April 18, 1999
STANFORD, Calif. -- Senior Jason Lane (Sebastapool, CA/Santa Rosa JC) had two home runs and six RBI to help No. 24 USC overcome deficits of 9-2 and 13-10 in a 17-15 win over No. 2 Stanford (27-11, 12-3) on Sunday afternoon at Sunken Diamond.
To go along with the 32 runs, there were 41 hits in the 4 hour, 5 minute contest. Seventeen of those hits were for extra bases, including seven homers. Stanford scored in seven of its nine at-bats, while USC scored in six different inning.s The teams combined to use 12 pitchers, and only one of them (Stanford's Mike Gosling) did not allow a run.
The win moves USC into a tie for the Pac-10 lead with the Cardinal at 12-3. Each team has nine games left to play, with Stanford taking on Cal (6-8), UCLA (5-7) and Oregon State (2-10) while USC meets Arizona State (8-7), UCLA (5-7) and Washington (7-5).
Stanford looked to be well on its way to victory when it scored in each of the first four innings to take a 9-2 lead. The Cardinal scored three in the first and took a 6-1 lead after two thanks to RBI singles by junior John Gall (Portola Valley, CA/St. Francis HS) and sophomore Joe Borchard (Camarillo, CA/Camarillo HS). The lead then reached 9-2 on a two-run double by junior Eric Bruntlett (North Lafayette, IN/Harrison HS) in the third and a solo homer to right-center by Borchard in the fourth.
The roof then fell in on the Cardinal as USC sent 12 hitters to the plate in a eight-run fifth inning. With one out, the Trojans put together four consecutive hits to cut the lead to 9-5. Two batters later, freshman Beau Craig (Santee, CA/Grossmont HS) blasted a grand slam to right-center field to tie it at 9. Freshman Justin Gemoll (San Jose, CA/UC Santa Barbara) then made it back-to-back homers with a solo shot that gave the Trojans a 10-9 lead.
Stanford retook the lead in the bottom half of the fifth on a tape-measure, three-run home run to left by Borchard. The quarterback/right fielder finished the afternoon with career-highs of five hits and seven RBI. The seven RBI day was the second by a Cardinal in eight days as junior Jeff Rizzo (San Diego, CA/La Jolla HS) did it in a 13-10 win at Washington last Sunday. Stanford was then held scoreless in the sixth to end its streak of scoring a run in 11 consecutive innings which started in the third inning of Saturday's 13-2 win.
After the Cardinal made it 13-10 on an RBI double by Gall in the seventh, USC took the lead for good with four in the eighth and three in the ninth against four different Cardinal relievers. USC touched the Stanford bullpen for a total of 13 runs in 4.2 innings on the afternoon. Lane hit a two-run homer in the eighth to make it 13-12, and a double by senior Doninic Correa (Sacramento, CA/Sacramento City JC) later in the inning gave USC a 14-13 lead. Lane then gave the Trojans some insurance in the ninth with a three-run shot over the left-field wall.
The Cardinal fought back in the bottom of the ninth, however, with RBI singles by Borchard and Alvarado that made it 17-15. Stanford then had the tying runs on the corners when Trojan reliever Correa recorded the final out to end the contest. Correa, who started the game at second base, went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBI at the plate and also picked up the win on the mound after allowing just two unearned runs over 3.0 innings. Stanford closer Tony Cogan (Highland Park, IL/Highland Park HS) took the loss and fell to 3-2.
The attendance for Sunday's contest was 3,203, making the total weekend attendance 8,126. The 8,126 is the highest total ever at Sunken Diamond for a three-game weekend series, eclipsing the 6,427 that saw the Stanford-USC series on May 9-11, 1998.
Linescore
USC 011 080 043 --- 17 22 3 Stanford 332 130 102 --- 15 19 1 Lehr, Smyth (3), Montrenes (4), Lane (5), Correa (7) and Craig; Sager, Willcox (5), Rich (5), Cogan (6), Coose (8), Gosling (9), Wodnicki (9) and Alvarado. WP - Correa (1-0). LP - Cogan (3-2). 2B - Hanoian (USC), Lane (USC), Ticehurst (USC), C. Casillas (USC), Gemoll (USC), Gall (STAN), Alvarado (STAN), Muth (STAN), Bruntlett (STAN). HR - Borchard (STAN) 2: 4th inning, none on & 5th inning, two on; Lane (USC) 2: 8th inning, one on & 9th inning, two on; Correa (USC) 2nd inning, none on; Craig (USC) 5th inning, three on; Gemoll (USC) 5th inning, none on.
Records - USC 26-18 overall (12-3 in the Pac-10), Stanford 27-11 (12-3).