Mar. 20, 1997
Bears to Face No. 6 Ranked Stanford for Three-Game Series
THE SCHEDULE: The Bears (13-17, 1-8) take on Bay Area rival Stanford (18-7, 5-1 ranked sixth in both Baseball America andCollegiate Baseball) for a three-game series...
Day Date Opponent Site Time
Sat. Mar. 22 at Stanford Sunken Diamond, Stanford, CA 1:00 p.m.
Sun. Mar. 23 vs. Stanford Evans Diamond, Berkeley, CA 1:00 p.m.
Mon. Mar. 24 at Stanford Sunken Diamond, Stanford, CA 7:00 p.m.
TELEVISION:The Cal-Stanford baseball game on Saturday, Mar. 22 will be televised live by SportsChannel...Julie Croteau (color) and Glen Kuiper (play-by-play) will be announcing...RADIO: KALX Radio (90.7 FM) will broadcast all three games versus Stanford...the Bob Milano Show will air 10 minutes before the first pitch...SERIES RECORD: The Bears have a 198-190 overall series record against the Stanford Cardinal...last season, Cal lost five-of-six games to Stanford; losing 14-7 at Cal, losing 7-6 at Stanford and winning 7-5 at Cal, Mar. 23-25, and losing 9-2 at Stanford, losing 7-1 at Cal and losing 14-7 at Stanford, May 3-5...
HEAD COACH BOB MILANO: The Bears skipper, who is in his 20th season at Cal, has a career record of 631-560-4 (.530)...Milano is the all-time winningest coach at Cal in terms of total victories, having passed Clint Evans (547-256 from 1930-54) Mar. 19, 1994 vs. Arizona (15-6)...he earned his 600th career win Feb. 24 with the Bears 5-3 victory over Fresno State...Milano has led Cal to six NCAA Regional berths ('80, '85, '88, '91, '92, '95) and three College World Series appearances ('80, '88, '92)...he was named Pac-10 South Co-Coach of the Year in 1980 and 1992...Milano will serve as the head coach of 1997 USA Baseball Team that will compete in the Intercontinental Cup, August 1-10 in Barcelona, Spain...
BEAR NOTES: The '97 Bears (13-17, 1-8) won one of three games last weekend versus Arizona State at Evans Diamond, losing 13-9 Friday, winning 6-4 Saturday and losing 7-5 Monday after a Sunday rainout...on Tuesday, Cal defeated Washington State, 7-6 in 10 innings at Evans...in Friday's loss, both the Bears and Arizona State pounded out 13 hits apiece, but sloppy fielding proved costly as Cal had seven errors in the game, including five errors in the Sun Devil's six-run fourth inning...the Bears, however, had four home runs in the game--one each by junior designated hitter Aaron Gordnier (Rocklin, CA) and sophomore left fielder Preston Sharp (Chico, CA), and two by sophomore catcher Jason Hill (Alamo, CA)...Hill had a three-run homer in the sixth inning and a lead-off home run in the eighth inning...it was the second time in Hill's college career that he has hit two home runs in one game (Apr. 26, 1996 versus Arizona)...the losing pitcher for Cal was freshman Jon Shirley (2-2, Bakersfield, CA), who went 3.3 innings with seven hits, seven runs, only three earned runs, two walks and two strikeouts...the Bears captured their first league victory Saturday when freshman third baseman Kevin Johnson (Oakland, CA) broke a 4-4 tie with his first collegiate home run in the seventh inning, helping Cal break a 10-game conference losing streak that carried over from the 1996 season (last Bear conference win was an 8-5 victory over Arizona, Apr. 28, 1996 in Berkeley)...the Bears senior right-hander Drew Fischer (Orinda, CA) pitched 6.0 innings with five hits, only one earned run, no walks and five strikeouts...Fischer was replaced in the seventh inning by Tyler Walker (Ross, CA), who earned the win by pitching the final three innings with no hits, no runs and three walks...in Tuesday's win, Hill knocked in the game-winning RBI single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning...it was Cal's third extra-inning game of the season (1-2)...the winning pitcher for Cal was again Walker (3-1, three saves), who came in in the eighth inning and pitched 2.3 innings with one hit, no runs, one walk and had four strikeouts...Walker struck out the side in the Cougars 10th inning...Walker is the top rated amauter baseball player in the nation, according to the Major League Scouting Bureau...the leading hitter for the Bears against WSU was sophomore shortstop Brian Oliver (Antioch, CA), who was 3-for-4 with a double...Oliver is having an outstanding sophomore season, starting all 30 games at shortstop and leading the Bears in average (.359), runs (24), hits (42), doubles (9), triples (3), walks (16) and stolen bases (16-for-17)...he is a third team preseason All-American in Collegiate Baseball and last year he became the first Freshman All-American (selected in both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball) in Cal baseball history...
