May 26, 2001
Stanford, CA - Behind a four-run sixth inning, No. 3 seed Texas (36-24)defeated No. 1 seed Stanford (43-15) 4-3 in Game 4 of the Palo AltoRegional at Sunken Diamond. Texas advances to a possible regionalchampionship game Sunday at 1 p.m., where the Longhorns will face thewinner of an elimination game between Stanford and Marist Saturday at7:30 p.m. PST.
"We had that one inning where we got a rally going, and we sustainedit--we had some timely hitting...and that proved to be the difference,"said Texas head coach Augie Garrido.
"I don't think it surprised people on our team. This is a team that'smatured during the season, we've had 13 one-run losses and we're betternow than we were at the beginning of the season."
The Longhorns were down 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth when MattRosenberg singled to center to lead off. After advancing to second on awild pitch, Jeff Ontiveros doubled down the right field line to tie thescore at 1-1. Sam Anderson followed with a home run to left center tomake the score 3-1, and Tim Moss added an RBI single later in the inningto give the Longhorns a 4-1 lead.
The Cardinal began a rally in the top of the eighth after Ryan Garkosingled to center and Jason Cooper doubled off the wall in right center.With two outs, Jonny Ash sliced a double down the left field line toscore both runners and bring Stanford within one run, however, ScottDragicevich struck out to end the inning, leaving the tying run strandedon second.
Stanford had one last chance in the top of the ninth, after ArikVanZandt singled to right field and moved to second after Chris O'Riordan was hit by a Ray Clark pitch. The Cardinal came up short whenSam Fuld hit a deep flyout to right center, and then Ryan Garko bouncedinto a fielder's choice at third to end the game.
Texas starter Albert Montes got the win in his first start since April21 to improve to 7-5, giving up three runs while scattering eightStanford hits, striking out four and walking one.
Stanford starter Mike Gosling saw his unbeaten streak stopped at sevenstarts, as he took the loss to fall to 7-1. Gosling gave up all fourTexas runs and 11 hits total, while striking out five and walking one.The Texas offense was led by Ontiveros, who went 3-for-4 with twodoubles and an RBI, along with Anderson, who was 1-for-3 with his 2-runhome run. Kalani Napoleon had two hits to extend his hitting streak tonine games.
Johnny Ash carried the Cardinal attack with a career-high three RBIduring his 2-for-4 game. Ryan Garko was the only other Stanford playerwith more than one hit, adding a pair of singles to extend his hittingstreak to 17 games while scoring twice. Chris O'Riordan had one hit toextend his own hitting streak to 10 games.
BATTERIES: Texas - Montes, Clark (8), Jordan (9) and Anderson. Stanford- Gosling, McCally (8) and Garko.
WIN - Montes (7-5), LOSS - Gosling (7-1), SAVE - Jordan (3).
HR'S: Texas - Anderson (2nd, 2-run in 6th).
TOG - 2:42, ATTN - 3346
UPDATED RECORDS: Texas (36-24), Stanford (43-15).