April 5, 2003
Pullman, Wash. - Ryan Garko (3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI) blasted a pair of two-run homers and tied a career-high with four RBI, while Carlos Quentin (4-5, 2B, 3 RBI) extended his career-high hit streak to 18 games to lead No. 4 Stanford (20-10, 6-2 Pac-10) to a 12-5 victory over Washington State (9-21, 1-4 Pac-10) at Bailey-Brayton Field on Saturday. Matt Manship (1-2) picked up his first career collegiate victory, allowing only one run and one hit with four strikeouts in a career-high 4.2 innings of relief. The victory keeps Stanford in first-place in the Pac-10 standings by one game over California (5-3 Pac-10), an 8-6 winner at UCLA on Saturday. Stanford also wrapped up its seventh straight series victory and has won 18 of its last 22 games overall.
"I was just able to get the ball in the air and drive a couple of pitches," said Garko.
Brian Hall (2-5, 3B, RBI), Danny Putnam (2-5, RBI), Tobin Swope (2-5, RBI) and Sam Fuld (2-5) each added two of Stanford's 17 hits, marking the 13th time in the last 14 games that the Cardinal has posted double-digits in hits. Fuld established a new career-best by extending his hit streak to 14 games, while Swope posted his team-leading 15th multiple-hit game of the season.
"I was very happy with the way we swung the bats again today," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "Some of our more experienced players have led our recent offensive surge and that's one of the things you need to have happen if you're team is going to contend for championships."
Quentin, who is hitting .493 during his 18-game hit streak, raised his team-leading overall batting average to .416 with his second four-hit game and fifth multiple-hit effort in his last six contests.
Fuld is hitting at a .478 clip during his 14-game hit streak and has an updated career batting average of .363, one percentage point ahead of the second-place .362 mark posted by the late Jack Shepard from 1951-53. This season, Fuld paces the club with 48 hits and 32 runs scored, and is hitting at a .348 clip.
Garko is hitting a blistering .586 with four homers and 16 RBI in his last seven games and picked up his 200th collegiate hit with his eighth-inning homer. He leads the team with eight homers and 41 RBI on the season and is second on the club with a .369 batting average.
"We just keep getting after it offensively inning after inning," said Quentin. "It's the job of the older players like myself, Ryan and Sam to lead this team offensively, and it feels good to be doing our job."
"We welcome the pressure of leading this club offensively," added Garko. "If some of our veteran players hit well and produce runs it should be enough for us to win a lot of games."
Wes Falkenborg (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI), Justin Hart (2-4, HR, RBI) and Jay Miller (2-5) each had two of Washington State's 10 hits.
Washington State's Bryce Chamberlin (3-3) was charged with the loss, allowing eight runs and 12 hits over the first 5.1 innings.
Both teams scored four runs in their first trip to the plate to the make the score 4-4 after one inning of action.
Garko's two-run homer highlighted Stanford's four-run first that also featured RBI singles by Quentin and Swope. Jed Lowrie and John Mayberry Jr. also had singles in the rally and Fuld walked to lead off the game.
Falkenborg had a two-run double in the four-run first for the Cougars, while Grant Richardson and Jon Baeder had RBI singles. Jonathan Fender and Miller had started off the rally with back-to-back base hits to lead off the inning.
The score remained 4-4 until the Cardinal broke through for another run in the top of the fourth. Fuld started a two-out rally with a single, moved to second on Hall's bunt base hit and scored on an RBI single from Quentin.
Stanford picked up two more runs in the top of the fifth on only one hit, a leadoff single by Putnam. Lowrie drew a walk before a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third. Putnam scored when Mayberry followed with an RBI groundout and Lowrie came crossed the plate later in the inning on Chamberlin's second wild pitch of the frame.
Stanford scored another run in the top of the sixth when Putnam dropped in an RBI single down the left field line to greet Cougar reliever Nick Kenyon and score Hall, who had started a one-out rally when he was hit by a pitch. A single by Quentin and a walk to Garko had loaded the bases for Putnam.
The Cardinal doubled its lead to 12-4 with four runs in the top of the eighth, capped by Garko's mammoth two-run blast over the left field wall off Billy Gorrell. Stanford had scored a pair of runs earlier in the frame when Fuld led off with a single and scored on a triple by Hall before an RBI double by Quentin plated Hall.
Washington State picked up an eighth inning run when Hart drilled a two-out solo homer off Manship over the right field fence.
The solo homer by Hart was the only hit that Manship allowed. Manship retired 14 of the 16 batters he faced and got the Cardinal out of a fifth inning jam when he struck out both batters he faced after relieving Stanford starter Ryan McCally with one out and runners on second and third base.
"I knew what I had to do in that situation, and I tried my best to get those two strikeouts," said Manship. "It was a great feeling to get that first collegiate win. I felt great the whole way and everything really came together."
McCally earned a no-decision by allowing four runs and nine hits in the first 4.1 innings but Stanford kept a streak alive by winning McCally's start for a seventh consecutive outing.
Stanford's victory made the Cardinal a perfect 14-0 versus Washington State since the Cougars rejoined the Pac-10 in 1999. The Cardinal holds an all-time lead in the series, 22-13.
Stanford and Washington State are scheduled to conclude their three-game conference series on Sunday (11 am, PT).