STANFORD: The Stanford Cardinal, coached by Mark Marquess (21st year as head coach at Stanford, 826-440-4, .652), are 18-7, 5-1 (first in the Pac-10 Southern Division) after winning two-of-three at Arizona State (won 11-9, won 10-4, lost 12-8) Mar. 7-9 in Tempe...top hitters for the Cardinal include junior outfielder/infielder Joe Kilburg (.412, 4 HR, 25 RBI), sophomore center fielder Jody Gerut (.396, 4 HR, 36 RBI) and freshman right fielder Edmund Muth (.389, 4 HR, 15 RBI)...Stanford's tentative starting pitching rotation is junior right-hander Kyle Peterson (4-1, 3.89 ERA), sophomore right-hander Chad Hutchinson (1-0, 6.49 ERA) and sophomore right-hander Jeff Austin (2-2, 5.95)...in 1996, the Cardinal were 41-19 overall (19-11, second in Pac-10 Southern Division play) and 2-2 in the NCAA West Regional (hosted at Stanford)...
TENTATIVE LINEUP AND STATS: Here is a look at Cal's tentative lineup and pitching rotation...
No. Pos. Player '97 stats
26 DH Ivan Lewis, Sr. .237, 10 RBI, 6 2B
9 2B Jim Schmidt, Sr. .333, 10 RBI, 5 2B
5 SS Brian Oliver, So. .359, 14 RBI, 3 3B
33 LF Aaron Gordnier, Jr. .275, 22 RBI, 3 HR
45 C Jason Hill, So. .257, 22 RBI, 3 HR
2 1B John Furstenthal, Sr. .340, 11 RBI, 4 2B
10 RF Juan Hernandez, Fr. .276, 10 RBI, 1 HR
16 CF Curtis Johnson, Fr. .221, 5 RBI, 1 HR
22 3B Kevin Johnson, Fr. .200, 5 RBI, 1 HR
34 RHP Jon Shirley, Fr. (Sat.) 2-2, 3.19 ERA
28 RHP Brad Steele, Fr. (Sun.) 2-1, 3.60 ERA
30 RHP Drew Fischer, Sr. (Mon.) 2-3, 5.16 ERA or
21 RHP Jason Ball, Fr. (Mon.) 0-0, 1.93 ERA
SIX-PAC RACE (as of March 19)
Conference Overall
W L PCT GB W L T .PCT
Stanford 5 1 .833 -- 18 7 .720
Arizona 6 3 .667 .5 22 12 .647
USC 7 5 .583 1.0 23 8 .742
UCLA 3 3 .500 2.0 23 5 1 .807
Arizona State 5 7 .417 3.5 19 11 .600
CALIFORNIA 1 8 .111 5.5 13 17 .433
Cal Individual Player Notes
DREW FISCHER: Is 2-3 with a 5.16 ERA and leads the team in innings pitched (45.3, 10th in the Pac-10)...in last outing Mar. 15, got a no decision but pitch well vs. Arizona State (6.0 innings, five hits, only one earned run, no walks, five strikeouts)...picked up win Feb. 21 vs. Oregon State (7.0 innings, nine hits, six runs, only one walk, tied a career-high seven strikeouts)...suffered loss Feb. 14 at Long Beach State, throwing his first collegiate complete game (8.0 innings, five hits, three earned runs, two walks, six strikeouts)...only gave up one hit after the first inning against the 49ers...picked up win Jan. 30 at Hawaii (5.0 innings, four hits, three runs, one walk, two strikeouts)...is eighth in the conference in walks/nine innings (2.40)...has an 1-1 career record with a 12.60 ERA vs. Stanford...is a possible starter Monday for the Bears...
