Borchard Already Making Impact

A freshman shouldn’t smile too broadly, even when he drives in five runs with four hits. Joe Borchard wasn’t about to break with tradition.

Anyway, he didn’t need to gloat. Chad Hutchinson was grinning enough for both of them when he wasn’t telling one of their Stanford teammates, “See, I told you.”

Borchard had missed all of fall practice because he was redshirting on the football team and running the scout team. About the only baseball player he knew was Hutchinson, Stanford’s starting quarterback.

Hutchinson, a junior, is also a top pro pitching prospect who is well along the road Borchard is beginning to travel. Playing two sports at one of the nation’s most academically demanding universities is not for the faint of heart.

That’s why Hutchinson was as heartened as Borchard when the freshman from Camarillo High single-handedly steamrolled Fresno State on Jan. 31 in the third game of the season.

“I think Joe is a lot like myself,” Hutchinson said. “I admire what he’s done on the field and in the classroom. In football, he’s really applied himself and become a lot better.

“I’d heard he was a good baseball player. But I was a firm believer in him even before he swung a bat.”

Now, believers abound.

Entering this weekend’s series at USC, Borchard (6 feet 4, 200 pounds) is sixth in the Pac-10 South with a .371 batting average. He has scored 29 runs and driven in 32, helping Stanford to a 25-4-1 record and No. 1 national ranking.

“He’s been our most consistent hitter,” Stanford Coach Mark Marquess said. “He’s having an unbelievable year for us. I knew he was a good player, but nobody knew he would make this kind of impact this soon.”

“What makes him special isn’t only his athletic ability, his size and the fact that he runs well. It’s his competitiveness. That’s his greatest strength. He rises to the occasion.”

Repeatedly. Borchard’s memorable moments include:

* His first home run, a blast over the scoreboard in center field at Arizona State against All-American left-hander Ryan Mills.

* His first assist from right field, throwing out a San Jose State player at the plate to preserve a 6-5 victory. Borchard mainly serves as designated hitter, but is errorless in the outfield.

* Driving in all four runs in a 4-3 victory over Washington. He hit a three-run homer to tie the score in the eighth and ended the game with an RBI single in the 10th.

* Going eight for 13 with eight runs batted in and a home run in three games at UCLA in February.

Borchard, who bats fifth through seventh in the lineup, saw primarily fastballs early in the season. That’s changed. Last weekend Stanford again played UCLA, and Borchard saw a steady rash of off-speed pitches. He was one for 11.

“Now I have to adjust to them changing speeds,” he said. “I can do that. Breaking balls were all I saw in high school.”

The adjustment will be made easier because Borchard is a switch-hitter whose average is nearly the same from both sides.

“I’m perfectly content with my role,” he said. “It’s a lot different than high school when I had to carry the team on certain days. Here, I can just go out and play.”

And go to school.

And prepare for spring football practice.

And drive once a week to San Jose State to visit his high school sweetheart, Ola Samuels.

Borchard’s broad shoulders are braced for the load. At Camarillo, he was a straight-A student, the Southern Section player of the year in football and All-Southern Section in baseball his senior year.

Could he possibly excel the same way at Stanford?

“School is not as tough as I thought it would be,” he said. “I’m taking 20 units this quarter to get ahead.”

Football will be the greatest challenge. Hutchinson will decide after the major league draft in June whether to sign or return for his senior year.

Should he sign, Borchard will compete at quarterback with Randy Fasani, one of the nation’s top recruits who also redshirted last season.

“I think Joe has as good a shot as anybody,” Hutchinson said. “He’s proved himself as a worthy candidate.”

Waiting his turn has never been Borchard’s style. No doubt that’s why he is enjoying baseball so much.

“In baseball, if you have the ability you are going to come in and play,” he said. “In football, you need the experience before you can start.

“I traveled with the football team but it was tough to sit and watch. Once baseball started, I wanted to show what I can do.”