May 10, 2002
Stanford, Calif. - Jeremy Guthrie tossed his third straight complete game while Ryan Garko and Andy Topham each hit two-run homers to lift No. 7 Stanford (34-13, 10-6 Pac-10) to a 5-3 victory over Arizona State (27-17, 9-7 Pac-10) in the opening game of a three-game series at Sunken Diamond. The victory in front of 3621 fans moved Stanford into a second place tie in the Pac-10 standings with Washington, 2.0 games behind first place USC (12-4 Pac-10) as the Trojans were a 4-1 winner over Washington in Los Angeles on Friday. Stanford equaled its season-high win streak with its fifth straight victory and won a series opener for the 12th time in 14 attempts this season. The Cardinal also improved to 20-3 at Sunken Diamond.
Guthrie struck out eight and scattered eight hits with only one walk, giving up just one hit after a game-tying three-run homer by Jeff Larish in the top of the sixth inning.
"Hopefully I'm in the position where I have thrown well enough and is our team is winning that I can be in there toward the end of the game," said Guthrie. "The goal is not to throw a complete game but tonight was a close game, and I really wanted to be in there to finish it off."
Topham answered with his two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth and Guthrie retired the final seven batters he faced.
"This was a huge win for us," said Topham. "If we play well this weekend, we can put ourselves in a good position in the conference standings."
"Jeremy Guthrie gave us a great pitching performance tonight," added Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "Offensively, we've been fortunate to get some big home runs recently and tonight we were able to do it again."
Sam Fuld (2-4, RBI) continued his hot streak for the Cardinal, picking up his eighth straight multiple-hit game and his 14th multiple-hit game in the last 15 contests, raising his team-high batting average to .378. Fuld is 34-for-63 (.540) over his last 15 games. Carlos Quentin (2-3, SB) added two hits for the Cardinal and stole his 10th base of the season.
Stanford stole four bases, including Brian Hall's team-leading 11th stolen base of the year in 11 attempts.
Larish (2-4, HR, 3 RBI) was the only Arizona State player with more than one hit.
Stanford scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning on a two-out RBI single by Fuld to score Chris O'Riordan, who had reached on a fielders choice and stole second base to move into scoring position.
Stanford extended its lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth on a deep two-run homer over the left field fence by Garko, his team-leading 12th of the season and third in the last two games.
"I'm just trying to go up to the plate and not get cheated," said Garko. "I'm trying to take good swings every time I go to the plate."
Arizona State tied the score at 3-3 in the top of the sixth on the three-run homer by Larish to right field before Topham's two-run shot finished the scoring.
Arizona State reliever Carlos Arguello (1-1) suffered the loss, allowing two runs and two hits in 2.0 innings.
Arizona State left seven runners on base, while the Cardinal stranded six.
Stanford and Arizona State resume the three-game series on Saturday (1 pm, PDT).