Austin Regional By-The-Numbers

Postseason competition begins tomorrow with Stanford and N.C. State getting everything started from Disch-Falk Field. On the eve of NCAA Tournament play, check out various notes and statistics from all of the teams in the Austin Regional. The Cardinal and Wolfpack are scheduled for a 9:00 A.M. (PDT) first pitch on Friday morning.

TEAM COMPARISON

                     Tex    NC St  Stan   UTA
Overall Record       40-19  38-21  30-25  29-34
Conf. Finish         1st    T6th   T5th   5th
Home Record          24-4    N/A    N/A   N/A
Road/Neutral Record   N/A   14-14  13-13  15-22

Batting Average      .297   .335   .279   .287
Runs Per Game        6.5    8.8    5.4    5.6
Home Runs             41     51     37     31
Slugging %           .443   .484   .402   .393
On-Base %            .384   .426   .354   .364
Stolen Bases          76     42     29     60

ERA                  3.76   4.37   4.39   5.64
Walks/9 Inn.         3.9    4.0    3.1    4.1
Strikeouts/9 Inn.    7.4    6.9    7.2    6.1
Home Runs Allowed     19     44     37     54
Opponents Average    .253   .273   .281   .314

Errors                73     71     72     88
Fielding %           .967   .970   .967   .963

RPI                    5     14     44    111
ISR                    5     34     21    110
Boyd's SOS            11     47      4     63



BY-THE-NUMBERS
* The starting pitching matchup for Friday's opener is in.  Greg Reynolds (6-5, 3.47 ERA) will match-up with N.C. State right-hander Gib Hobson (9-1, 4.60 ERA).

* The Cardinal have a number of hot hitters.  Chris Lewis is batting at a .434 clip (23-for-53, 5 HR, 19 RBI) in his last 13 games while Jason Castro is at .370 (2 HR, 7 RBI) during the same stretch.  Freshman DH Grant Escue has also come out nowhere to post a .481 batting average in those last 13 games.

* As a team, Stanford is hitting .315 while scoring 6.9 runs per contest in their last 13 games. 

* Stanford needs to hit three more home runs to avoid becoming the first Cardinal team in 20 years (1986) to not reach the 40 plateau.  The Cardinal are 11-1 in games in which they've hit two or more home runs.

* Mark Marquess needs one win this weekend to tie former Georgia Southern coach Jack Stallings for 12th on the all-time list.  Marquess has won 1,254 games in his 30 years as head coach.

* Stanford has never played N.C. State prior to competition this weekend.

* N.C. State has now made four consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament.  They went just 1-2 in a regional hosted by Nebraska last June.  The school's lone College World Series appearances was in 1968 (lost to USC in the semifinals).

* The Wolfpack had six players named to the All-ACC team - the most of any club in the conference (that includes national seeds Clemson and Georgia Tech).  Matt Camp (.387, 2 HR, 42 RBI) and Ramon Corona (.363, 6 HR, 57 RBI) were named to the First Team.  Aaron Bates (.338, 9 HR, 50 RBI), Jonathan Diaz (.270, 1 HR, 29 RBI), Caleb Mangum (.367, 4 HR, 34 RBI), and Jon Still (.347, 6 HR, 53 RBI) received Second Team recognition.  That's 2/3 of N.C. State's probable starting lineup.

* Chris Minaker (.346, 11 HR, 64 RBI) was Stanford's lone selection to the 20-man All-Pac-10 Team.  Chris Lewis, Matt Manship, and Greg Reynolds garnered Honorable Mention recognition.


REYNOLDS UPDATE
* The ace right-hander made 16 starts during the regular season pitching into the sixth inning in every appearance.  He's pitched at least 7 2/3 innings on seven occasions.

* Reynolds has thrown complete games in four out of his last five starts.

* Reynolds allowed three earned runs or fewer in 13 of his 16 starts (7 ER vs. USC on April 1st, 4 ER at Arizona on April 21st, 6 ER at UCLA on May 19th).

* The 111 2/3 innings pitched is far and away tops on the club (Matt Manship - 66).

* Reynolds was recently tabbed as the #4 overall pick (Pittsburgh Pirates) in Baseball America's mock first round of the upcoming draft.


HOBSON UPDATE
* N.C. State's #1 starting pitcher was a teammate of Reynolds' last summer in the Cape Cod League (Bourne Braves).

* In his last nine appearances, Hobson is 5-0 with a 2.98 ERA spanning 48 1/3 innings.  That was followed a stretch of six games when his ERA was a whopping 11.21 (22 ER/17.2 IP).

* In his last start (opener of the ACC Tournament), Hobson allowed a three-run home run in the first inning to North Carolina.  He then went on to complete the contest with no more runs surrendered en route to a 9-3 victory.  The complete game for Hobson was his first of the year.  He defeated possible #1 overall pick Andrew Miller as part of the victory.

* Hobson owns a career 5.17 ERA.


TEXAS VS. UT-ARLINGTON
* The defending national champion Longhorns are the #3 national seed.  Last year, Texas had to go on the road for the super regionals defeating Mississippi as a non-national seed.  They then went on to sweep through the College World Series en route to their sixth championship in school history.

* Texas has lost only four home games in 28 attempts this year.  One of those losses though came to UT-Arlington as the Mavericks posted a 6-3 victory on April 11th.

* The Longhorns were swept in their final regular season series (by Missouri - the #4 seed in the Malibu Regional), but did win their final eight home games.

* UT-Arlington, one of only three teams in the field with a sub-.500 overall record (UNC Asheville, Princeton) were the surprise winner of the Southland Conference Tournament.  A fifth place finisher in the regular season behind McNeese State, UT-San Antonio, Texas State, and Lamar, the Mavericks fought through the losers bracket of the conference tourney.  After an opening loss to Texas State, UT-Arlington won four games in a row over the next three days to claim the automatic berth.

* UT-Arlington has a 3-14 record this year against teams in the NCAA Tournament (Feb. 17 vs. Oral Roberts, Mar. 1 at Hawaii, Apr. 11 at Texas).

* The lowest ERA for a UT-Arlington pitcher is 4.62. 

* First pitch between the Longhorns and Mavericks is scheduled for 1:00 P.M. (PDT) on Friday.


OTHER NOTES
* All games of the Austin Regional will be televised live on ESPNU.  Former Stanford All-American Kyle Peterson will handle the color commentary.

* Stanford's contest versus N.C. State on Friday morning (11:00 A.M. CDT first pitch) will kick-off the entire NCAA Tournament.

* Weather permitting, the Cardinal are scheduled to work-out at Disch-Falk Field on Thursday afternoon.  Making the full adjustment to the time change will be key for Friday's opener.  Stanford will likely have to arrive at the ballpark two hours before gametime for batting practice which is essentially 7:00 A.M. on the west coast.

* Disch-Falk is an all astroturf field with a seating capacity of 6,649.  The dimensions are 340 feet down the left field line and 325 feet down the right field line.  It's 375 to the power alleys and 400 to center.

* Weather could be an issue on Friday with isolated thunderstorms in the forecast.  High temperatures during the opening day of the regional will sit in the mid-to-upper 80's.  Sunny skies are expected for the remaining three days with temperatures topping out in the low-90's.