Feb. 22, 2003
Austin, Tex. - No. 10 Stanford (9-5) swept a doubleheader from defending College World Series champions and No. 4 Texas (11-3) in front of a season-high crowd of 6,799 spectators at Disch-Falk Field on Saturday. The Cardinal jumped out to early leads in both games, holding on for an 11-7 victory in the opener and an 8-7 win in the nightcap. Stanford extended its season-long win streak to six in a row with the victory and will attempt to sweep the Longhorns in a three-game series for the first time ever in the series finale on Sunday (1 pm, CT). Texas had an eight-game win streak snapped with the losses.
"This was a big day for us," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "We started to swing the bats better today than we have been earlier this year."
Carlos Quentin was 7-for-10 in the doubleheader and had his first career five-hit game (5-6) with three doubles and an RBI in the opener as Stanford collected a season-high 17 hits.
"It was really big for us to win this doubleheader against a very good team like Texas," added Quentin. "We had a little something to prove after starting out a little slow this season. We wanted to show that we could play some top notch baseball."
John Hudgins (3-0) picked up his second straight victory in the first game, scattering four runs and seven hits with eight strikeouts over the first 7.0 innings. Mark Romanczuk (3-0) earned the win in the second game and Matt Manship earned his second save by shutting out the Longhorns with three strikeouts over the final 1.2 innings.
"This is a game I've been looking forward to," said Manship, a native of nearby San Antonio. "It feels great to get a pair of wins in one day against a great team."
Ryan Garko drove in five runs in the doubleheader and hit Stanford's only home run, a two-run blast in his first at bat of the day. Garko leads the club with four homers and 15 RBI through the first 14 contests. Garko extended his season-long hit streak to eight games by hitting safely in both games.
Jed Lowrie (4-8, RBI, SB) and John Mayberry, Jr. (4-11, 3B, 3 RBI) each had four hits for the Cardinal in the doubleheader. Lowrie (4-5, RBI) had a career-high four hits in the opener before his seven-game hit streak ended by going 0-for-3 in the nightcap. Mayberry had his first career three-hit game (3-6, 3B, 2 RBI) and has hit safely in 13 of his first 14 collegiate games.
Tim Moss (5-9, 2 RBI, SB) had five hits for the Longhorns in the two contests, including a 4-for-5 game with two RBI and a stolen base in the nightcap. Dustin Majewski (4-9, RBI) had a pair of hits in each game, while Curtis Thigpen (2-3, HR, 3 RBI) homered and had three RBI in the opener.
Texas starter Danny Muegge (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season in the opener, allowing seven runs and six hits in the first 1.1 innings. Justin Simmons (2-1) was also defeated for the first time this year in the nightcap, giving up four runs (three earned) and four hits in 2.1 innings before being removed from the game.
The doubleheader sweep was the third in a row for the Cardinal, who also swept Texas in a 2001 NCAA Regional doubleheader and USC in a regular season non-conference doubleheader last season during its last two twin billings.
In the second game, Stanford held off a serious Texas rally as Manship recorded five straight outs to end the game. The Longhorns left the tying run on third base and the go-ahead run on second in the bottom of the eighth inning before Manship retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth.
Stanford struck first in the second game with a run in the top of the first inning. Brian Hall walked to lead off the game, moved to second on a groundball, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Garko.
Texas tied the scored 1-1 in the bottom of the second when Taylor Teagarden doubled home J.D. Reininger with two outs.
Stanford took a 4-1 lead with three runs in the top of the third. Hall, Fuld and Quentin led off the inning with three consecutive singles for the first run. Quentin and Fuld moved up to second and third base on a throwing error by Sultemeier on Quentin's single before Fuld scored on Garko's second sacrifice fly of the game. Quentin scored the final run of the inning on an RBI groundout by Mayberry.
Stanford added a run in the top of the fifth to increase its lead to 5-1 when Quentin doubled with two outs and was singled home by Garko.
Texas cut Stanford's margin to 5-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Michael Hollimon and Joe Ferin walked with one out to get the rally started. Moss singled home Hollimon with the first run and chased Stanford starter Ryan McCally (4.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO). Romanczuk came on to retire Quintanilla for the second out before Majewski singled home Ferin for the second run of the inning.
