hit, one unearned run, walked two, and struck out three.

Pries’ role as a starter began on August 3rd. His first start was somewhat rocky; the final line appeared as 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 4 R, 1 HR, 1 SO. He made a total of six starts before the end of the season.

As a reliever, Pries is 1-1 with a 3.12 ERA. He has pitched 17.1 innings in six relief appearances, giving up ten hits, eleven runs, six earned runs, two home runs, eight walks, while striking out twenty-one.

In the starting role, Pries is 3-2 with a 4.01 ERA. He has pitched 33.2 innings in six starts, giving up thirty-six hits, sixteen runs — fifteen of which were earned, two home runs, and five walks. He struck out twenty-five batters.

Since he began his professional career with the Class-A Short Season AquaSox, there is a likely chance that Pries will begin next season with the Class-A Clinton LumberKings. But don’t quote me on that.

In the 30th round, Jordan Pries was drafted by the Seattle Mariners. Your Fullerton Regional Most Outstanding Player was 6-5 on the season with a 3.24 ERA. He held opposing batters to a .263 average and struck out 74 to 30 walks.

In the 34th round, catcher Zach Jones was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks. In 55 games played, he had a .261/.332/.414 line, 4 home runs, and 28 RBI. He allowed 23 stolen bases and caught 17 runners stealing. He finished the season with a 42% CS%.

LHP Brett Mooneyham was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 38th round. He did not pitch this season because of an injury.

The San Francisco Giants drafted Danny Sandbrink in the 42nd round. He went 4-1 this season with a 3.39 ERA in 13 appearances, 8 of which were starts. He struck out 45 to 15 walks and held opposing batters to a .237 average.

Congratulations to all!

And Jord, feel free to drive around Palo Alto with the rest of the drafted and sing to pop songs.

It’s not a Monday night, but Jord pitched so darn well tonight that I’m posting that cartoon anyway.

Jord only faced two batters over the minimum. Sing in your cars, people. Go on, do it. Crank that Katy Perry and get with it.

I have to say, though, the story of this game was a ball that was clearly trapped by Tyler Gaffney. Like, it was obvious and everything. The umpire missed the call, and because of that, Jord got out of the inning and we ended up winning the whole thing 1-0. Stephen Piscotty hit a home run, and that was the difference in this game. Now we’re one win away from the Super Regionals. Whee!

The umpiring in this game was so inconsistent and awful that both sides really didn’t get a fair chance here. The home plate umpire’s strike zone was all over the place. That trap by Gaffney was extremely obvious, and the third base umpire never ran down the baseline to check it out.

We have a huge rivalry as of late with Fullerton, but I’m totally disgusted with this game. It would’ve been so much different if the umpiring was better.

I’ll let Umpire Ackbar correct the umpiring crew here.

We went 1-3 at Arizona State. At least we won the second game.

Here’s the quick lowdown:

• Friday. 12-10 loss. ASU is ranked 9th in the nation right now. We led three times in this game and we probably should’ve won, though.
• Saturday. 6-4 win. Danny Sandbrink threw a complete game, the longest and best outing since his freshman year oh so long ago (he’s a senior now). Proud of you, Danny! Way to go! Five hits, eight strikeouts!
• Sunday. 7-1 slaughter loss. Jordan is just struggling mightily on the weekends lately. Maybe he really does pitch better on weeknights because on Mondays he sings in the car.

AND NOW…

Here’s Jordan’s rendition of Bulletproof on this Monday, since Osama bin Laden is clearly not bulletproof and is now dead. Consider this your Music Monday post today.

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.

And I have picked the #Winning hashtag for this because lots of people consider Charlie Sheen to be a dirtbag. And Long Beach State’s baseball team are called the Dirtbags. So. Um. Yeah, I probably need some sleep.

Anyhow, if you missed it, Stanford won 6-1 last night! Now here are some random yet relevant details:

Katy Perry Jordan Pries had seven strikeouts on the day and went seven strong innings, even striking out the side in the sixth. The one run he allowed was unearned. Kenny Diekroeger continued to be godly and drove in two more runs, matching Tyler Gaffney on the day; they ended up combining for four of Stanford’s six RBIs. Brian Ragira had three hits on the day, but alas, no cycle was in the script last night.

Oh, and before I forget, Zach Jones threw out another baserunner. That makes nine now. Pardon me whilst I go and nominate him for the Johnny Bench Award already. The kid is absolutely killing it. Pitchers must swoon at his feet everywhere he goes.

Keep an eye out for Mac’s post involving Elliott Byers. You will not be disappointed.

Although it was overshadowed by a couple of other awesome wins (softball had a walk-off, and the women’s basketball team seniors are now officially undefeated on their home court), the baseball team had a nice, solid win last night, too.

It was really a low-scoring affair, with Stanford winning it 3-2. They picked up their first run in the first when sophomore wunderkind Kenny Diekroeger grounded out, bringing Jake Stewart home from third. Two more runs were tacked on in the 4th on a Tyler Gaffney home run. One inning later, Daniel Cepin drove the two UC Davis runs in, but that was pretty much the extent of the enemy’s scoring for the night.

And you can credit that to Cardinal pitching. Mark Appel started the game and went two scoreless, and then Jordan Pries picked up where Appel left off, throwing through the 7th inning. Both UC Davis runs were on Pries’ watch. Chris Reed pitched the 8th and 9th, and he was virtually spotless, striking out 3 of the 7 batters he faced and stranding some baserunners.

The nerdy kids with the tree are back in action against Santa Clara today at home. You can catch ‘em at 1 pm PST, which means Steph will have to check in with them at 4 pm EST.