April 24, 2001
Stanford, Calif. - Sophomore catcher Ryan Garko hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the third inning to lift No. 3 Stanford (33-10) to a 4-3 victory over San Jose State (24-17-1) in a non-conference game played in front of a crowd of 1,957 on a warm evening at Sunken Diamond on Tuesday, giving the Cardinal a two-game sweep in the season series between the teams. The victory came in the first game the Cardinal has played out of the top spot in the Baseball America poll after six weeks at No. 1. Stanford returns to Pac-10 action with a three-game series at local Bay Area rival California (24-21, 9-9 Pac-10) this Friday-Sunday, April 27-29 (2:30 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PDT).
Garko (2-3, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) and Sam Fuld (2-3) had a pair of hits each for the Cardinal. Starter Mike Wodnicki (4-1), the first of five Stanford pitchers, held the Spartans hitless in the first three innings and was credited with the victory. J.D. Willcox pitched two hitless innings to earn his third save of the season. The victory was the second in a row for Stanford after suffering through its first three-game losing streak of the season last week. Junior Ruiz (2-3, 3B) had a pair of hits for the Spartans, while Brandon Macchi and Zack Zwissig both homered.
"I've just been trying to drive the ball better lately," said Garko, who is now hitting a team-high .420 over his last 15 games. "On the home run tonight, I was just able to get my hands inside the ball and hit it well."
"It was a good game tonight," added Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "We got good pitching performances and obviously Ryan Garko's hit was the difference."
Garko's home run over the left center field fence came with the Cardinal leading 1-0 and two outs in the bottom of the third inning.
Stanford had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Fuld and Chris O'Riordan led off the inning with back-to-back singles with Fuld coming around to score on a sacrifice fly by Jason Cooper.
San Jose State cut the margin to 4-3 in the top of the fourth inning when Macchi and Zwissig homered back-to-back. Macchi's was a two-run blast, while Zwissig hit a solo shot.
Neither team scored after the top of the fourth inning. The Stanford bullpen held the Spartans to only one hit and did not allow a runner to reach second base over the final five innings.
Both teams left six runners on base.