May 18, 2001
Pullman, Wash. - No. 7 Stanford (40-14, 15-7 Pac-10) blasted a season-high six homers in a 14-6 win at Washington State (15-37, 6-16 Pac-10) in a Pac-10 baseball game at Bailey-Brayton Field on Friday. Scott Dragicevich, Carlos Quentin, Chris O'Riordan, Andy Topham, Arik VanZandt and Ryan Garko all homered for the Cardinal. Stanford remained 2.0 games behind USC in the Pac-10 race as the Trojans pulled out a 7-3 win in 10 innings at Oregon State. The Cardinal will need a pair of wins at Washington State the next two days combined with a pair of USC losses in the Trojans' final two games at Oregon State to earn a co-Pac-10 title. Stanford's 40th win of the year marked the seventh consecutive season the Cardinal has posted 40 or more victories. Jeremy Guthrie (10-4) earned the victory to become the first Cardinal pitcher to win 10 games this season. Guthrie gave up a season-high 13 hits and five runs but allowed only two earned runs in 6.1 innings, striking out six and walking one.
"It was good to get a lot of guys involved offensively," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess.
Six Cardinal players - Garko (2-3, HR, 3 RBI), Sam Fuld (2-4, 2B, RBI), Dragicevich (2-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI), VanZandt (2-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI), O'Riordan (2-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) and Quentin (2-5, HR, 2 RBI) - had two hits each.
Garko extended his career-high hitting streak to 13 games.
"It's fun when most everybody in the lineup has success offensively," added Garko.
Stanford's onslaught of home runs began in the second inning with a two-run homer by Dragicevich. O'Riordan followed later in the frame with another two-run homer, his 10th long ball of the season, to give Stanford a 4-0 lead.
Washington State got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning when Brent Robertson doubled, moved to third base on a fly ball hit by Justin Williams and scored on a passed ball by Garko.
Quentin hit his team-leading 11th homer in the third inning, a two-run shot to increase Stanford's lead to 6-1.
Topham led off the top of the fourth inning with a solo homer. Stanford also took advantage of an error by Robertson at third base to score two more unearned runs in the frame and take a 9-1 lead. The runs scored on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Fuld and Garko.
Washington State began a comeback with a single run in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI single by Stefan Bailie.
The Cougars closed the gap to 9-5 with three unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth frame. Robertson reached first base to lead off the inning on a fielding error by Guthrie. Williams and Jon Baeder then singled to load the bases with no outs. Guthrie struck out Richard Hall for the first out. Guthrie then induced Evan Hecker to hit a ground ball to VanZandt at first base. However, Dragicevich dropped VanZandt's throw at second base on the front end of a possible double play. Stanford was credited with an out at second base on the play as Dragicevich was ruled to have dropped the ball after making the putout. The Cougars picked up a run on the play and added two more runs on a two-out, two-RBI double by Mike Knight.
Washington State threatened again in the bottom of the seventh as pinch-hitter Tyson Boston and Robertson singled back-to-back to knock Guthrie out of the game. Reliever Mike Wodnicki got Stanford out of the jam by forcing Williams into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
Wodnicki pitched the final 2.2 innings to earn his team-leading fifth save of the season, allowing only a solo homer by Bailie with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Stanford added five insurance runs and its final two homers in the top of the eighth inning. VanZandt brought home the first three runs with a homer before Garko hit a two-run blast.
Bailie's ninth inning homer, his 17th long ball of the season, finished the scoring.
Bailie (3-5, HR, 2 RBI) led Washington State's 14-hit offensive attack. Robertson (2-4, 2B),
Williams (2-4), Knight (2-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI) and Bookie Gates (2-5) added two hits each.Garrett Alwert (2-6) suffered the loss for the Cougars, giving up seven hits and nine runs (seven earned) in 4.0 innings.
Stanford has won seven of its last nine games, while Washington State has dropped 13 of its last 14.
Stanford will continue its final series of the 2001 regular season at Washington State on Saturday, May 19 (1 pm) before concluding its 2001 regular season on Sunday, May 20 (1 pm).The Cardinal will begin post-season play as one of 16 regional hosts for the 2001 NCAA Division I Baseball Championships. The NCAA Regional at Sunken Diamond runs next Friday-Sunday, May 25-27. The entire 64-team field for the 2001 NCAA Division I Baseball Championships will be announced live on ESPN on Monday, May 21 (12 pm, PDT).