May 26, 2001
Stanford, CA - No. 1 seed Stanford avoided elimination from an NCAA Regional with a 6-0 victory over No.4 seed Marist Saturday night at Sunken Diamond. The Cardinal will now face No. 3 seed Texas in the Regional championship game Sunday at 1 p.m. If Stanford wins that contest, a second championship game will follow on Sunday. Stanford will be attempting to win an NCAA Regional for the third straight year, and its 11th overall.
In his first start since May 9 at USF, Stanford pitcher Tim Cunningham (6-0) threw 8.0 shutout innings to earn the win, striking out a career-high nine batters while scattering seven hits and two walks. Ryan McCally closed out the shutout b pitching a perfect ninth. The shutout was Stanford's first in the postseason since Jason Young outdueled USC's Barry Zito 1-0 in an NCAA Super Regional game on June 4, 1999. The shutout was also Stanford's first in a regional game since the Cardinal defeated Campbell, 7-0, on May 24, 1990. The shutout was Stanford's eighth of the 2001 campaign.
Sam Fuld (4-5, 2B, 2 RBI) led the Cardinal offense with a career-high-tying four hits, while Jonny Ash (3-5, 2B) also tied a career high with three hits. Ryan Garko extended his career-high hitting streak to 18 games with two doubles and two RBI in a 3-for-4 performance. Andy Topham was 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base.
Fuld and Garko doubled back-to-back with one out in the top of the first inning in a game during which Stanford never trailed.
Stanford extended its lead to 2-0 in the top of the fifth when Fuld's two-out RBI single scored Topham, who had led off the inning with a single and stolen second base to move into scoring position.
Topham and Fuld teamed up again in the bottom of the seventh inning as Topham led off the frame with a double and scored on another RBI single by Fuld to give the Cardinal a 3-0 lead.Ash led off the eighth inning with a single and scored on Arik VanZandt's two-out RBI single.The Cardinal concluded its scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning. Fuld led off the inning with a single and scored on an RBI double by Garko. Garko took third on the throwing attempt to put Fuld out at the plate and scored on the same play on an error by Marist catcher Ben Cueto.
Anthony Bocchino was the only Marist player with more than one hit, going 2-for-3. Ryan Kondratowicz took the loss for the Red Foxes, dropping his record to 4-2. Marist concludes its season with a 33-21-1 record.