Feb. 2, 2002
Stanford, Calif. - Brian Hall had a career-high six RBI, while Tim Cunningham and Drew Ehrlich combined on a seven-hitter to lead No. 1 Stanford (2-0) to a 17-1 rout over No. 15 Cal State Fullerton (0-2) in a NCAA baseball game at Sunken Diamond on Saturday. The victory was Stanford's sixth in a row over the Titans dating back to last season when the Cardinal also knocked off Cal State Fullerton twice in the College World Series. Ryan Garko (4-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) and Jason Cooper (4-4, 4 RBI) each tied career-high hit totals for the Cardinal. Cunningham (1-0) picked up the victory by holding the Titans to one run and five hits over the first 6.0 innings. Ehrlich struck out five and allowed only two hits in 3.0 innings of scoreless relief work to earn the first save of his collegiate career.
"I was just one of several guys on our club that had a big day at the plate today," said Hall. "I felt comfortable at the plate and am seeing the ball well."
"It was just one of those days," said a humble Stanford head coach Mark Marquess about his team's offensive explosion. "Everything we hit just went in the right spot, but obviously I liked the offensive results."
Stanford turned a 3-1 lead into a blowout by scoring nine times in the bottom of the fourth inning with a bases-clearing three-RBI double by Hall the key hit. Chris O'Riordan drove home the first two runs of the inning and Cooper also had a two-RBI single in the frame. The other two runs scored on an RBI-double by Scott Dragicevich and an RBI-single from Andy Topham. Dragicevich and Arik VanZandt both had two hits in the inning.
The Cardinal scored three more times in the bottom of the fifth on a homer by Hall that just cleared the left field fence.
Stanford closed out its scoring on a pair of RBI's by Garko on a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth inning and an RBI-single in the bottom of the eighth.
Cal State Fullerton had scored the first run of the game off Cunningham in the top of the first inning. The Titans loaded the bases with no outs on singles by David Munoz and Chris Stringfellow before Cunningham hit Shane Costa. Munoz scored on an RBI sacrifice fly from Kyle Boyer before Cunningham got out of the inning on a groundball double play by Geoff Comfort.
The Titans held onto a 1-0 lead before Stanford scored three times in the bottom of the third inning on a two-RBI single by Cooper and a sacrifice fly from Carlos Quentin.
VanZandt (3-4, 2 2B) had a three-hit day for the Cardinal, while Dragicevich (2-4, 2B, RBI) and Topham (2-4, RBI) had two hits each.
Cal State Fullerton did not have a player with more than one hit.
Titan starter Jeff Housman (0-1) was tagged with the loss, giving up eight hits and seven runs (five earned) in 3.1 innings.
The 16-run margin of defeat for the Titans was their worst loss in school history as a Division I team, surpassing a pair of previous 14-run losses.
Stanford and Cal State Fullerton conclude their season-opening three-game series on Sunday (1:00 p.m.).