Feb. 9, 2003
Stanford, Calif. - No. 4 Florida State (5-1) scored twice in the top of the 12th inning for a 10-8 victory over No. 3 Stanford (3-5) on Sunday at Sunken Diamond to win the deciding game of a three-game series. Tony Richie broke an 8-8 tie when he hit a one-out solo homer over the left field fence on a 1-0 pitch from losing pitcher David O'Hagan (0-1) and the Seminoles added another run in the inning on a two-out RBI single from Daniel Wardell for the final margin. Daniel Hodges (1-0), the seventh Florida State pitcher of the game, earned the victory by holding Stanford scoreless on four hits over the final 4.0 innings.
Stanford brought the tying run to the plate twice in the bottom of the 12th inning. The Cardinal put runners on first and second base with one out when Jed Lowrie doubled and Sam Fuld reached on an error by Florida State shortstop Bryan Zech. Brian Hall then beat out a potential game-ending double play ball to leave the Cardinal with runners on first and third and two outs. After the first pitch to Carlos Quentin, Hall was caught in a rundown when Richie threw behind him at first base. Hall forced four Seminole throws during the rundown and appeared to get back into first base safely when Brown dropped the fourth throw but runners' interference was ruled on the play for the final out of the game.
Stanford had an opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the 11th inning, loading the bases with one out on a leadoff single by Tobin Swope, a one-out single by Fuld and an intentional walk to Hall. However, Hodges retired Quentin on a sharp and shallow line drive to center field and Donny Lucy on a groundout to second base to extend the contest.
Stanford had a 22-game home series win streak snapped and lost its second straight game at Sunken Diamond for the first time since Fresno State beat the Cardinal twice in a row January 30-31, 1999. The last time Stanford had dropped a series at Sunken Diamond was when USC won two-of-three games over the Cardinal April 16-18, 1999. Stanford has lost five of six overall.
"The teams we play on our preseason schedule are good," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess about his team's sixth straight contest against a ranked opponent. "If we don't play well against teams like these, we can get beat. But, there were some positive things today. We swung the bats much better than we have been lately. We had a couple of chances to win the game, but it just didn't happen. That's unfortunate, but that's baseball. Florida State got a couple of big swings of the bat and that was the difference today."
Richie (3-6, HR, RBI) and Jerrod Brown (3-6, 2B) had three hits each for the Seminoles, while Aaron Cheesman (2-3, 3 RBI) and Tony McQuade (1-5, HR, 3 RBI) each drove in three runs.
Swope (4-6, RBI) had four hits for the Cardinal, while Ryan Garko (3-4, HR, 4 RBI) homered for the first time this season and tied a career-high four RBI. Quentin (2-5, 2 RBI), Fuld (2-5) and Danny Putnam (2-6) added two hits each for Stanford.
Swope finished the three-game series 9-for-16 (.562) with three RBI and a stolen base.
O'Hagan struck out a career-high eight batters in 3.2 innings as the fifth of Stanford's six pitchers.
Stanford led the game 8-5 heading into the top of the ninth inning before a three-run homer by McQuade over the left field wall off Cardinal reliever Kodiak Quick sent the contest into extra innings for the second time in the series.
Stanford jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after four innings with runs in the first and fourth frames. Fuld led off the first with a walk, advanced to second on a passed ball, third on a fly out by Hall and scored on an RBI single by Quentin. In the fourth, Putnam and John Mayberry, Jr. had back-to-back one-out singles before a two-out RBI single by Swope scored Putnam.
Stanford starter Ryan McCally tossed hitless baseball and faced the minimum 12 batters through his first four innings before Florida State took a short-lived 3-2 lead with three runs in the top of the fifth. Richie broke up McCally's no-hitter with a single to lead off the fifth and the Seminoles loaded the bases on a single by Brown and a walk to Eddy Martinez-Esteve.
Cheesman then tied the game with a bouncing two-RBI single up the middle and Matt Sauls put Florida State ahead for the first time by following with an RBI single through the left side.Stanford regained a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Three consecutive one-out singles by Hall, Quentin and Garko allowed Hall to score the first Cardinal run of the inning. Quentin would score an unearned run later in the frame on a two-out error by Martinez-Esteve at third on a ground ball hit by Mayberry.
Florida State retook the lead 5-4 with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth on four one-out singles in a row by Richie, Brown, Martinez-Esteve and Cheesman. Richie and Brown each scored, while Martinez-Esteve and Cheesman were credited with RBI.
Stanford jumped back in front 8-5 with four runs in the bottom of the sixth, the first coming on a sacrifice fly by Quentin and the final three on Garko's mammoth home run over the trees behind the left field fence. Swope had the only other hit in the inning, a leadoff single and the Cardinal also benefited from two hit batsmen.
The teams combined to use 13 pitchers (Florida State 7, Stanford 6). McCally (4.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) and Florida State starter Mark Sauls (4.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) both received no-decision.
"We're disappointed," said Hall. "We had a lot of chances to win the game, but we're just going to have to keep working at it."
Stanford left 12 runners on base, while the Seminoles stranded eight. Both teams committed two errors.
"A lot of little mistakes are adding up and costing us," added Garko.
The game lasted four hours and 18 minutes and was played before a season-high home crowd of 2396.
Florida State regained the advantage in the all-time series, 9-8.
Stanford will continue its current seven-game homestand by hosting Fresno State (0-3) in a three-game series next Friday-Sunday, February 14-16 (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PT). The Cardinal will also welcome Nevada to conclude the homestand next Monday, February 17 (1 pm, PT).