JOHN FURSTENTHAL: Is second on the team in hitting, batting .340 with four doubles and 11 RBI...also leads team in hit by pitch (six) and putouts (265)...at Hawaii went 6-for-11 with two RBI...went 4-for-9 with a double and an RBI in the Arizona series, 4-for-10 with a double and an RBI at USC and 2-for-11 with an RBI vs. Arizona State...is 6-for-30 (.200) with 10 RBI with runners in scoring position...has a career batting average of .171 (6-for-35) with a double vs. Stanford...
AARON GORDNIER: Is batting .275 with five doubles, three home runs and a team-leading 22 RBI...was 5-for-12 with two doubles, a home run and two RBI at USC and 5-for-11 with a home run and two RBI vs. Arizona State last weekend...hit his first collegiate home run Feb. 4 vs. Santa Clara (1-for-3, HR, two RBI)...went 5-for-11 with two doubles and five RBI in the Hawaii series...is currently on a career-high eight-game hitting streak (13-for-31, 2-2B, 2-HR, five RBI) from Mar. 7...is 13-for-37 (.351) with two home runs and 20 RBI with runners in scoring position...
JUAN HERNANDEZ: Has started 28 games in right field, batting .276 with six doubles, a home run and 10 RBI...is tied for fourth in the conference in stolen bases (13-for-13)...was 4-for-5 and hit his first collegiate home run (three-run homer) Feb. 11 at Saint Mary's...went 3-for-7 at USC and was 4-for-11 with a double and two RBI vs. Arizona State...is 6-for-30 (.200) with an HR and 10 RBI with runners in scoring position...
JASON HILL: Is hitting .257 with five doubles, three home runs and a team-leading 22 RBI...went an impressive 5-for-11 with two home runs and six RBI vs. Arizona State...was 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI Mar. 14 vs. ASU...knocked in the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the 10th vs. Washington State Tuesday...hit well at Long Beach State, Feb. 14-17, going 7-for-17 with seven RBI...is currently on a career-high five-game hitting streak (7-for-15, double, 2-HR, seven RBI) from Mar. 11...is 12-for-39 (.308) with a home run and 18 RBI with runners in scoring position...has thrown out 17 baserunners (17-for-52)...has a career average of .067 (1-for-15) with an RBI vs. Stanford...
IVAN LEWIS: Is batting .237 with six doubles and 10 RBI...was 4-for-13 with four RBI at USC and 3-for-12 with a double and two RBI vs. Arizona State...went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI Mar. 14 vs. Arizona State...is 7-for-27 (.259) with 10 RBI with runners in scoring position...has a career average of .267 (16-for-60) with five doubles and six RBI vs. Stanford...