Stanford got both runs back in the top of the sixth. Lowrie walked to lead off the inning, moved to second on a ground out and scored on a clutch two-out RBI double by Donny Lucy. Hall gave the Cardinal another run when he followed with an RBI single to score Lucy.
Texas scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to cut the margin to 7-5.
Sultemeier led off the sixth inning with a single, stole second and third base, and scored on a two-out RBI single by Ferin. Moss followed with a double to the rightcenter field gap but the Cardinal avoided further damage when a relay throw from Quentin to Lewis cut down Ferin at the plate trying to score.
In the seventh, Quintanilla walked and Majewski singled to lead off the inning. After moving to second and third on a wild pitch, Reininger drove home Quintanilla with a sacrifice fly.Stanford scored an insurance in the top of the eighth it would end up needing when Swope had walked with one out, moved to second on the first collegiate hit by John Hester and scored on a two-out RBI single by Fuld.
Texas scored twice in the bottom of the eighth. Teagarden led off the inning by drawing a walk off Romanczuk and was pinch-ran for by Thigpen, who moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Hollimon and third on a balk by Manship before scoring on an RBI single by Moss. Quintanilla then drove in Ferin and stole second base before Manship struck out Majewski and retired Nic Crosta on a groundout to Mayberry at first to end the threat.
In the first game, Stanford scored four times in the top of the first inning after two outs. Quentin started the rally with a double and scored on Garko's line drive homer over the left field fence, his fourth long ball of the season. Danny Putnam restarted the rally with a single and scored on a triple by Mayberry. Lowrie finished off the scoring with an RBI single to score Mayberry.
Stanford added three more runs in the top of the second to take a 7-0 lead. Tobin Swope was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, moved to second on a groundball and scored on Quentin's RBI double. A sacrifice fly by Putnam scored Brian Hall with the second run of the inning and Mayberry singled home Quentin for the final tally.
Texas got on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. Scott Dodge singled to lead off the inning, moved to third on a double by J.D. Reininger and scored on a sacrifice fly by Thigpen. Michael Hollimon followed with a single to score Reininger.
Stanford responded with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the third inning with both runs scoring on a single by Hall. Chris Lewis reached on a fielding error by Hollimon at third base to lead off the inning and after Tobin Swope sacrificed Lewis to third and was safe at first on the play on a throwing error by Texas reliever J. Brent Cox. Fuld walked to load the bases and set up Hall's two-RBI single.
Stanford picked up another unearned run in the top of the fifth inning to extend its lead to 10-2. Fuld started the rally with a one-out single and stole second base with two outs. Quentin then beat out an infield single on a groundball deep down the third base line and Fuld came around to score on a throwing error by Hollimon, his second in three innings.
Thigpen cut the Cardinal lead to 10-3 with a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the fifth.
The Longhorns picked up another run in the sixth to cut the Cardinal lead to 10-4 when Majewski singled with one out, moved to second on a groundball and scored on a two-out RBI double by Eric Sultemeier.
Stanford added to its lead in the top of the ninth, scoring an unearned run when Quentin singled with two outs, moved to second on an error by Moss at second base and scored on an RBI single by Putnam.
In the ninth, Texas scored three runs to make the final score 11-7 before Sultemeier was thrown out at the plate for the final out of the game when he tried to score from second base on an infield single by Thigpen. On the play, Swope fielded the ball behind second base and overthrew Lewis at second base in an attempt to record the final out of the game. The ball rolled to Stanford pitcher Kodiak Quick, who turned and fired to Garko at the plate to cut down Sultemeier with Hollimon set to come to the plate as the tying run.
Stanford and Texas have played 13 times in the last three seasons with the Cardinal sporting an 8-5 record in those contests.
Stanford is expected to start either RHP Drew Ehrlich (0-0, 2.45 ERA) or RHP Marc Jecmen (0-0, 0.00) on Sunday, while the Longhorns have announced RHP Josh Smith (1-0, 0.00 ERA) as their starter.