April 12, 2001
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Stanford, Calif. - Jeremy Guthrie struck out a career-high 11 batters as No. 1 Stanford (29-7, 8-2) remained in first-place in the Pac-10 with a 4-1 win over Oregon State (21-14, 5-5 Pac-10) in a Pac-10 baseball game at Sunken Diamond on Thursday. #9 USC (25-12, 7-3 Pac-10), a 1-0 winner at California on Thursday, remains one game behind the Cardinal in the Pac-10 standings. The teams will meet in a Pac-10 showdown next Friday-Sunday in Los Angeles. Ryan Garko's two-RBI double in the bottom of the second inning gave Stanford a 2-0 lead the club would never relinquish.
Guthrie (8-1, 1.64 ERA) won for the eighth time in his last nine starts, allowing just five hits and one run over the first 8.0 innings. J.D. Willcox pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn his second save of the season. Guthrie carried a no-hitter into the top of the fifth inning before Oregon State's Brian Barden led off the frame with a single. Barden (2-3) was the only player for either team with more than one hit.
"I wanted to come back and pitch as well as I could after last week," Guthrie said in reference to his first loss of the season to UCLA last Saturday. "I was able to throw all my pitches for strikes tonight."
"Jeremy Guthrie had a good fastball tonight and had another great performance," added Stanford head coach Mark Marquess.
Stanford increased its lead to 4-0 with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Mario Garza singled up the middle to lead off the inning and moved to third on a double by Arik VanZandt. Sam Fuld then singled home Garza and extended his career-high hitting streak to 13 games, the second longest by a Stanford player this season. VanZandt scored on an RBI fielders choice by Chris O'Riordan, marking the 13th time in the last 14 games that O'Riordan has driven in at least one run.
Oregon State scored its only run in the top of the seventh. Josh Carter singled to lead off the inning and eventually scored on a balk by Guthrie.
Stanford's Andy Topham had his career-high hitting streak snapped at 15 games with an 0-for-3 performance.
Stanford has now won four straight games and 15 of its last 17, while Oregon State has dropped two in a row.
Oregon State's Thad Johnson (4-5) was charged with the loss despite limiting the Cardinal to four runs and seven hits. Johnson struck out six and walked two.
Stanford and Oregon State continue their three-game conference series this Friday (6 pm) and Saturday (1 pm).