April 29, 2000
Stanford, Calif. - #4 Stanford (33-11, 12-5 Pac-10) jumped back into a first place tie in the Pac-10 baseball race with a 10-6 win over California (24-23, 10-10 Pac-10) at Sunken Diamond on Saturday. The Cardinal is now tied with Arizona State atop the Pac-10 standings as both teams have seven games remaining on their league slates. The Sun Devils lost 12-2 at USC on Saturday. Today's Stanford game was played before 3722 spectators, a new regular season home attendance record for the Cardinal.
Stanford righthanded pitcher Justin Wayne (10-2) became the Pac-10's second 10-game winner of the year as he scattered 10 hits and four runs (three earned) over the first 7.0 innings. Wayne improved his overall collegiate record to 26-3, moving into a seventh-place tie on Stanford's all-time win list. Wayne also had six strikeouts to run his career total to 326, tied for third all-time at Stanford.
Cardinal outfielder Joe Borchard completed a busy afternoon by going 2-for-4 in today's contest. Borchard was also the starting quarterback for the Cardinal team in Stanford's Cardinal & White football spring scrimmage held at Stanford Stadium earlier in the day. He played in the first half and completed 2-of-2 passes for 13 yards before leaving the football field for the baseball game. The White defeated the Cardinal, 15-0.
"Maybe I'll play a little tennis or a round of golf," Borchard joked to reporters following the baseball game. "Seriously, today was the pinnacle of the last three weeks of playing both football and baseball."
On the baseball field, Borchard started Stanford's six-run sixth inning with a one-out single. Stanford ended up with nine straight hitters reaching base on six hits and three walks. John Gall and Chris O'Riordan had RBI doubles to drive in the first two Cardinal runs and stake Stanford to a 3-2 advantage. An RBI single by Damien Alvarado and a bases loaded walk to Craig Thompson made the margin 5-2 before Eric Bruntlett knocked in the final two runs with a double down the left field line.
California rallied back for a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to cut the Stanford lead to 7-4. Clint Hoover and Rob Meyer had RBI doubles in the frame.
Stanford regained control with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Arik VanZandt hit his third home run of the season, a two-run shot that bounced off Meyer's glove in the center field before clearing the wall. Andy Topham also contributed an RBI double.
Cal scored twice in the top of the ninth inning. Mike Tonis hit a solo homer to lead off the inning, his 12th of the year and second of the series. After a walk to Xavier Nady and a double by Hoover, Stanford's Mike Wodnicki came on in relief. Wodnicki retired the final three batters of the game. Nady did score on an RBI ground out by Meyer.
Topham (3-for-5, 2B, RBI) led Stanford's offensive attack. Gall (2-for-4, 2B, RBI), Borchard (2-for-4), Bruntlett (2-5, 2B, 2 RBI) and O'Riordan (2-for-5, 2B) had two-hit days. Tonis (2-for-3, 2B, HR, RBI), Brad Smith (2-for-3, RBI), Hoover (2-for-5, RBI) and Meyer (2-for-5, 2B, RBI) had two hits each for the Golden Bears.
California starter David Cash (7-4) took the loss, allowing seven hits and five runs in 5.1 innings.
Today's game had been scoreless for the first three and a half innings before the Cardinal broke through with a run off Cash in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Alvarado. California scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 2-1 lead. Nady hit a solo shot over the center field fence, his 18th of the year, to tie the score at 1-1 in the fifth. Smith's RBI single scored Meyer in the sixth to give California its short-lived 2-1 advantage.
Stanford continues its five-game homestand with Sunday's series finale versus California (1 pm) before concluding the stretch by hosting USF on Monday, May 1 (6 pm).