June 1, 2003
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STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Ryan Garko hit two home runs and drove in fiveruns and Danny Putnam hit a grand slam as Stanford defeated Richmond 19-6in the championship game of the Stanford Regional on Sunday.
Carlos Quentin also homered and Mark Romanczuk (11-0) tied a Stanfordfreshman record for most victories without a loss after allowing threeruns on five hits over 6 2-3 innings. He struck out six and walked five.
Stanford (44-15) will host either Long Beach State or Washington in abest-of-three Super Regional beginning Friday, with a berth in the CollegeWorld Series on the line. The Cardinal have won 16 of their last 17 games.
Romanczuk matched Sandy Vance, who went 11-0 as a Stanford freshman in1967.
Garko, an All-American, went 3-for-5 to up his average to .422. He'strying to become the first Stanford player to hit .400 or better sinceDavid McCarty hit .420 in 1991.
Jim Fasano hit a two-run homer for the Spiders in the ninth.
Richmond's Tim Rice (5-3), in his first appearance since May 11, allowedsix runs on five hits. He walked two and didn't strike out a batter. Riceis 10-3 over his last two years.
Richmond (48-15) failed in its bid to win a second consecutive regionaltitle. Stanford won its fifth straight regional and improved to 16-2 in~its last five regionals.
Putnam hit his grand slam in the seventh to give the Cardinal a 15-3lead. Jonny Ash, who drove in three runs, added an RBI double.
Jed Lowrie's sacrifice fly and Ash's RBI single gave Stanford a 2-0 leadin the second inning.
Garko hit his team-leading 17th home run, a two-run shot over thescoreboard in left field, to highlight a three-run third. Quentin alsosingled home a run.
Bryan Pritz doubled home a run for Richmond to make it 5-1 in the thirdbut Stanford added three runs in the fourth on a two-run double by BrianHall and a run-scoring single by Donny Lucy.
Quentin hit his 10th home run, a two-run shot that bounced on top of theleft field fence then disappeared, made it 11-3. Ash added an RBI single.
Sam Fuld singled in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.
A.J. Board and David Reaver also drove in runs for the Spiders.
Garko was named the tournament MVP.