April 30, 2000
Stanford, Calif. - Senior catcher Damien Alvarado (Sacramento, CA/Jesuit HS) homered on the second pitch he saw in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift #4 Stanford (34-11, 13-5 Pac-10) to a wild 12-11 win over California (24-24, 10-11 Pac-10) in a Pac-10 contest Sunday at Sunken Diamond. Alvarado's shot down the right field line just cleared the fence as Golden Bear right fielder Brad Smith leaped in an unsuccessful attempt to grab the ball. The victory moved the Cardinal back into sole possession of first place in the Pac-10, one half game ahead of UCLA and one game ahead of Arizona State. Stanford won two-of-three games in the series.
"I was just trying to get on base any way I could," said Alvarado about his game-winning homer. "Hitting a home run was the last thing on my mind."
Today's game drew another big crowd with 3710 spectators in attendance, just 12 fans shy of the regular season home attendance record of 3722 set in yesterday's game. The three-game series drew a total of 9690 fans.
"This was a great college baseball game in front of another great crowd," said a thrilled Stanford head coach Mark Marquess following the game. "The key was coming back to score runs and obviously the home run by Damien Alvarado. I end up saying that every game is a big game because it is true. Today was yet another big game. Hopefully we can stay afloat until the final series of the year versus UCLA and still have a chance to win the Pac-10 title that weeekend."
Stanford had tied today's game at 11-11 on an RBI double by Edmund Muth in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Stanford's Joe Borchard hit a pair of home runs with four RBI in a 3-for-4 performance to lead the Cardinal offense. Chris O'Riordan (3-for-5, 2B, RBI), Eric Bruntlett (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI), Craig Thompson (2-for-5, 2B, HR, RBI) and Alvarado (2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI) also had mutliple-hit days for Stanford as the Cardinal pounded out 15 hits.
John Gall (1-for-5, 2B, RBI) extended his career-high hitting streak to 19 games with a double in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Tommy Callen (3-for-5, 3B, 4 RBI) and Jason Williams (3-for-5, HR, 2 RBI) had three hits each for California, while Clint Hoover (2-for-4, HR, RBI) and Mike Tonis (2-for-5, 2 RBI) added two hits each.
Stanford tallied first in today's game, which featured a total of six lead changes, on a solo homer by Thompson to lead off the bottom of the first. California scored twice in the third on a two-RBI single by Callen for the game's first lead change and a 2-1 margin.
The Cardinal returned the favor with four runs in the bottom of the third on a three-run homer by Borchard and a sacrifice fly by Bruntlett. California scored the next four runs of the game with one in the fourth and three in the fifth to take a 6-5 lead. Williams had an RBI single in the fourth before an RBI double by Tonis and a two-RBI double by John Baker in the fifth put California ahead again.
Stanford answered back again with two runs in the fifth on an RBI double by Gall and an RBI single from O'Riordan to retake a 7-6 lead. Both teams scored in the sixth inning as the Cardinal retained an 8-7 advantage after six innings. Callen had an RBI single for the Golden Bears in the frame, while Bruntlett had an RBI double for Stanford. California retied the game at 8-8 on a solo homer by Hoover in the top of the seventh before Borchard hit his second homer of the game and Alvarado had an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh to put Stanford back on top, 10-8. The Golden Bears took their final lead of the game at 11-10 after scoring three runs in the top of the eighth. Williams led off the frame with a solo homer, while Callen contributed an RBI triple and Tonis an RBI double.
Ryan McCally (1-0) picked up his first collegiate victory with 1.2 innings of hitless relief, while Rob Meyer (3-1) suffered his first loss of the year for California.
Stanford concludes its current five-game homestand by hosting USF in a non-conference game on Monday, May 1 (6 pm).