April 24, 2002
Stanford, Calif. - No. 4 Stanford (28-10) rallied from a five-run deficit for a 6-5 comeback victory over Sacramento State (15-24) in a non-conference game at Sunken Diamond on Wednesday. Carlos Quentin's three-run homer down the left field line in the bottom of the seventh inning capped the Stanford comeback, marking the 14th time in 28 wins the Cardinal has come from behind to win this season. Sam Fuld (3-4, RBI) and Andy Topham (3-4) had three hits each for the Cardinal, while Quentin was 2-4 with a double, homer and three RBI. Fuld extended his string of consecutive multiple-hit games to six.
Darin Naatjes (3-0) recorded the victory with 2.1 scoreless innings of middle relief, while Ryan McCally picked up his team-leading fifth save of the season by pitching a perfect ninth inning.
"It was good to get a win today," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "This team has been resilient and shown that it can come from behind all season long."
"I was just happy that we won," added Quentin. "It was a good experience for us to be able to come back for this win. This team has the ability to come from behind."
The Cardinal trailed 5-0 before beginning its comeback with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut the Hornet lead to 5-2. Topham, Arik VanZandt, O'Riordan and Fuld had four consecutive singles to bring home the two Cardinal runs with O'Riordan and Fuld both registering RBI.
O'Riordan extended his hit streak to a new career-high 12 games with his RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning and has now reached base at least once in all 38 games this season, while hitting safely in 35 of 38 contests. He has also started 149 consecutive games at second base dating back to the 2000 campaign.
Stanford added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Quentin doubled to lead off the inning and scored on an RBI single by Chris Carter.
Fuld started Stanford's three-run seventh with a bunt single and reached second base when a throw by Hornet reliever Steve Cuckovich hit Fuld in the helmet and bounced down the right field line. Ryan Garko walked and both runners moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Danny Putnam before Quentin's homer.
Cuckovich (1-2) took the loss, allowing three runs and two hits in 2.0 innings of relief. Sacramento State starter Marshall Plouffe received no decision, scattering 10 hits and three runs over the first 6.0 innings before leaving with a 5-3 lead.
David O'Hagan, the sixth of seven Stanford pitchers, retired all three batters he faced in the eighth to set up McCally's save.
Sacramento State broke open a scoreless game with five runs after two outs in the top of the fifth inning. Ryan Brown started the rally with a one-out double down the left field line, stole third base and scored on a two-out RBI single by Everet Rincon. The Hornets then took advantage of three consecutive walks to score their second run of the frame before Joe Evans singled home a pair of runs to make the score 4-0. Sacramento State scored its final run of the inning on an RBI single by Mario Celillo.
Rincon (2-4, RBI, SB) picked up a pair of hits for the Hornets, while Evans had two RBI.Stanford collected 11 hits, marking the 27th time the team has recorded double digit hits this season. The Cardinal left seven runners on base, while Sacramento State stranded six.
Stanford improved to 5-0 in midweek non-conference games and 8-3 in one-run games with the victory. The Cardinal also avenged a 12-3 loss at Sacramento State last year in defeating the Hornets for the ninth time in the last 10 meetings between the clubs.
Stanford returns to Pac-10 action with a three-game series at Oregon State this Friday-Sunday, April 26-28 (6 pm, 4 pm, 1 pm, PT). Stanford is currently tied for third place in the Pac-10 with a 5-4 conference record, 2.5 games behind league leader USC (9-3 Pac-10).