May 6, 2000
Corvallis, Ore. - Zach Gordon hit two home runs and Scott Nicholson tossed a complete game five-hitter to lead Oregon State (27-21, 8-9 Pac-10) to a 5-2 victory over #3 Stanford (36-12, 14-6 Pac-10) in a FOX Sports Net nationally televised Pac-10 baseball game on Saturday. The Cardinal retains a slim half game lead over second place UCLA, an 18-7 winner over California on Saturday, and a full one game advantage on idle third place Arizona State. Stanford had won 15 of its last 17 games before today's loss, while Oregon State has now won 10 of its last 14 games.
Oregon State had not beaten Stanford since 1971 as the Beavers' win snapped a 13-game losing streak versus the Cardinal. Today's game was played in front of an Oregon State season-high 1311 spectators.
Gordon's first home run of the day, a two-run shot to left field in the second inning, gave Oregon State a 2-1 advantage. Andy Jarvis extended the Beaver lead to 4-1 with a two-run blast to right field in the bottom of the fourth. The Beavers scored their final run on Gordon's second homer of the afternoon, a solo shot to left field in the bottom of the eighth.
All three Beaver long balls came against losing pitcher Justin Wayne, who fell to 10-3 this season. Wayne lost for just the fourth time in his illustrious collegiate career and now has a 26-4 career record. Wayne allowed five runs (four earned) on nine hits over 7.0 innings. He did move into third place on Stanford's career strikeout list with nine strikeouts to run his career total to 329.
Stanford's Arik VanZandt touched Nicholson for an RBI single in the top of the second. However, Nicholson then retired 13 of the next 15 hitters he faced and did not allow another run until the top of the ninth. Nicholson did walk seven batters and recorded just two strikeouts.
The Cardinal mounted a rally in the top of the ninth as pinch hitter Ryan Garko walked and Craig Thompson doubled to put runners on second and third with one out. However, Nicholson picked up the second out on an RBI ground out by Eric Bruntlett and closed out the game when he induced Edmund Muth into a game-ending fly out to left field.
Gordon (2-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI), Brian Barden (2-for-4) and Will Hudson (2-for-5) had two hits each for the Beavers. Borchard (2-for-4, 2B) was the only Cardinal with more than one hit.Stanford left 10 base runners stranded, while Oregon State had 11 runners left on base.
Stanford and Oregon State conclude their series with a single game on Sunday (1 pm).