May 17, 2002
Los Angeles, Calif. - Jeremy Guthrie tossed his second career shutout and struck out a career-high 13 batters to lead No. 7 Stanford (36-15, 12-7 Pac-10) to a dominating 11-0 victory over UCLA (25-29, 8-11 Pac-10) in the opener of a three-game series Friday at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Guthrie allowed just six hits and did not walk a batter as he picked up his fourth complete game in a row, improving his record to 9-1 and lowering his ERA to 2.68.
"This was an awesome performance by Jeremy Guthrie," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "He came up big for us again tonight."
"I felt confident tonight," said Guthrie. "I pitched well in some big situations, especially early in the game, when I was able to get outs with people on base."
Stanford moved to within 1.0 game of first place USC (13-6 Pac-10) after the Trojans fell at Arizona State on Friday, 3-1. Stanford is tied for second place with Washington after the Huskies won at Oregon State on Friday, 6-5. The Cardinal has won seven of its last eight Pac-10 games.
Sam Fuld (3-5) continued his hot streak with his 17th multiple-hit game in the last 19 contests and his 31st of the season. Fuld is hitting .532 (41-77) over his last 19 games and raised his season batting average to .388. Fuld is also Stanford's all-time leader in batting average with an updated career mark of .372.
"I'm just trying to maintain the same swing and keep the same approach that I've had during the past few weeks," said Fuld about his continued hot stretch.
Scott Dragicevich (3-5) also continued his hot hitting with three hits and extended his season-high hit streak to nine games.
Jason Cooper (2-4, HR, 3 RBI) hit his 11th home run of the season to break a dry spell of 18 games without a homer. Andy Topham (2-5, 2B, 2 RBI) and Brian Hall (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI) added two hits each for the Cardinal.
Stanford reached the double figure marks in runs and hits for the 16th and 34th time this season, respectively.
The shutout was the second of the season for the Cardinal.
UCLA starter Mike Kunes (7-4) took the loss, allowing five runs and six hits in 5.1 innings.Casey Grzecka (2-4) was the only Bruin player with more than one hit.
Stanford got on the scoreboard in the top of the third when Chris O'Riordan doubled with two outs and was singled home by Fuld to make the score 1-0.
The Cardinal added four runs in the top of the sixth to increase its lead to 5-0. After one out, six consecutive Stanford batters reached safely. Dragicevich drove in the first Cardinal run of the inning with an RBI single. The next run scored on an RBI infield single by Hall before a two-RBI single by Topham plated the final two runs of the frame.
Cooper's two-run homer in the top of the eighth increased the Cardinal lead to 7-0.
Stanford finished its scoring with four runs in the top of the ninth. Dragicevich, Hall and Cooper had RBI singles in the inning and the Cardinal scored its other run on a wild pitch by Bruin reliever Wade Clark.
Stanford improved its record in series openers to 13-2.
Stanford and UCLA continue their three-game series Saturday-Sunday, May 18-19 (1 pm, 1 pm, PDT). The Cardinal closes out the regular season with a three-game home series versus Washington State next Friday-Sunday, May 24-26 (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PDT).