May 8, 1999
STANFORD, CA - Junior Craig Thompson's (Dallas, TX/Lake Highlands HS) solo homer in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Stanford (36-12) a 4-3 win over Saint Mary's (20-28) on Friday night at Sunken Diamond. Stanford has now won nine in a row.
Thompson ended the Gaels' upset bid when he led off the ninth by blasting a 1-0 pitch from reliever Tim Podesta (2-1; Redwood City, CA/Serra HS) over the right field wall. The homer was Thompson's second of the season in 143 at-bats.
The Gaels took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI double by freshman Tony Graziani (Visalia, CA/Redwood HS) and a run-scoring single by senior Travis Kermode (Orinda, CA/Miramonte HS), but Stanford answered back in the bottom of the second on a solo homer by junior Damien Alvarado (Sacramento, CA/Jesuit HS) and an RBI groundout from senior Josh Hochgesang (Fullerton, CA/Sunny Hills HS).
Stanford took the lead for the first time at 3-2 on junior Jeff Rizzo's (San Diego, CA/La Jolla HS) RBI single in the fifth, but the Gaels answered back in unlikely fashion. Gael designated hitter Larry Enos (Brentwood, CA/Los Medanos JC) made it 3-3 when he led off the eighth with his first home run of the season. Thompson then gave Stanford its 11th straight win over the Gaels with the ninth-inning blast.
Stanford starter Jason Young (Berkeley, CA/Berkeley HS) went the distance for the seventh time this season to improve to 8-3. Young allowed just six hits and three earned runs, while not walking a batter, and striking out seven. Young now has 136 strikeouts in 108.2 innings this season, which ties him for fourth with Jeff Austin (1998) on Stanford's single season list. He is just 20 strikeouts shy of Stanford's single season record of 156 established by Kyle Peterson in 1997.
Stanford returns to action on Monday when it hosts San Francisco at 6 p.m. Saint Mary's next hosts Loyola Marymount in a three-game West Coast Conference series with a noon doubleheader on Sunday and a single game on Monday at 3:30 p.m.
Linescore Saint Mary's 200 000 010 --- 3 6 1 Stanford 020 010 001 --- 4 13 1Siegel, LaRochette (2), Wilcox (4), Whitney (6), Smith (8), Podesta (9) and Waugh; Young and Alvarado. WP - Young (8-3). LP - Podesta (2-1). 2B - Graziani (SMC). HR - Alvarado (STAN) 2nd inning, none on; Enos (SMC) 8th inning, none on; Thompson (STAN) 9th inning, none on. Records - Saint Mary's 20-28, Stanford 36-12.