May 1, 2000
Stanford, Calif. - #3 Stanford (35-11) stayed hot as three Cardinal pitchers combined for a 6-0 victory over USF (24-26) in a non-conference baseball game at Sunken Diamond. Stanford has now won 14 of its last 16 games. The shutout was the third of the season for the Cardinal pitching staff in a game that lasted just 2:17. Brian Sager (4-1) was credited with the victory as he allowed just two hits over the first 4.0 innings to pick up his first win since March 4.
"It feels good just to be back on the mound," said Sager, who recently returned to action after missing more than a month with a sore shoulder. "It really doesn't matter if I end up in a starting role or in relief."
Jason Luker pitched three scoreless innings of middle relief before Mike Gosling completed the shutout with four strikeouts over the final 2.0 innings.
USF had only two runners in scoring position the entire night as Tony Hurtado reached third in the top of the first and Ryan Leahy reached second in the fourth. Both players led off those innings with singles but the Dons tallied just four hits on the evening.
"It makes you feel good after a game when you pitch well an play good defense," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "We were able to do both of those things tonight. It was a solid effort."
Joe Borchard and Craig Thompson led the 14-hit Cardinal offensive attack, as both were 3-for-4 with an RBI. Damien Alvarado (2-for-3, 2 RBI), Arik VanZandt (2-for-3, 2B) and Chris O'Riordan (2-for-3) had two hits each as 13 of Stanford's 14 hits were singles.
John Gall extended his career-high hitting streak to 20 games with a single in the fifth inning.
Stanford scored twice in the bottom of the first inning on an sacrifice fly by Gall and an RBI single from Borchard. The Cardinal increased the margin to 3-0 on a sacrifice fly by Eric Bruntlett in the third. Alvarado's two-RBI single in the fourth made the score 5-0 before an RBI single by Thompson in the sixth closed out the scoring.
Stanford, which is currently in sole possession of first place in the Pac-10, returns to Pac-10 action with a visit to Oregon State this Friday-Sunday (3 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm). The Cardinal will play six of its next seven games on the road before returning to Sunken Diamond for its final regular season series of the year versus UCLA from May 19-21 (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm).