Feb. 10, 2002
Tallahassee, Fla. - Mike Futrell hit three homers and Blair Varnes picked up the victory in his first career relief appearance to help No. 6 Florida State (7-3) avoid a sweep with a 7-6 victory over No. 1 Stanford (4-2) in the final game of a three-game series at Dick Howser Stadium on Saturday. Stanford trailed 7-4 heading into the top of the ninth before a two-run homer by Chris O'Riordan cut the lead to 7-6. Sam Fuld singled to bring the go-ahead run to the plate but was cut down attempting to steal second for the final out.
Florida State trailed 4-1 before scoring four times in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 5-4 lead. Futrell started the Seminole rally with a solo homer to rightcenter field with one out. The Seminoles then scored three more runs on a passed ball and a two-RBI single from Ryan Barthelemy that extended his career-high hitting streak to 28 games.
Futrell hit his second homer of the game to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning and gave the Seminoles another insurance run they would eventually need with a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning.
"The three home runs by Futrell and their big fifth inning were the obvious keys to victory," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess.
Stanford opened the game with two runs in the top of the first inning on a two-RBI single by Jason Cooper with one out, scoring O'Riordan and Fuld who had opened the game with a single and double to put runners on second and third base.
Florida State answered back with a run in the bottom of the first. Nick Rogers started a two-out rally with a single and moved to second base when pitcher Mark Jecmen's pickoff throw skipped by Cardinal first baseman Donny Lucy. Jecmen then walked Barthelemy and Tony Richie singled home Rogers.
Stanford scored a run in the top of the fourth inning to extend its lead to 3-1. Carlos Quentin led off the inning with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI ground ball by Lucy. The Cardinal had a runner thrown out at the plate to the end inning when Scott Dragicevich, running on a 3-2 pitch, tried to score all the way from first base on a single to deep leftcenter field by Andy Topham.
Stanford increased its margin to 4-1 in the top of the fifth inning. Cooper doubled home Ryan Garko, who began a two-out rally when he was hit by a pitch and stole second base, the first of his collegiate career.
Futrell (3-4, 3 HR, 3 RBI), Richie (2-4, RBI) and Jerrod Brown (2-4) led the Florida State offense.
Fuld (3-5, 2B, RBI), Cooper (2-3, 2B, 3 RBI), O'Riordan (2-4, HR, 2 RBI) and Quentin (2-4, 2B) paced the Cardinal offensive attack.
Varnes allowed three hits in 3.1 innings of relief to earn his first victory of the season, while Eric Roman was credited with his second save by working the final 1.1 innings.
Jecmen (0-2) suffered the loss for Stanford, allowing five runs (three earned) and five hits before being removed with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jecmen struck out six batters.
Stanford will next return to Sunken Diamond for a game versus Brigham Young on Tuesday, February 12 (6:00 p.m.).