May 18, 2002
Los Angeles, Calif. - Wes Whisler (2-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI) hit a pair of homers, including his first career grand slam, to lead UCLA (26-29, 9-11) to a 9-4 victory over No. 7 Stanford (36-16, 12-8 Pac-10) on Saturday at Jackie Robinson Stadium, evening the series at one game each with the rubber game slated for Sunday (1 pm, PDT). The loss dropped Stanford into third place, 2.0 games behind first place USC (13-6 Pac-10) and 1.0 games in back of second place Washington (13-7 Pac-10). The Trojans won at Arizona State, 9-5, and the Huskies were 13-3 winners at Oregon State on Saturday.
Whisler's grand slam came off Cardinal reliever Ryan McCally with two outs in the bottom of eighth inning to turn a slim 5-4 lead UCLA into a five-run margin. His first home run was a solo shot off Cardinal starter John Hudgins in the bottom of the second. Whisler tied UCLA's freshman home run record with his 14th and 15th of the season. He was also the team's starting pitcher, tying a career-high with eight strikeouts while allowing seven hits and four runs (one earned) in 6.0 innings to receive a no decision.
Sam Fuld (2-4, 2B, RBI) continued his incredible hot streak for Stanford, recording his 18th multiple-hit game in the last 20 contests. Fuld is hitting .531 (43-81) during the 20-game stretch and raised his season batting average to .390. He also remained Stanford's all-time batting average leader with an updated .373 career mark.
Jason Cooper (2-4, 2 2B) was the only other Cardinal with more than one hit, while Andy Topham picked up a pair of RBI. Scott Dragicevich (0-5) had his season-high nine-game hit streak snapped.
Brandon Averill also homered for the Bruins, while Adam Berry (2-3) and Casey Grzecka (2-4, RBI) had two hits each.
UCLA rallied from a 4-2 deficit, cutting Stanford's lead to 4-3 on Averill's solo homer in the bottom of the sixth and going ahead to stay on a two-RBI single by Billy Susdorf in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Chris Cordeiro (2-6) picked up the win with 2.0 innings of hitless relief in the seventh and eighth innings before Doug Silva came on for a hitless ninth frame.
Dan Rich (1-2) suffered the loss after giving up singles to Ryan Rasmussen and Rashad Parker to lead off the bottom of the seventh before both runners scored on Susdorf's two-RBI single off McCally.
Stanford scored the first run of the game in the top of the second inning when Cooper doubled off the wall in rightcenter field with two outs and scored on a bloop RBI single to right field by Topham.
UCLA tied the game, 1-1, on Whisler's second inning solo homer.
UCLA took a 2-1 lead with a run in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI infield by Grzecka and benefited from a pair of hit batsmen in the inning.
Stanford scored three unearned runs in the top of the sixth on only one hit, a two-out RBI bunt single by Fuld, to take a 4-2 lead. The Cardinal took advantage of three Bruin errors, a hit batsmen and a passed ball in the inning. The rally started when Dragicevich struck out but reached first base on a passed ball charged to Grzecka to lead off the inning. Brian Hall then reached on an error by Bruin shortstop Ryan McCarthy before Cooper was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Cardinal scored its first run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Topham that turned into a double play when Cooper was thrown out trying to advance to second base. Stanford scored its second run on the first of back-to-back errors by Averill at third base, allowing Hall to come across the plate. Chris O'Riordan then reached on another error by Averill before Arik VanZandt scored on Fuld's bunt single.
Hudgins picked up no decision, allowing six hits and three runs in 5.2 innings.
Stanford left 12 runners on base, while the Bruins stranded eight.
After Sunday's series rubber game, 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).