Feb. 2, 2001
Fullerton, Calif. - David Bacani's bases loaded single up the middle with twoouts in the bottom of the ninth inning off Stanford's Ryan McCally drovehome Mike Rouse with the winning run as #15 Cal State Fullerton (1-1)rallied for a 5-4 victory over Stanford (2-3) in an NCAA baseball game onFriday at Goodwin Field. The victory snapped Stanford?s six-game winningstreak over the Titans, who had not beaten Stanford since winning the firstgame of a three-game series at Fullerton in 1999. Stanford falls to 2-3overall, while the Titans improve to 1-1.
Bacani's single capped a three-run ninth inning for the Titans that beganwhen Aaron Rifkin drew a walk off losing pitcher John Hudgins (0-2).Stanford came within one strike of winning the contest before Robert Guzmansingled home Brett Kay with two outs and two strikes to tie the score at4-4. Cal State Fullerton scored its first run of the ninth inning on asacrifice fly by Kay to score Rifkin.
After falling behind 4-1 after a three-run Stanford fourth inning, Cal StateFullerton had plenty of earlier chances in the game. The Titans stranded atotal of 15 runners in the game and left a runner in scoring position ineight of the nine innings. The Cardinal kept its 4-1 lead until the Titansfinally broke through with a run in the bottom of the seventh on a two-outRBI single by Brett Kay. Cal State Fullerton loaded the bases in the bottomof the eighth inning before Hudgins retired Jason Corapci on a popup toshortstop Scott Dragicevich to end the threat.
Kay (3-5, 2B, RBI) led the Titans offensive attack, while Bacani (2-4, RBI)Jason Rifkin (2-3) and Corapci (2-5, RBI) added two hits each. Chris O'Riordan (2-4, 2 RBI, 2 SB), Jason VanMeetren (2-4, SB) and Arik VanZandt(2-4, RBI) led Stanford's offensive attack.O'Riordan had the key hit in the three-run Cardinal third that had given theCardinal a 4-1 advantage with a two-RBI single down the right field line toscore Dragicevich and Arik VanZandt, who had singled home VanMeetren for thefirst run in the Cardinal's fourth inning rally.
Chad Cordero (1-0) earned his first collegiate victory after getting theTitans out of a ninth-inning jam with no outs and runners on first andsecond base. Darric Merrell kept Cal State Fullerton in the game by holdingthe Cardinal scoreless with three hits over 4.1 innings of middle relief.
Stanford starter Jeremy Guthrie allowed only one unearned run and scatteredfive hits over the first 6.0 innings, while striking out seven and walkingone.
The teams traded unearned runs in the first inning. O'Riordan led off thegame with a walk. After stealing second and moving to third on a wild pitch,O'Riordan scored when Titan third baseman Shawn Norris booted VanMeetren'stwo-out grounder. The Titans also scored an unearned run in the first.Bacani led off the game with a single and moved to third when the ball wasmisplayed by VanMeetren in center field. Corapci drove home Bacani when hebeat out an infield single to shortstop.
The Cardinal stole five bases in the game as the Stanford continued itsearly-season baserunning prowess. Stanford has now stolen 13 bases in itsfirst five contests.
Stanford and Cal State Fullerton continue their three-game non-conferenceseries on Saturday and Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. bothdays.