April 2, 1999
STANFORD, Calif. - Senior Josh Hochgesang's (Fullerton, CA/Sunny Hills HS) RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning gave host Stanford (22-8 overall, 8-0 in the Pac-10) a come-from-behind 6-5 win over Washington State (16-11, 1-4) on Friday night at Sunken Diamond. Stanford has now won six in a row overall, and its 8-0 start in the Pac-10 is the best conference start in school history.
Washington State carried a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh, but Stanford rallied for three runs against four Cougar pitchers. Junior Jeff Rizzo (San Diego, CA/La Jolla HS) made it 5-4 with an RBI single to right, and tied the game when he came around to score on a double play. Hochgesang followed up the double play with a line drive to right field that scored Craig Thompson (Dallas, TX/Lake Highlands HS) from third base with the eventual winning run.
Sophomore Austin Coose (Kokomo, IN/Kokomo HS) improved to 3-0 on the season with 0.1 inning of scoreless relief, while senior Tony Cogan (Highland Park, IL/Highland Park HS) worked 2.0 scoreless innings to earn his sixth save of the season. The save was the 13th of Cogan's career, and moves him into a tie for fourth on Stanford's all-time list with Mike Sullivan (1979-82).
The Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 lead with three runs in the top of the second, highlighted by a two-run single by junior Shawn Stevenson (Everett, WA/Cascade HS). The Cardinal answered back with three runs in the bottom of the sixth on Joe Borchard's (Camarillo, CA/Camarillo HS) three-run home run to right. The homer was Borchard's sixth of the year, and second in the series. Washington State jumped back on top 5-3 in the seventh on RBI singles by sophomore Jason Grove (Walla Walla, WA/Walla Walla HS) and freshman Bookie Gates (Seattle, WA/Garfield HS), but Stanford went back on top for good in the bottom half of the seventh.
Offensively for Stanford, Borchard led the way by going 3-for-4 with three RBI to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. The Cardinal recorded 13 hits in the contest, marking the 14th time in the last 16 games Stanford has had at least 10 hits. Washington State was led by Gates' three hits, and two hits and two RBI from Stevenson. Junior reliever Matt O'Brien (Seattle, WA/Seattle Prep) took the loss for the Cougars to fall to 5-2.
Game three of this Pac-10 series is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. at Sunken Diamond.
Linescore
Washington State 030 000 200 - 5 10 1 Stanford 000 003 30x - 6 13 1
Gaines, Niles (7), O'Brien (7), Rivard (7) and Scherer, Smith (8); Wayne, Coose (7), Cogan (8) and Alvarado. WP - Coose (3-0). LP - O'Brien (5-2). SV - Cogan (6). 2B - Stevenson (WSU). HR - Borchard (STAN) 6th inning, two on. Records - Washington State 16-11 overall (1-4 in the Pac-10), Stanford 22-8 (8-0).