Scotts Valley, Calif. - Stanford Club Baseball entered last weekend's three-game set against UC - Santa Cruz riding the high of a six-game win streak to begin the season. The Cardinal squashed the Banana Slugs 4-3, 13-2, and 24-5 to tally their third consecutive series sweep.

Traveling Stanford fans and the home crowd alike were treated to a thrilling Game 1 at Scotts Valley High School as Stanford emerged triumphant by the slimmest of margins, 4-3. The first game of the Saturday doubleheader was a dramatic affair from the off. After a Jamie Baum leadoff walk, Donnie Raymond double, and Danny Gass HBP, the visiting Cardinal were threatening in the top of the first with bases loaded and only one out. However, Santa Cruz's starting pitcher made a fine play to induce a crucial 1-2-3 double play to stave off the threat. In the bottom of the first, the Slugs were able to get to Cardinal starter Donnie Raymond early, recording three straight hits to take a 1-0 lead. After a productive groundout to move runners to second and third, Raymond's counterpart was able to provide himself some run support with an RBI sacrifice fly to stretch the early lead to 2-0. For what felt like the first time all season, the Cardinal were behind. And they struggled to respond. The UC - Santa Cruz pitcher located well and consistently landed a quality slider and curveball in the zone. Stanford had their work cut out for them. 

The game sailed through the fourth inning. In the fifth, junior outfielder Angel Villeraldo Amador reached via a leadoff single and later advanced to second on an errant pickoff. With two outs, Jamie Baum laced an RBI single to left to halve the deficit and advanced to second on the throw. Sophomore shortstop Cooper Tenney followed it up by singling to right field on the second pitch of his at-bat - a clutch base hit to plate Baum and knot the score at 2-2. The game remained tied until the bottom of the sixth inning, when an RBI double pushed UC - Santa Cruz back in front. In the top of the seventh, Stanford needed a spark from their 7-8-9 hitters. Angel Villeraldo Amador walked to lead off the inning. On a 3-0 delivery to Joseph Seddon, the Santa Cruz backstop attempted to back-pick Villeraldo from first, not realizing that the pitch was ball four. It proved a costly mistake, as he threw the ball away, allowing Villeraldo to scamper all the way to third. With men on the corners and no outs, the decision-makers in the home dugout decided to lift their starter after 108 pitches in favor of a hard-throwing righty, to be greeted by left-fielder Tommy Kaufman. The NCBANow Preseason Player to Watch worked a nine-pitch at-bat, but struck out on a full-count offering. With one away, Jamie Baum grinded out a torturous 10-pitch walk to load the bases. After another strikeout, the Cardinal were down to their last out with the bases loaded, down by a run, for graduate Donnie Raymond. Raymond sharply grounded a 2-1 fastball into center field to plate Villeraldo and Seddon, giving Stanford their first lead of the day, to the great elation of both players and supporters. In the bottom of the seventh, a leadoff single was cause for bated breath, but Raymond quashed any remaining Banana Slug threat by retiring the next three batters, two via the strikeout, to secure the Game 1 victory for the Cardinal. Raymond wasn't perfect, but he did just enough to earn the "W". His final line: 7 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 3 HBP.

After the tense action of Game 1, Game 2 was much more straightforward for the Cardinal. Stanford was able to invoke the slaughter rule in a five inning, 13-2 conquest. Miles Gumbs kicked things off in the first with an RBI single to give Stanford an early 1-0 lead. With the bases loaded in the second inning, Cooper Tenney brought a run home with a sacrifice fly to make things 2-0. After a Raymond HBP, Danny Gass unloaded the bags with a three-bagger to deep left field, and Gumbs promptly singled him home to give the Cardinal a firm 6-0 advantage. That would be more than enough for Stanford's starting pitcher, Joseph Seddon. The sophomore right-hander carried a no-hitter into the fourth inning and was able to finish what he started. He only needed 60 pitches to cruise through five innings of two-hit, two-run ball. After another Gumbs RBI single, Seddon blasted a two-run double to deep left to pull the Cardinal within one of the slaughter rule threshold. Gumbs drove in another in the fifth, which was followed by an RBI groundout by Angel Piña and a 2-RBI single by Villeraldo to put the contest out of reach. UC - Santa Cruz did not record an out against Stanford's 3-4-5 hitters in Game 2. Raymond, Gass, and Gumbs were a combined 8-8 with 8 R, 7 RBI, 3 BB, and a HBP. The two freshmen provided plenty of punch in the middle of the order. Gass swatted a double and triple, and Gumbs had four separate RBI singles.

With Caden Denning back in the lineup after taking the MCAT on Saturday, Stanford put on a show in Game 3 of the series. The offense exploded to record 24 runs in a 24-5 trouncing that, once again, didn't progress past the fifth inning. The Card struck first with a 2-RBI Cooper Tenney double in the top of the first. They added five in the second and three in the third to carry a solid 10-3 lead into the fifth. In that fifth, UC - Santa Cruz would need three pitchers to get three outs in a 14-run inning that saw 20 Cardinal batters come to the plate to widen the gap to 24-3. After a two-run bottom of the fifth, the game mercifully ended by slaughter rule. On the mound, Danny Gass only allowed two hits in four innings, allowing three runs, before giving the ball to Tenney for the bottom of the fifth. Offensively, almost every player in the lineup had a performance worthy of recognition. Danny Gass had a 4-4 day with 2 2B, 4 R, 3 RBI, and a HBP, and Cooper Tenney went 3-3 with 2 2B, 3 R, 5 RBI, and 2 BB to power the middle of the Cardinal lineup.

The weekend saw a strong showing at the plate from Danny Gass. The center fielder from Virginia only recorded two outs over the three-game set. His offensive line: 7-9, 3 2B, 3B, 7 R, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 2 HBP, SB. On the mound, Donnie Raymond earned NCBA Pacific North Region Pitcher of the Week for his gutsy 123-pitch complete game winner.

Stanford's trio of triumphs takes their record to 9-0 (9-0), while the Banana Slugs fall to 0-7 (0-7). The red hot Cardinal will carry a ridiculous +112 run differential into their next action against rival University of California - Berkeley on March 28th.