Feb. 12, 2002
Stanford, Calif. - Sam Fuld and Donny Lucy hit their first career home runs and four Stanford pitchers combined on a three-hitter to lift No. 1 Stanford (5-2) to an 8-1 victory over Brigham Young (2-8) in a non-conference game on Tuesday at Sunken Diamond. Tim Cunningham (2-0) picked up the victory by holding the Cougars to one hit over the first 4.0 innings. Three relievers making their first collegiate appearances - Darin Naatjes, David O'Hagan and Jonny Dyer - held Brigham Young to one run and two hits the rest of the way. The four pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts.
"It was good to get some different pitchers into the game," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "These guys have pitched well in practice, but we just haven't been able to get them in a game until now."
Scott Dragicevich (3-3, 2B, 3B) had three hits for the Cardinal and notched his sixth multiple-hit game in the first seven contests. Fuld (2-3, HR, 2 RBI) and Carlos Quentin (2-3, 2 RBI, SB) had two hits each, while Lucy had three RBI.
Lucy has now driven in a team-high 10 runs, all in the last four games.
Fuld opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning.
"It was a big relief to get that monkey off my back," joked Fuld about his first collegiate homer. "It's been in the back of mind, and it's good to get it out of the way. If I can add a little more power to my game that's great, but it's not something I'm going to make a big effort to do."
Stanford's lead remained at 2-0 until the Cardinal erupted for five runs in the bottom of the fifth frame on only three hits. Quentin drove in a pair of runs with a two-RBI single before Lucy knocked a three-run shot over the left field fence to put Stanford ahead 7-0.
The Cardinal scored its final run in the bottom of the eighth inning when Dragicevich led off with Stanford's first triple of the season and scored on Andy Topham's RBI single that extended his team-high hit streak to six games.
Brigham Young picked up its only run of the contest in the top of the seventh. Jake Stubblefield doubled with one out and eventually scored on a two-out RBI single by Lars Birkeland.
The Cougars had no players with more than one hit.
Brigham Young starter Jeff Stone (0-2) was tagged with the loss, allowing seven runs and five hits over the first 4.2 innings.
Stanford will travel to Fresno State for a three-game series this Friday-Sunday, February 15-17 (7:05 pm, 1:05 pm, 1:05 pm, PT).