April 22, 2001
LOS ANGELES - Top-ranked Stanford (32-10, 11-4 Pac-10) moved back into sole possession of first place and avoided a sweep with a 9-5 victory over No. 8 USC (29-14, 10-5 Pac-10) in the final game of a Pac-10 series at Dedeaux Field on Sunday. Mike Goslingthrew his first career complete game and Chris O'Riordan tied a career-high with four RBI to help the Cardinal snap a season-high three-game losing streak. The Trojans had won the first two games of the series. Gosling shut the Trojans out for the final six innings and retired 13 straight batters from the fourth through eighth innings. Stanford tallied 16 hits as all nine starters picked up at least one each. Jason VanMeetren (3-5) led the way with five other players - O'Riordan (2-3, 4 RBI, SB), Sam Fuld (2-4, 2B, RBI), Jason Cooper (2-5, HR, 2 RBI), Ryan Garko (2-5, 2B, RBI) and Scott Dragicevich (2-5) - picking up two hits apiece.
"At least we get to leave here in first place," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "They had us on the ropes with a 5-2 lead after three innings but Gosling did a great job by putting up six straight zeros on the board."
"I just wanted to pitch well and allow us to get back in the game," said Gosling.
Stanford rallied from an early 5-2 deficit to avoid the sweep with three runs in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game and two more in the sixth to take the lead.
The Cardinal tied the game in the fifth with three unearned runs. Arik VanZandt led off the inning by reaching second base on a throwing error by Trojan second baseman Jon Brewster, his first error of the season. VanZandt moved to third base on a balk and scored on a one-out RBI single by O'Riordan, who then stole his team-high 14th base to get into scoring position before scoring on a two-out RBI single by Cooper. Garko hit a double off the top of the center field wall to bring home Cooper and tie the game at 5-5.
Stanford took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. Fuld's RBI double to right field gave Stanford a 6-5 lead by scoring VanMeetren, who had singled to lead off the inning and moved to second base on a throwing error by Trojan left fielder Josh Persell. Fuld then moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on O'Riordan's first sacrifice fly of the afternoon.
Stanford added an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning on O'Riordan's second sacrifice fly, the first time a Stanford player has hit a pair of sacrifice flies in a game this season. Stanford picked up its final run on a solo homer by Cooper in the top of the ninth inning.
USC starter Anthony Reyes (1-3) suffered the loss, giving up 11 hits and seven runs (four earned) over the first 6.0 innings.
Quentin put Stanford on the scoreboard in the first inning with a solo homer down the right field line that just cleared the glove of leaping USC right fielder Michael Morales.
USC tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning. Alberto Concepcion doubled with one out and moved to third on throwing error by Quentin. Bill Peavey singled up the middle to score Concepcion.
Stanford answered back with a run in the top of the third inning to retake a 2-1 lead. Arik VanZandt doubled to lead off the inning and the Cardinal had runners on first and third after a bunt single by Fuld. O'Riordan then singled to right field to score VanZandt. Fuld was throwing out trying to go from first to third on O'Riordan's single and Reyes worked his way out of the jam without any further damage.
USC scored four times in the bottom of the third inning to take a 5-2 lead. Persell's two-RBI double scored Morales and Seth Davidson for the Trojans' first two runs of the frame. Concepcion doubled home Persell and then came around to score on an RBI single by Bill Peavey. The inning ended when Peavey was picked off after rounding first base too far on his RBI single.
Concepcion (2-4, 2 2B, RBI), Peavey (2-4, 2 RBI) and Persell (2 RBI) led USC's offensive attack.
Stanford returns home to host San Jose State in a non-conference game next Tuesday, April 24 (6 pm, PDT) before resuming Pac-10 action with a three-game series at California (25-19, 10-8 Pac-10) next Friday-Sunday, April 27-29 (2:30 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PDT).