April 1, 2001
Tempe, AZ -- #6 Arizona State (21-9-1, 4-5 Pac-10) snapped top-ranked Stanford's 10-game win streak and sent the Cardinal (24-6, 5-1 Pac-10) to its first Pac-10 defeat of the season with a 6-5 victory on Sunday at Packard Stadium.
The 10-game win streak had been Stanford's longest since the club won 11 in a row from May 16 - June 14, 1999. The Cardinal has still won 22 of its last 25 games overall. Arizona State snapped a four-game losing streak and extended its string of games in which it has scored to 348, one shy of the all-time NCAA record of 349 held by Coastal Carolina.
ASU snapped a 4-4 tie with a two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth that culminated with Mel Stocker's RBI single up the middle to score Dennis Wyrick. The Sun Devils added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh inning on an RBI single by Wyrick to score Jeff Phelps, who was hit by Hudgins to lead off the inning.
Carlos Quentin pulled Stanford to within 6-5 when he hit a solo home run to lead off the top of the eighth inning, his fourth longball of the season. The Cardinal had the tying run in scoring position later in the inning. Andy Topham reached on an error after Quentin's home run and then stole second base with two outs before reliever Drew Friedberg retired pinch-hitter Brian Hall on a fly out to center field.
The Cardinal went down in order in the top of the ninth inning.
Arizona State jumped on the scoreboard early with a two-run homer by Casey Myers to give the Sun Devils their first lead of the series.
Stanford picked up a run in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI single by Topham. Stanford loaded the bases with one out and a run already in off ASU starter Ryan Schroyer. Bryce Kartler relieved Schroyer to retire Sam Fuld on a fielders choice and Jonny Ash on a ground out to get the Sun Devils out of the jam.
Arizona State then extended its lead by putting up two runs in the bottom of the fourth frame. Dennis Wyrick and Rod Allen hit back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning, giving the Sun Devils a 3-1 advantage. Stanford starter Tim Cunningham was removed with one out in the inning after walking Chris Duffy. John Hudgins relieved Cunningham and hit Jonah Martin to load the bases.
Allen then scored ASU's second run of the inning when he raced home on a foul out by Myers to Stanford first baseman Arik VanZandt deep behind first base. Hudgins retired Brooks Conrad on a fly ball to Carlos Quentin in right field to get out of the inning.
Stanford tied the game at 4-4 by scoring three times in the top of the fifth inning. Ryan Garko led off the inning with a single and moved to third on a one-out base single by Arik VanZandt, his first base hit of the series. Jason VanMeetren doubled to left center to score Garko.
VanZandt came all the way around to score on the play when Duffy failed to come up with the ball cleanly in centerfield and was charged with an error. VanZandt moved to third base on a single by Quentin and scored on Topham's fielders choice.
Andy Torres (8-3) earned the win for Arizona State, limiting the Cardinal to one run and one hit in 3.0 innings of relief. Drew Friedberg pitched the final 1.2 innings for his first save of the season.
Stanford reliever John Hudgins (1-4) took the loss as he was touched for two runs and three hits of relief.Myers (3-4, HR, 3 RBI), Allen (3-4, 2B, RBI) and Wyrick (2-2, 2B, RBI) led ASU's offensive attack.
Quentin (2-3, HR, RBI) was the only Cardinal with more than one hit. Topham had a pair of RBI. Both players extended their career-high hitting streaks to 10 games.
Stanford will play a non-conference game versus San Jose State at Municipal Stadium on Tuesday (7 pm) before hosting UCLA in a Pac-10 series at Sunken Diamond next Friday-Sunday, April 6-8 (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm).