April 14, 1999
STANFORD, Calif.- Junior Damien Alvarado (Sacramento, CA/Jesuit HS) drove in four runs and senior Josh Hochgesang (Fullerton, CA/Sunny Hills HS) scored four times to lead No. 2 Stanford (26-9) to a 7-3 non-conference win over San Francisco (14-21-1) on Tuesday night at Sunken Diamond.
Alvarado finished the game 3-for-3 with four RBI, and drove in Hochgesang in each of his four plate appearances. The Cardinal catcher had a sacrifice fly in the first, an RBI double in the fourth, an run-scoring single in the fiftyh and an RBI double in the seventh. Hochgesang finished 3-for-3 with the four runs scored as the 4-5-6 spots in the Cardinal order went 9-for-10 with four runs scored and four RBI. Right fielder Joe Borchard (Camarillo, CA/Camarillo HS) , who participated in spring football practice just prior to the game, added the other three hits to the 9-for-10 total.
Stanford took the lead for good with a four-run rally in the bottom of the fifth to break a 2-2 tie. Junior Jeff Rizzo (San Diego, CA/La Jolla HS), who has driven in 11 runs in the Cardinal's last three games, sparked the rally with a two-run triple to right, while Alvarado added an RBI single and junior John Gall (Portola Valley, CA/St. Francis HS) a sacrifice fly to make it 6-2.
On the mound, four Stanford pitchers combined on a seven-hitter. Freshman left-hander Dan Rich (Bay Village, OH/Bay HS) allowed just an unearned run over 2.2 innings to earn the win and improve to 2-0.
USF was led offensively by sophomore Chad Soares (Fresno, CA/Clovis West HS) and senior Ryan Evangelho (Belmont, CA/San Mateo JC), who had back-to-back RBI doubles in the fifth inning. Both Evangelho and junior Pat Walsh (Honolulu, HI/Puanhou HS) had two hits on the evening. USF senior right-hander T.J. McCall (Tucson, AZ/Pima CC) took the loss and fell to 0-3.
Stanford returns to action on Friday night when it meets USC in a battle for the Pac-10 lead at Sunken Diamond. The Cardinal is currently 11-1 in the Pac-10, and leads the 10-2 Trojans by one game going into the three-game weekend set (Fri. 7 p.m., Sat. & Sun. 1 p.m.). USF hosts Santa Clara in West Coast Conference action this weekend, with a noon doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Linescore
San Francisco 000 021 000 - 3 7 0 Stanford 010 140 10x - 7 11 1Deffner, McCall (4), Dunkle (5), Soares (8) and Evangelho, Lopez (7); Gosling, Wodnicki (3), Rich (5), Coose (8) and Alvarado. WP Rich (2-0). LP McCall (0-3). 2B Alvarado (STAN) 2, Omori (USF), Soares (USF), Evangelho (USF), Hochgesang (STAN), Borchard (STAN). 3B Rizzo (STAN). Records San Francisco 14-21-1, Stanford 26-9.