March 1, 2000
Stanford, Calif. - #2 Stanford and Keio University (Japan) played to a 9-9 tie in an exhibition baseball game on Wednesday at Sunken Diamond. The visitors trailed 9-7 before scoring twice in the top of the ninth on an RBI-single by Tsubasa Yoshida and a sacrifice fly from Masashi Miki. The game, which will not count on either Stanford's record or its statistics, was called after nine innings by a mutual agreement between the two teams.
"This was a good game to allow us to have some different guys play," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess following the game. "It was a friendship game with a lot of good feelings. Plus, nobody lost."
Keio outhit the Cardinal, 15-9, as Takashi Kita led the visitors' attack with a 4-for-5 (2B, 3 runs scored) performance. Yoshida (3-for-5, 3 RBI), Shingo Yamagami (2-for-4) and Tomoaki Sato (2-for-5, 2 RBI) also had multiple-hit days for Keio. Stanford was led offensively by Jason VanMeetren (2-for-3, 2B) and Tobin Swope (2-for-5 RBI).
The game was marred with seven errors as Stanford committed four miscues and Keio had three.The Cardinal kicked off the scoring in the bottom of the first when Arik VanZandt was plucked with the bases loaded to force home Andy Topham.
Keio rallied with four runs in the top of the second on a solo homer by Miki before taking advantage of three Stanford errors to score three unearned runs, the final two coming on a two-RBI double by Sato.
Stanford tied the score at 4-4 with three runs in the bottom of the third. The Cardinal had RBI-singles by Ryan Garko and Swope, while taking advantage of two Keio errors for a pair of unearned runs.
The Cardinal took a 6-4 lead with two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Keio reliever Shuichiro Osada hit three batters in the inning, including both Darrin Naatjes and Mickey Kammeyer with the bases loaded to score the two runs. Keio came back with a pair of runs off Ryan McCally in the top of the fifth. Yoshida drove in Shingo Yamagami with the first run of the inning. Kita scored the second run when Yoshida was picked off and tagged out in a rundown between first and second base.
Stanford again took an advantage with a run in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI-single by Kammeyer before Yoshida tied the score again at 7-7 with an RBI-single in the seventh.The Cardinal jumped back in front by a 9-7 count with a two-run seventh, scoring on a sacrifice fly by Garko and an RBI-single from VanZandt before Keio's two-run ninth.
Stanford returns to action with a three-game series versus Santa Clara beginning this Friday at Sunken Diamond (6:00 p.m.).