March 27, 2001
Stanford, Calif. - #1 Stanford (22-5) extended its winning streak to a season-high eight games with an 8-3 win over Saint Mary's (9-18) in a non-conference game at Sunken Diamond on Tuesday. The Cardinal has now won 20 of its last 22 games overall and finished its season-long 11-game homestand with a 10-1 record. Stanford is 14-1 overall this season at Sunken Diamond. The victory was also Stanford's 15th in a row over the Gaels dating back to 1994. Stanford, which sits alone in first place in the Pac-10 with a 3-0 conference record, returns to Pac-10 action by traveling to #6 Arizona State (20-7-1, 3-3 Pac-10) this Friday-Sunday for a three-game series.
"The 11-game homestand was great," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "We'll have a day of practice tomorrow and then travel to Tempe and get after it again. It's a big weekend for them. They're very difficult to beat at home."
Stanford trailed 3-2 before scoring three times in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 5-3 lead. Chris O'Riordan led off the inning with a single and moved to second on another single by Arik VanZandt. O'Riordan and VanZandt advanced to second and third on a double steal before O'Riordan scored on an RBI single by Carlos Quentin. Andy Topham's single scored VanZandt with the go-ahead run and Quentin crossed the plate on an RBI ground out by Scott Dragicevich.
VanZandt scored the first of his four runs, the most by a Stanford player this year, in the bottom of the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Topham to give the Cardinal a 1-0 lead.
Saint Mary's tied the game with a run in the top of the second inning on a solo homer over the left field fence by Tim Spooner, his second longball of the campaign.
The Gaels scored two more runs on a Mark Teahen two-RBI triple in the top of the third inning to take a 3-1 lead.
Stanford cut the lead to 3-2 on a Jason VanMeetren RBI double in the bottom of the third.After the three-run fifth, the Cardinal added insurance runs with one in the bottom of the seventh frame and two more in the eighth. Stanford scored an unearned in the seventh inning when Gael shortstop Brett Wayne booted Topham's two-out ground ball, allowing VanZandt to score his fourth run of the night. Dragicevich, who had been hitless in his first three trips to the plate, led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a single to extend his career-high hitting streak to 12 games. Ryan Garko singled home Dragicevich before Sam Fuld scored on O'Riordan's RBI ground out to close out the night's scoring.
VanZandt (2-3) and Spooner (2-4, HR, RBI) were the only players from either team with more than one hit.
Jason Luker (1-0), the second of five Stanford pitchers, was credited with the win by tossing a pair of shutout innings. Saint Mary's reliever Mike Byer (2-3) suffered the loss, giving up six hits and six runs (five earned) in 4.0 innings.
The Cardinal had another dominant game on the base paths, swiping a season-high five bases for the fourth time this year. Stanford has now stolen 54 bases in 66 attempts on the season.