Stanford sending coach Mark Marquess out in style

After missing the NCAA Tournament the last two years, Stanford looks primed to give Mark Marquess a big send-off to retirement after 41 years as head coach.

The Cardinal (30-13, 13-8) are in position for their best Pac-12 finish since 2008. At No. 12 in the RPI, they’re in line to play at home in the NCAA regionals.

“I wouldn’t have imagined,” Marquess said Monday, “that this year’s team would play as well as we have.”

Stanford returned much of its everyday lineup and the core of its pitching staff. But Marquess set modest goals when his ace, Tristan Beck, was ruled out for the season because of a stress fracture in his back.

The Cardinal won 11 games in a row prior to losing 9-6 at Arizona State on Sunday, and they’re tied with UCLA for second in the league behind top-ranked Oregon State.

The all-lefty weekend rotation of Kris Bubik, Andrew Summerville and Chris Castellanos has led the staff to a 3.47 ERA, ranking 23rd nationally, and Brodey Quinn (.311) paces an offense that averages just five runs per game.

The Cardinal are 7-2 in one-run games and 14-5 in games decided by one or two runs. The difference between winning and losing those games has been junior closer Colton Hock, who has a school record-tying 13 saves to go with a 5-1 record and 1.88 ERA in 38 1/3 innings.

“We lost one game to UCLA late, but when he comes in and it’s a one-run lead, we’re going to win the game,” Marquess said. “Almost all of our league games, he’s pitched in two of the three on the weekend. He’s kind of a horse.”

Marquess, who turned 70 in March, said he’s had no second thoughts about retiring after this season . He said he’s kept his emotions in check as the regular season begins to wind down and that he’s not begun reflecting on his days as a baseball and football player at Stanford or his 46 years on the baseball staff.

“I’m still trying to focus on this season,” he said. “I’ll have plenty of time to think about it afterward.”