April 3, 2001
San Jose, Calif. - Scott Dragicevich's two-out, two-RBI single in the top of the 10th inning led #1 Stanford (25-6) to a 5-3 extra-inning victory over San Jose State (17-13-1) in a non-conference game on Tuesday at Municipal Stadium. Stanford, which had its season-high 10-game win streak snapped in a 6-5 loss at former #6 Arizona State last Sunday, has now won 23 of its last 26 games.
Dragicevich singled through the left side of the Spartans' infield on a 0-1 pitch from losing pitcher Jeremy Rogelstad (2-3) to score Chris O'Riordan and Sam Fuld. O'Riordan led off the 10th inning with a single and moved to third base with no outs on Fuld's double down the right field line. Rogelstad retired Jason VanMeetren on a popup for the first out before intentionally walking Cardinal cleanup hitter Carlos Quentin to load the bases with one out. Rogelstad forced Andy Topham to foul out for the second out of the inning before Dragicevich's game-winner.
"I knew he was going to come after me because he didn't have any open bases," said Dragicevich. "The pitch I hit was a slider, and I was able to get the barrel of the bat on it."Stanford reliever Mike Wodnicki (2-1) picked up the victory with 3.1 innings of scoreless two-hit relief, striking out three.
"This was a nice way to win a ballgame," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess following the victory.
Both teams had runners in scoring position late in the game prior to Stanford's rally in the 10th inning but were unable to score.
San Jose State's John Fagan led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a single and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Zack Zwissig before Wodnicki retired the final two batters of the inning on a fly out to left field and a strike out.
Stanford's Arik VanZandt singled with one out in the top of the ninth. With two outs, VanZandt stole second base and advanced to third when Spartan catcher Mark Bautista threw the ball into centerfield on the play. VanZandt then tried to score from third base on a ball in the dirt that bounced away from Bautista but was thrown out at home plate to end Stanford's threat.
O'Riordan (3-5, HR, RBI), who homered on the first pitch of the game, led the Cardinal offense. VanZandt (2-4, RBI, SB), Dragicevich (2-5, 2 RBI) and Fuld (2-5, 2B) added two hits each as the Cardinal totaled 13 hits. Quentin and Topham both extended their career-high hitting streaks to 11 games, while Fuld and VanMeetren extended their hitting streaks to eight games.
Zwissig (2-3, 2B), Junior Ruiz (2-4, RBI) and Kevin Frandsen (HR, 2 RBI) led the Spartans' offense.
O'Riordan gave the Cardinal a 1-0 advantage with his homer to lead off the game, the third time he has led off a game with a home run this season. O'Riordan also scored Stanford's second run when he singled with one out in the top of the third inning and eventually scored on an RBI single by Quentin.
Stanford extended its lead to 3-0 in the top of the sixth inning. Topham led off the inning with a bad-hop single that bounced over the head of Spartan shortstop Ryan Adams and moved to second on a single by Brian Hall, before scoring on VanZandt's RBI single.
San Jose State tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring three times after two outs. Frandsen put the Spartans on the scoreboard with a two-run homer to cut Stanford's lead to 3-2. The Spartans then strung together three straight singles following Frandsen's homer as Ruiz brought home Gabe Lopez to finish the Spartans' rally.
Stanford starter Mike Gosling pitched 5.0 effective innings, holding the Spartans scoreless on four hits. Gosling equaled his season-high with six strikeouts and allowed only one walk.Stanford played another errorless game, its fifth in its last six contests and 15th in 31 games this season.
Stanford returns to Pac-10 play by hosting UCLA in a Pac-10 series at Sunken Diamond next Friday-Sunday, April 6-8 (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm).