April 3, 1999
STANFORD, Calif. - Freshman Brian Sager (Branford, CT/Branford HS) threw a complete game three-hit shutout and senior Josh Hochgesang (Fullerton, CA/Sunny Hills HS) blasted two home runs to lead third-ranked Stanford (23-8 overall, 9-0 in the Pac-10) to a 9-0 win over Washington State (16-12, 1-5) on Saturday afternoon at Sunken Diamond.
The win completed the Cardinal's three-game sweep over the Cougars, and extended the best conference start in school history to 9-0. Stanford outscored Washington State 24-8 in the sweep, and has outscored Pac-10 opponents 84-41 this season.
Sager retired the final 13 batters he faced to record his first career complete game, and improve to 3-0 on the season. The right-hander also struck out 12 to double his previous career-high of six, and allowed just one runner to reach base after the fourth inning. The complete game shutout was the first by a Stanford pitcher since Jeff Austin blanked USC 1-0 in Los Angeles on April 3, 1998.
Stanford, which has now won seven in a row, led just 1-0 through five innings, but broke the game wide open with three in the sixth, two in the seventh and three in the eighth. Hochgesang led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run to left, while sophomore Billy Jacobson (Spring, TX/St. Thomas HS) added a two-run triple later in the inning.
Hochgesang, who now has four two-homer games in his career, went deep again in his next at-bat with a two-run blast to left in the seventh. The two round-trippers gives Hochgesang eight on the season and 37 for his Stanford career, which moves him into a tie for fifth on the school's all-time home run list with Tom Guardino (1975-78) and Eric Hardgrave (1980-83).
Hochgesang finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI, while sophomore Joe Borchard (Camarillo, CA/Camarillo HS) went 2-for-4 with two RBI to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.
Freshman Bookie Gates (Seattle, WA/Garfield HS) recorded a pair of singles to lead Washington State offensively. Cougar starter Todd Meldahl (Butte, MT/Butte HS) took the loss, and fell to 3-2.
Stanford looks to extend its winning streak to eight games when it visits San Jose State on Monday at 7 p.m. Washington State next hosts Team Alberta in exhibition action on Monday at 2 p.m.
Linescore
Washington State 000 000 000 - 0 3 0 Stanford 100 003 23x - 9 8 2
Meldahl, Rivard (7), Donlin (7), McTavish (8) and Smith, Scherer (7); Sager and Alvarado. WP - Sager (3-0). LP - Meldahl (3-2). 3B - Jacobson (STAN). HR - Hochgesang (STAN) 2: 6th inning, none on; 7th inning, one on. Records - Washington State 16-12 overall (1-5 in the Pac-10), Stanford 23-8 (9-0).