Feb. 9, 2002
Tallahassee, Fla. - No. 1 Stanford (4-1) rallied for a wild 15-11 win over No. 6 Florida State (6-3) and Cardinal righfielder Carlos Quentin set a new NCAA Division I single game record as he was hit by five pitches in a non-conference game that lasted three hours and 57 minutes at Dick Howser Stadium on Saturday. The Cardinal trailed 7-1 after two innings before taking a 10-7 lead by scoring nine unanswered runs. Florida State regained the lead at 11-10 before Stanford scored five times in the top of the eighth inning for the victory, its fifth straight over the Seminoles. Quentin was hit by pitches in the second, fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings.
"I have kind of mixed feelings," said Quentin. "It's kind of fun to have a (NCAA) record, but it's not too fun to get hit five times."
Ryan Garko led off the eighth inning rally with a single and moved to second when Quentin was hit by his fourth pitch of the contest to tie the NCAA Division record. The Cardinal loaded the bases when losing pitcher Trent Peterson (1-1) made an error on Brian Hall's sacrifice bunt. The Cardinal scored the tying and eventual winning runs when Seminole third baseman Chris Hart misplayed Donny Lucy's ground ball for an error. Lucy was credited with an RBI on the play as pinch-runner Tobin Swope and Quentin both scored. The Cardinal added three more insurance runs with two outs on an RBI single by Chris Carter on his first collegiate hit and a two-RBI double from Chris O'Riordan.
Garko (3-4, HR, 3 RBI) led four Stanford players with three hits, including a tape measure home run in the fifth inning that ignited the Cardinal and cut the Seminole lead to 7-5. Lucy (3-6, 2B, SB, 3 RBI) had his second consecutive three-RBI game, while O'Riordan (3-6, 2 2B, 2 RBI) and Sam Fuld (3-6) also had three hits each. Scott Dragicevich (2-6, 2B, RBI) had his fifth straight two-hit contest, while Andy Topham had two RBI and a stolen base.
John Hudgins (1-0) was credited with the victory, scattering three runs and three hits with a career-high-tying six strikeouts over the final 4.0 innings. Drew Ehrlich also had an effective middle relief stint, limiting the Seminoles to two runs and two hits with four strikeouts in 4.0 innings.
"I'm very proud of the way we came back against a quality team in a tough place to play," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "The three-run homer by Ryan Garko really got us back in the game."
"(Our comeback) goes to show what an experienced team we have," added Garko. "There's no quit in this team. We've been through games like this before. We know we can swing the bat."
Florida State scored seven runs in the first two innings to jump out to a 7-1 lead. The Seminoles chased Cardinal starter Tim Cunningham before he could record an out in the second inning. Cunningham allowed six runs (three earned) and six hits in 1.0 plus innings.
Cunningham had two outs and only one runner on base in the bottom of the first inning before Florida State rallied for three unearned runs after a two-out error by Topham on a ground ball at third base. Tony McQuade drove home the first two Seminole runs in the inning with a two-out, two-RBI single and Blair McCaleb followed with an RBI single. Dragicevich stopped an even potentially bigger inning for the Seminoles when he dove to snag a groundball by Scott Toole and forced Mike Futrell out at second base to end the inning.
Stanford scored a run in the top of the second on a two-out RBI double by Dragicevich before the Seminoles rallied for four more runs in the bottom of the second inning. Bryan Zech and Kevin Richmond led off the frame with back-to-back doubles for Florida State's first run of the inning and Nick Rogers followed with an RBI single to end Cunningham's afternoon. Ehrlich allowed a wild pitch and walked the first two batters he faced to allow another Seminole run and pinch hitter Jerrod Brown drove home the final run of the inning with a sacrifice fly.Stanford began its comeback with a single run in the top of the fourth inning when Dragicevich singled with two outs and scored on an RBI double by Topham.
Stanford tied the score at 7-7 by scoring five runs in the top of the fifth inning. O'Riordan and Fuld led off the inning with back-to-back singles before Garko hit his tape measure three-run homer to left field to cut the Seminole lead to 7-5 and chase Florida State starter Matt Lynch. Reliever Daniel Hodges hit Quentin to start another Cardinal rally and Lucy closed the gap to 7-6 with an RBI double off the leftcenter field fence. A pair of Florida State errors by Toole at shortstop and first baseman Ryan Barthelemy contributed to the final Stanford run of the inning, which scored when pinch hitter Jonny Ash beat out a potential inning-ending double play ball for an RBI fielders choice.
Stanford scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 10-7 lead. Fuld and Garko led off the inning with back-to-back singles to chase Hodges. Quentin was then hit for the third time in the game by Peterson to load the bases. Lucy had an RBI single that was sandwiched between RBI fielders choices by Hall and Topham to score the three Cardinal runs.Florida State tied the score at 10-10 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Tony Richie connected for a three-run homer to left field with two outs and regained the lead, 11-10, in the bottom of the seventh when Hart rolled a two-out RBI single through the left side of the infield.
Richie (2-4, HR, 3 RBI), Zech (2-4, 2 2B) and Rogers (2-5, 2B, RBI) had two hits each for the Seminoles, while McQuade had a pair of RBI. Barthelemy extended his career-high hitting streak to 27 games with a single in the first inning.
The game featured nine doubles, five by the Cardinal and four by the Seminoles.
Stanford and Florida State conclude the three-game series on Sunday (1 pm, ET).