Feb. 12, 2000
Tallahassee, Fla. - Reserves Billy Jacobson and Chris O'Riordan launched back-to-back home runs in the top of the 10th inning to lead top-ranked Stanford (6-2) to a thrilling 8-6 win in 10 innings over #4 Florida State (6-2) on Saturday at Dick Howser Stadium. Jacobson, who had entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning, hit a 1-0 fastball off losing pitcher Chris Ginn (1-1) over the leftcenter field fence to break a 6-6 tie. O'Riordan then followed Jacobson's blast with a solo shot off the scoreboard in left field, his first career hit as a Cardinal.
"I was hoping the ball was going to get out," said Jacobson about his game-winning long ball that just cleared the fence. "I thought I put a good swing on it. It was great to be able to do that at such an important spot in the game. The best part of it all was coming around third base and seeing my teammates coming out to congratulate me."
"They've worked hard, and I'm happy for them," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess about today's unlikely Cardinal heroes.
Jeff Bruksch (2-0) pitched brilliantly in relief to pick up the victory, holding the potent Seminoles scoreless over the final 3.1 innings as he allowed just one hit and struck out four.
Stanford posted a season-high-tying 13 hits as four players picked up two or more hits each. Craig Thompson, who led off the game with a homer on the first pitch, paced the Cardinal by going 3-for-5 with his homer. Joe Borchard (2-5, 2B, 3 RBI), John Gall (2-5, 2B, RBI) and Edmund Muth (2-5) had two hits each. Eric Bruntlett was just 1-for-5 but extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a second-inning double.
Thompson now leads the team with a .400 batting average and has an eight-game hitting streak of his own. Bruntlett is second on the club with a .364 batting average.
Florida State was led offensively by John-Ford Griffin, who led the Seminoles with a 3-for-5 (2B, RBI) game. Chris Smith (2-4) also had a multiple-hit game, while Michael Futrell and Marshall McDougall both homered.
Stanford opened the scoring in today's game with a pair of runs in the first inning off starting Seminole pitcher Blair Varnes (5.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K). After Thompson led off the game with his home run, Bruntlett reached on an error and eventually came around to score on another error as McDougal threw the tail end of Borchard's double play away at first. Florida State rebounded by scoring four unearned runs in the bottom of the first off Cardinal starter Justin Wayne (6.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K). Wayne should have been out of the inning but Stanford second baseman Scott Dragicevich misplayed Ryan Barthelemy's two-out groundball to extend the Florida State inning. A two-out RBI-single by Pichi Balet scored the first Seminole run before Futrell gave the Seminoles a 4-2 lead with a damaging three-run homer.
Stanford came right back to tie the score at 4-4 in the top of the second as Borchard knocked in a couple of runs with a two-out single. McDougall hit his first homer of the season in the third to give Florida State a 5-4 lead, its final advantage of the contest.
The Cardinal retook the lead at 6-5 with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth on an RBI-double by Borchard and an RBI-ground out from Gall. Florida State retied the score on an RBI-double by Griffin in the seventh.
The teams will conclude their three-game series on Sunday (1:00 p.m.). Brian Sager (1-0, 0.00) is slated to start for the Cardinal, while Mike Ziegler (1-0, 3.00) is scheduled to take the hill for Florida State.