Feb. 16, 2002
Fresno, Calif. - Fresno State (4-5) jumped out to an early lead and held on for a 7-5 victory over No. 1 Stanford (6-3) in a non-conference baseball game at Beiden Field on Saturday. The Bulldogs ran out to a 5-0 lead after scoring a run in the bottom of the second inning and four more in the third. Ben Fritz (2-1) picked up the win on the mound and hit a home run for the Bulldogs. Mike Hernandez relieved Fritz in the eighth inning to get the Bulldogs out of a jam, retiring all four batters he faced and earning his first save of the season. Fritz allowed five runs and scattered 13 hits over the first 7.2 innings.
Sam Fuld (4-4, RBI) tied a career-high with four hits for the Cardinal.
Chris Patrick (3-5, 2B) had three hits for the Bulldogs, while Fritz (2-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI), Carl Lipsey (2-4, 2 RBI) and Tobey Riday-White (2-4, RBI, SB) added two hits each. Eight of Fresno State's nine starters had at least one of Fresno State's 13 hits.
Chris Carter (2-3, 2 2B) and Jason Cooper (2-4, RBI) had a pair of hits for the Cardinal as eight of nine starters also had at least one of the team's 13 hits.
"Fresno State got some hits in some big spots today, and we didn't," explained Stanford head coach Mark Marquess after the contest.
Stanford starter Mark Jecmen (0-3) suffered the loss, allowing four runs and five hits in 2.0 plus innings. Drew Ehrlich came on in relief in the third inning and stayed on the mound for the remainder of the game to chalk up the longest relief stint of the year for the Cardinal. Ehrlich allowed three runs and scattered eight hits with career highs of six strikeouts and 6.0 innings.
Fresno State picked up a run in the bottom of the second inning to begin the scoring. Casey McGehee walked to lead off the inning and moved to second on a single by Riday-White. McGehee eventually moved to third base on a groundout by Jordan Prieto and scored on an RBI groundout by T.J. Boyd.
The Bulldogs scored four times in the bottom of the third inning to take a commanding 5-0 lead. Brendon Suga singled to lead off the inning and moved to second base on a throwing error by Jecmen. Patrick then singled to put runners on first and third before Lipsey's RBI-single ended Jecmen's afternoon. Fritz greeted Ehrlich with an RBI double before the final two runs scored on a sacrifice fly from McGehee and an RBI-single by Riday-White.
Stanford got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning when Chris O'Riordan led off the inning with a single and eventually scored on an RBI single by Cooper.
Fresno State scored another run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Patrick doubled with two outs and scored on Lipsey's RBI-single.
Stanford cut the lead to 6-3 with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning. Carter and Scott Dragicevich led off the inning with back-to-back doubles for the first Cardinal score. Dragicevich eventually came around to score on an RBI single by Fuld but the Cardinal inning ended when Ryan Garko hit into his second inning-ending double play of the afternoon.
Fresno State responded with its final run of the game when Fritz led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo homer to left field.
Stanford scored twice in the top of the eighth inning to cut the lead to 7-5. Fuld, Garko and Cooper led off the inning with three consecutive singles to load the bases. Fuld scored on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Quentin and the final run scored on Donny Lucy's RBI-fielders choice. However, Hernandez relieved Fritz and forced pinch hitter Brian Hall into a groundout to end the Stanford threat before retiring the side in order in the ninth.
Stanford and Fresno State will conclude their current series with the rubber game on Sunday (1:05 p.m.).