May 11, 2002
Stanford, Calif. - Arizona State (28-17, 10-7 Pac-10) scored five times with two outs in the top of the first inning in a 10-2 win over No. 7 Stanford (34-14, 10-7 Pac-10) on Saturday at Sunken Diamond, evening the series at one game apiece. Jeremy West (3-3, 2B, 3 RBI) had three hits and Nick Cedena hit the game's only home run to lead the Sun Devils' offense. Mike Esposito (8-5) picked up the victory, holding the Cardinal scoreless on three hits over the first 5.0 innings. Ryan Schroyer scattered seven hits and allowed two runs over the final 4.0 innings to earn his fifth save of the season.
Stanford fell into a third-place tie in the conference standings with Arizona State but remained 2.0 games behind first place USC (12-5 Pac-10) as the Trojans were defeated by Washington, 9-3, in Los Angeles on Saturday. Washington (11-6 Pac-10) moved back into sole possession of second place.
"It was tough to get down so much early," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "Then, we were just unable to get the big hit to get back into the ballgame."
The Cardinal left 14 runners stranded, a season-high for a nine-inning game this season. Sam Fuld had his streak of eight straight multiple-hit games snapped as he was 0-for-4 with a walk. Stanford scored only two runs despite collecting 10 hits and drawing eight walks.
Chris O'Riordan (3-4) led the Stanford offense, while Scott Dragicevich (2-4, 2B) and Brian Hall (2-5, 2B) added two hits each.
Jeff Larish (2-5, 3B, 3 RBI), Steve Garrabrants (2-4, 2B, SB), Ryan McKenna (2-4, 3B, RBI) and Dustin Pedroia (2-4) added two hits each for the Sun Devils.
John Hudgins (8-1) suffered his first loss of the season for the Cardinal, giving up 11 hits and nine runs over the first 5.1 innings.
Stanford also had its season-high-tying five-game win streak broken.
Stanford had recorded two outs against the Sun Devils in the top of the first inning with runners on first and second base before Rod Allen doubled off the left field wall to score Pedroia with the first Arizona State run. Larish followed with a two-run single and Cadena capped off the rally with a two-run homer to put the Sun Devils ahead 5-0.
Arizona State increased its lead to 7-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the third. West led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and was tripled home by Larish, who scored on an RBI single by McKenna.
The Sun Devils added two more runs in the top of the sixth when West doubled home Garrabrants and Pedroia to chase Hudgins and make the score 9-0.
Stanford got on the scoreboard with a run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Ryan Garko and scored another run in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single by Carlos Quentin.
Stanford and Arizona State conclude the three-game series with Sunday's rubber game (1 pm, PDT).