BRIAN OLIVER: Leads the team in batting average (.359), at bats (117), runs (24), hits (42), doubles (nine), triples (three), total bases (57), slugging percentage (.487), on-base percentage (.449), walks (16) and stolen bases (16-for-17)...was 7-for-14 with a double, a triple and three RBI at Hawaii, 6-for-11 with a double and an RBI vs. Pepperdine; 7-for-18 with a double, a triple and three RBI at Long Beach State, 3-for-10 with a double, triple and two RBI vs. Oregon State and 5-for-13 with a double vs. Arizona...went 3-for-12 with a double and an RBI last weekend vs. Arizona State and was 3-for-4 with a double Tuesday vs. Washington State...knocked in the game-winning RBI Mar. 5 vs. CS Hayward with a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth...is 9-for-32 (.281) with 13 RBI with runners in scoring position...leads the conference in stolen bases and is second in triples...has a career average of .250 (6-for-24) with a double, two home runs and six RBI vs. Stanford...
JIM SCHMIDT: Is Cal's third leading hitter, batting .333 with five doubles and 10 RBI...has started 24 games this season (12 at third, nine at second and three as a designated hitter)...was 5-for-10 with a double and two RBI at Hawaii, 10-for-17 with a double and three RBI at Long Beach State and 5-for-12 with three RBI vs. Oregon State...went 3-for-11 with a double and an RBI at USC and was 0-for-5 vs. ASU...had a career-high 10-game hitting streak (19-for-39, .487, two doubles, seven RBI) from Feb. 8-28...is 11-for-31 (.355) with 10 RBI with runners in scoring position...is 10th in the conference in toughest to strikeout (.092)...has a career average of .000 (0-for-6) vs. Stanford...
JON SHIRLEY: Is 2-2 with a 3.19 ERA, has a save and a team-leading 29 strikeouts in 36.7 innings...in last outing, suffered the loss vs. Arizona State (3.3 innings, seven hits, seven runs, three earned runs, two walks, two strikeouts)...got a no decision Mar. 8 at USC (6.3 innings, nine hits, three runs, two walks, career-high seven strikeouts)...got no decision Mar. 1 vs. Arizona, pitching a career-high 7.3 innings (three hits, one run, four walks, three strikeouts)...earned win Feb. 22 vs. Oregon State (6.0 innings, two hits, no runs, no walks, career-high seven strikeouts)...picked up a save Jan. 30 at Hawaii, shutting down the Rainbows with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the ninth...picked up first collegiate victory Feb. 16 at Long Beach State (6.0 innings, two runs, three walks, one strikeout)...is 10th in the conference in ERA...is slated to start Saturday...
BRAD STEELE: Is 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA in 20.0 innings...picked up the win Jan. 31 at Hawaii, coming in in the fourth inning and throwing 2.0 innings with one hit, no runs and one walk...also earned the win Feb. 4 versus Santa Clara, coming into the game in the fifth inning and pitching 2.7 innings with one hit, one run, one walk and one strikeout...in last outing Mar. 16 vs. Arizona State, pitched 2.3 innings with no hits, no runs, two walks and four strikeouts...is slated to start Sunday for the Bears...other start came Mar. 5 vs. Cal State Hayward (2.0 innings, one hit, no earned runs, one walk...
TYLER WALKER: Is 3-1 with a team-high three saves and a 2.33 ERA as a reliever...has 27 strikeouts in 27.0 innings pitched...picked up two wins last week in relief, defeating Arizona State Mar. 15 (3.0 innings, no hits, no runs, three walks) and Washington State Tuesday (2.3 innings, one hit, no runs, one walk, four strikeouts)...picked up the win Feb. 9 vs. Pepperdine, throwing a career-high 5.0 innings (one hit, no runs, no walks, three strikeouts)...picked up save Feb. 16 at Long Beach State (3.0 innings, four hits, two runs, two walks, three strikeouts)...earned save Feb. 21 vs. Oregon State (1.0 inning, no hits, no runs, no walks, two strikeouts)...suffered the loss Mar. 8 at USC (0.7 innings, two hits, three runs, two walks, one strikeout)...earned the save Mar. 11 vs. Santa Clara (2.0 innings, two hits, no runs, no walks, three strikeouts)...is fifth in the conference in saves...has a 0-0 career record vs. Stanford with a 4.50 ERA in 4.0 innings...
