April 9, 2002
Stanford, Calif. - No. 2 Stanford (23-7) scored four times in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 5-4 comeback win over San Jose State (26-12) in a non-conference game at Sunken Diamond on Tuesday. Jason Cooper hit a three-run homer to right field with two outs and Danny Putnam followed two batters later with a pinch-hit RBI double to score Carlos Quentin with the eventual game-winning run. Jonny Dyer (2-0) picked up the victory and Darin Naatjes pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his second save of the season. Stanford won for the 15th time in its last 18 games, while San Jose State has dropped three of its last four. The Cardinal also extended its winning streak over the Spartans to four in a row.
"We were very fortunate that on two swings in the eighth inning we got four runs," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "Jason Cooper is dangerous with lots of power. He struck out twice earlier in the game, but he can hurt you with one swing and that's what he did."
"To be able to come through in a spot like that, there's no better feeling," said Cooper, who was hitless in his first three at bats and struck out in the fourth and sixth innings. "I struggled in my first three at bats and then to come through made my night."
"I was hoping I could pull through for the team in a big spot," added Putnam.
Stanford is currently one and a half games behind first place USC (19-14, 5-1 Pac-10) in the Pac-10 standings and will host the Trojans in a three-game series at Sunken Diamond this Friday-Sunday, April 12-14 (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PT). Saturday's game will be televised by FOX.
Chris O'Riordan started Stanford's eighth inning rally with a one-out single and moved to second on a walk to Ryan Garko before Cooper went deep. Quentin then singled to chase losing pitcher Andy Cook (1-2) before Putnam greeted reliever Don Gemmell with a double down the left field line to score Quentin.
San Jose State jumped out to an early 4-1 lead and stayed in control until Stanford's eighth inning rally.
The Spartans registered a run in the top of the second inning on a two-out RBI single by Travis Becktel to score Adam Shorsher, who had led off the inning with a base hit.
Stanford tied the score at 1-1 on a solo homer by Quentin to lead off the bottom of the second inning.
San Jose State answered with two more runs in the top of the third inning. Gabe Lopez singled to lead off the inning and Hector Zamora followed with an RBI double. Zamora scored two batters later on an RBI single by Shorsher.
The Spartans added another run in the top of the fourth inning when Becktel singled to lead off the inning and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Zamora that turned into an inning-ending double play when Stanford centerfielder Sam Fuld threw out Kevin Frandsen trying to advance from second to third base on the tail end of the play but after Becktel crossed the plate.
The score remained 4-1 until Stanford's eighth inning rally as Cook retired the first eight batters he faced and the Spartans went down in order in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings.
Three Stanford relievers - Mark Jecmen (4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO), Dyer (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SB) and Naatjes (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO) - combined to hold the Spartans to one run and three hits over the final six innings.
Becktel (3-5, RBI) led the San Jose State offense and was the only player in the game with three or more hits. Zamora (2-3, 2 2B), Shorsher (2-4, RBI) and Frandsen (2-4) had two hits each for the Spartans.
Quentin (2-4, HR, RBI) was the only Cardinal player with a multiple-hit game.