Feb. 26, 2001
Santa Clara, Calif. - #9 Stanford (12-4) won for the 10th time in its last 11 games with a 6-1 victory over Santa Clara (2-11) in a non-conference game on Monday at Buck Shaw Stadium to complete a three-game sweep of the Broncos. Stanford also extended its winning streak over Santa Clara to 18 games dating back to 1997. Jason Cooper led the Cardinal offensive attack by going 3-for-5 with his team-leading sixth home run, two RBI and a stolen base.
"I've been able to put a couple of good swings on the ball in my last couple of games," said Cooper, who homered for the second game in a row. "I was able to take advantage of some good pitches to hit."
Jason VanMeetren and Chris O'Riordan also hit home runs for the Cardinal. Each of Stanford's nine starters had at least one hit as the Cardinal tied a season-high with 15 hits. VanMeetren (2-5, HR, RBI) and Ryan Garko (2-3) added a pair of hits each for Stanford.
Tim Cunningham (4-0) won for the fourth time this season, scattering four hits and one run over the first 6.0 innings. Ryan McCally shut out the Broncos over the final 3.0 innings to earn his first save of the season. The Cardinal pitching staff lowered its season ERA to 2.97 after giving up just one earned run in the victory over the Broncos. Stanford gave up only four runs to the Broncos in the entire three-game series.
"We got good pitching and defense again tonight," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess after the game. "We're also starting to swing the bats a little bit better."
O'Riordan put the Cardinal on the scoreboard early by leading off the top of the first inning with a home run over the left field fence.
Stanford extended its lead to 3-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. The Cardinal scored its first run of the frame after four consecutive singles by Arik VanZandt, VanMeetren, Cooper and Scott Dragicevich. Stanford scored another run on Carlos Quentin's sacrifice fly.
Santa Clara closed the gap to 3-1 with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI single by Norm Hayes to score Matt Queen, who had led off the inning with an infield hit.
The Cardinal answered immediately with a solo home run by VanMeetren to lead off the top of the fifth inning.
Stanford added insurance runs in the seventh and ninth innings on an RBI double by Jonny Ash and a solo homer by Cooper, respectively.
Joe Diefenderfer (1-2) suffered the loss, giving up nine hits and four runs over the first 5.0 innings.
Diefenderfer (2-4) and Hayes (2-4, RBI) combined for four of Santa Clara's seven hits.
The teams combined to strand a total of 22 runners on base with each team leaving 11.The Cardinal was successful in all five of its stolen bases and has now swiped 34 bags in 42 attempts through 16 games this season.
Stanford begins an 11-game homestand by hosting Nevada on Tuesday (3:00 p.m.) and California in a non-conference three-game set this Friday-Sunday (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm).