June 7, 2002
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Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (44-16) moved to within one victory of its fourth straight College World Series appearance and remained unbeaten in the postseason after a 4-2 win over USC (37-23) in the first game of a best-of-three NCAA Super Regional on Friday before a packed house of 4,092 at Sunken Diamond. The Cardinal extended its season-high win streak to eight games as Jeremy Guthrie (12-1) carried a shutout into the eighth inning to record the victory. Guthrie won for the sixth time in his last six outings, leaving the game after giving up just four hits and two runs with six strikeouts in eight complete innings. He also improved to 5-0 all-time in the postseason with a 2.15 ERA.
"Jeremy is our workhorse, our go-to guy and has been for two years," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "He always give us a chance to win and that's what you need to have a good team and a good season, a good number one starter. He couldn't come up any bigger than he has in his last six starts at Stanford."
Dan Rich gave up only a two-out single to pinch-hitter Nick Mosich in the top of the ninth before recording his fourth save of the year and his second in the post-season.
Carlos Quentin hit his first career post-season home run, a two-run shot over the left field wall in the bottom of the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie. Chris Carter (2-3, HR, RBI) hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth and Ryan Garko (2-3, RBI) drove home the other Cardinal run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth.
USC scored both of its runs on a two-run homer by Michael Moon with one out in the top of the eighth inning that briefly cut Stanford's lead to 3-2.
The Trojans advanced a runner as far as second base in only two others innings. In the second, USC had runners on second and third with one out before Guthrie retired the final two batters on a fielders choice and a ground out. In the seventh, USC put runners on first and second with two outs before Guthrie struck out Michael Morales.
Guthrie improved to 25-5 in his Stanford career with the victory, moving him into a tie for seventh on the school's all-time won-loss percentage list and a tie for ninth on Stanford's all-time win list.
"I just try to take the same approach every game," said Guthrie, who has tossed at least 6.0 innings in all 18 of his starts this season. "The postseason takes care of itself. It's just like any other start."
The victory was Stanford's 100th career post-season win (100-49) and the Cardinal improved to 7-2 all-time in Super Regional games. Stanford also improved to 28-4 at Sunken Diamond this season.
The teams will continue Super Regional action on Saturday (1 pm, PDT). A Stanford victory would put the Cardinal into the College World Series, while a USC win would force a third and deciding game of the Super Regional on Sunday (1 pm, PDT). Stanford, which has won six of the seven meetings between the teams this season, is scheduled to start lefthanded junior Tim Cunningham on Saturday. USC, which had its overall six-game win streak snapped on Friday, is scheduled to pitch lefthanded junior Cory Campos.