April 14, 2000
Stanford, Calif. - John Gall's RBI-single up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the eighth lifted #5 Stanford (27-9, 7-3 Pac-10) to a 6-5 comeback victory over Washington (14-18, 3-7 Pac-10) in a Pac-10 baseball game at Sunken Diamond. The victory extended Stanford's winning streak to a season-high six games. Justin Wayne recorded the victory on the mound to improve to 9-1 this season and 25-2 in his Stanford career. Wayne's 25th victory moves him into a tie for eighth place on Stanford's all-time victory list. Wayne also finished with 10 strikeouts, including eight in the first three innings, to mark the sixth time this season he has recorded 10 or more strikeouts in a game. He became the sixth pitcher in Cardinal history to pass the 300 strikeout mark in his career. Jeff Bruksch pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his seventh save of the season.
The Cardinal moved to within one-half game of first place UCLA, who defeated Cal State Northridge in a non-conference game this evening. Stanford is in a three-way tied for second place with USC and Arizona State, both winners of Pac-10 games on Friday.
"This victory was very satisfying, especially the way we won it," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess following the game. "We battled and came from behind. I'm proud of the way we came back."
"This was such a rollercoaster game and those are the type I like to stay away from as a pitcher," added Wayne, who scattered five runs and 11 hits in 8.0 innings. "You have to give so much credit to the guys on our team. We kept battling and finally broke them down."
Stanford trailed 5-4 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. Craig Thompson led off the inning with a double and moved to third base on a single by Eric Bruntlett. Edmund Muth then drove home Bruntlett with an RBI single to tie the score at 5-5 and put runners on first and second with no outs. However, Joe Borchard grounded into an unassisted double play to third base to leave Muth on second base with two outs, setting up Gall's game-winning hit.
The game was tied 0-0 through four innings before the Huskies broke through with three runs in the top of the fifth to take a 3-0 lead. Washington scored all three of its runs after two were out and following a failed suicide squeeze attempt by Tila Reynolds. Todd Linden drove home Marc Rittenhouse with the first run before Michael Done's two-RBI single gave the Huskies a 3-0 advantage.
Stanford answered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the fifth inning, also scoring all three after two were out. Jason Cooper's line drive double down the first base line scored Chris O'Riordan, who had tripled with one out. Andy Topham singled up the middle to score Cooper before coming home to score on a triple by Thompson.
Washington regained the lead at 5-3 with two more runs in the seventh, once again after two were out. Linden hit an RBI-double down the left field line to give the Huskies a 4-3 advantage before coming home to score on an RBI-single by Ed Erickson.
The Cardinal cut the margin to 5-4 when Muth's hit his team-leading 11th home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Thompson (3-4, 2B, 3B, RBI) led the Cardinal offense, while Muth (2-4, HR, 2 RBI) and Topham (2-3, 2B, RBI) also had multiple-hit days. Gall extended his season-high hitting streak to 10 games.
Matt Hollod (3-4) paced the Huskies' offensive attack, while Done (2-4, 2 RBI) and Linden (2-5, 2B, 2 RBI) also had two hits each.
Taylor Grant (1-3) suffered the loss for Washington after relieving starter Jeff Carlsen (7.0 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) with no outs and two runners on in the eighth inning.
Stanford and Washington continue their three-game set at Sunken Diamond with single contests on Saturday and Sunday, both scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m.