April 11, 2000
San Jose, Calif. - #5 Stanford (26-9) extended its winning streak to a season-high-tying five games with a 5-2 win over San Jose State (25-12) in a non-conference baseball game on Tuesday at Municipal Stadium. Joe Borchard's two-RBI single with two outs in the sixth inning broke a 2-2 tie and keyed a three-run Cardinal sixth inning. Brad Drew (1-0) picked up the victory in his first appearance of the season, striking out four in two innings of middle relief. Jeff Bruksch pitched the final two innings to record his sixth save of the year as he moved into a tie for 10th place on Stanford's single-season save list.
San Jose State did put its first two runners on base in the eighth inning with a walk and a Stanford error before Bruksch retired three straight Spartans. Bruksch retired the Spartans in order in the ninth inning.
San Jose State struck first when John Fagan hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second inning, his eighth long ball of the year. Fagan had hit a grand slam in the Spartans' 4-1 victory over the Cardinal earlier this season on February 29 at Sunken Diamond.
The Cardinal scored twice in the third inning without the benefit of a hit to take a 2-1 advantage. John Gall was credited with an RBI when he walked with the bases loaded, while Chris O'Riordan's bases loaded sacrifice fly drove home Eric Bruntlett with the second run. San Jose State walked three batters in the inning and hit another.
The Spartans tied the score at 2-2 with a run in the bottom of the fifth. Brandon Macchi led off the inning with a triple and eventually came around to score on a two-out RBI single by Gabe Duran.
O'Riordan (2-4, 3B, RBI) and Andy Topham (2-4) were the only players for either team with more than one hit. Borchard and Gall had two RBI each for Stanford.
Bruntlett walked three times in the game and has now compiled 10 bases on balls in the last four games. He has drawn a team-high 30 walks on the season.
Edmund Muth's season-high 10-game hitting streak came to end as he was 0-for-4. He popped out to second base in his final at bat in the eighth.
Stanford's pitching staff recorded 14 strikeouts, one shy of a season-high.
Jared Sandler (1-2) took the loss for the Spartans, allowing six hits and three runs in 3.2 innings of relief.
Stanford next hosts Washington at Sunken Diamond in a three-game Pac-10 series beginning this Friday (6:00 p.m.).