April 24, 1999
BERKELEY, Calif. - Senior third baseman Josh Hochgesang hit a three-run homer in the top of the 10th inning off of California reliever David Cash to lead Stanford to a 14-11, 10-inning victory over Cal Saturday at Evans Diamond. Cal, which had won six of its last seven games entering the contest, falls to 21-27 overall and 7-10 in the Pac-10, while Stanford improves to 28-12, 13-4 in league. The Bears had defeated the Cardinal, 11-9, Friday.
Stanford made an impressive comeback as the Cal was one out away from winning the game with a 11-10 lead in the top of the ninth inning. But, the Cardinal's Craig Thompson hit a two-strike pitch from Bear reliever Jon Cuccias into short left field, scoring pinch runner Stephen Chan and tying the game, 11-11.
The winning pitcher for Stanford was J.D. Willcox (2-0), who came in in the seventh inning and did not give up a hit, walking two and striking out one. Willcox was able to get Cal's top two batters, Xavier Nady and Mike Tonis, to fly out right field and pop-up to the catcher, respectively, in the bottom of the ninth. The losing pitcher for the Bears was Cuccias (1-1), who went 2.7 innings with three hits, two runs, two walks and a strikeout.
The two teams scored 17 runs in the first three innings. Stanford scored three runs in the first inning on a three-run homer by John Gall off of Cal starter Jason Dennis, and four runs in the second inning on a three-run triple by Gall and an RBI ground out by Joe Borchard. Cal responded by scoring two runs in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Tonis and a sacrifice fly by Clint Hoover off of Stanford starter Justin Wayne. The Bears took an 8-7 lead by scoring six runs in the second inning. Cal started the second with six straight hits off of Wayne, including a two-run single by Preston Sharp and an RBI single by Nady. Wayne was replaced by Mike Gosling, who gave up a three-run homer to Tonis.
The Bears added two runs in the third inning and another run in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Curtis Johnson, but that was the end of Cal's scoring. Stanford chipped away, scoring two runs in the sixth off of Dennis and then Thompson forced in a run on a walk in the seventh inning to make the score 11-10, setting up Thompson and Hochgesang's heroics.
Gall finished the game 2-for-5 with a triple, home run and seven RBI for Stanford, while Tonis was 3-for-5 with four RBI for Cal. Sophomore shortstop Jason Williams was 3-for-5 for the Bears.
Cal will host Stanford in the third game of the three-game conference series, Sunday Apr. 25 at 1 p.m. at Evans Diamond.
HOME RUNS:
Stanford: Gall, three-run homer in the first. Hochgesang, three-run homer in the 10th.
Cal: Tonis, three-run homer in the second.