STANFORD, Calif. -- The Stanford baseball team travels across The Bay for its annual series against archrival No. 14 California Friday-Sunday. The Cardinal is looking for its first conference win of the 2015 season.
Stanford (12-18, 0-9 Pac-12) was three outs away from a no-hitter in its last outing, a 7-2 win over Pacific, to snap a four-game losing streak. The Cardinal was in the top 25 of multiple polls after a 9-6 start but has dropped out of the top 100 in the NCAA RPI in the last few weeks.
The starting rotation continues to be a question mark after injuries to all three projected starters. Brett Hanewich (1-3, 3.79 ERA) holds his position as the Friday starter this weekend. The next two days’ pitchers have not been announced.
California (21-9, 8-4 Pac-12) beat Stanford 11-1 Feb. 16 in the teams’ first of five meetings in 2015. That matchup did not count towards the Pac-12 standings, as only the three-game weekend series are designated as conference contests.
The Bears, which are coach by former Stanford standout Dave Esquer, are led by Chris Paul (.355), Lucas Erceg (.353) and Aaron Knapp (.348). Erceg has homered eight times and Paul has blasted six homers as part of Cal’s 31 as a team, the most in the Pac-12.
Dalton Jeffries (3-1, 2.20 ERA), Ryan Mason (4-1, 3.14 ERA) and Matt Ladrech (5-3, 2.13 ERA) are expected to start on the hill for Cal.
The Big Series is part of rivalry week in the Pac-12. Washington is at Washington State, UCLA travels across town to USC, Oregon State takes on Oregon and Arizona is in Phoenix to play Arizona State. Utah, the only Pac-12 baseball team without a natural rival, hosts Southeast Louisiana in a nonconference series.
