April 8, 2003
Santa Clara, Calif. - Carlos Quentin (4-5, 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, SB) had a career night to lead No. 4 Stanford (22-10) to a 17-8 victory over Santa Clara (16-20) in a non-conference game at Buck Shaw Stadium on Tuesday. Quentin hit his first career grand slam in the fourth inning and homered twice for the second time in his career, while also setting career-highs with six RBI and six runs scored. In addition, Quentin extended his career-long hit streak to 20 games and raised his season batting average to .423 in his attempt to become the first Stanford player to hit .400 or better since David McCarty batted .420 in 1991.
"I was just seeing the ball really well, and I finally got some in the air," said Quentin, who now has four home runs this season and 27 in his collegiate career. "I was really happy to see a couple go over the fence, but as long as I'm hitting well and helping the team out that's all that really matters."
Quentin is hitting .494 (40-for-81) during his current 20-game hit streak.
"Carlos had one of those phenomenal days that come along every now and then," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "But, he is also having a great year."
Stanford won its fourth straight game and for the 19th in the last 24 contests. The Cardinal also defeated Santa Clara for the 25th time in the last 26 meetings between the clubs dating back to 1997.
Drew Ehrlich (1-0) earned his first career victory, striking out a career-high seven batters while allowing just two runs and six hits in a career-best 6.1 innings.
"It's taken me a long time to get this win, but just getting the team a win is more important," said Ehrlich. "It's more satisfying for the team to win than it is just to have a great pitching performance."
"This is the best that Drew has pitched all year, and when he came into the game it was a big spot because the score was still close," added Marquess.
Ryan Garko (2-3, 2B, RBI) and Jed Lowrie (2-4, 2 RBI) added two hits each for the Cardinal, while Brian Hall and Tobin Swope drove in a pair of runs each. Hall also homered for the fourth time this season with his two-run shot in the third inning.
Garko is hitting .568 (21-37) with five homers and 19 RBI during a current season-long nine-game hit streak.
Sam Fuld had his career-high 15-game hit streak snapped with an 0-for-4 performance.
Will Thompson (4-4, 2B, HR, RBI) had four hits for the Broncos, while Jason Matteucci (2-5, 2B, 2 RBI) and Michael Lange (2-5, 2 RBI) each had two hits and drove in a pair of runs. Scott Dierks also hit his team-leading 13th homer of the season for Santa Clara to lead off the bottom of the first inning, while Jim Wallace added a pair of RBI.
Santa Clara reliever Andrew Slorp (0-1) suffered the loss after entering the game with Santa Clara leading 6-5 to start the fourth inning. Slorp allowed three runs on two hits and one walk, and did not record an out.
Stanford posted multiple-run innings in five of its eight trips to the plate before adding one more in the ninth inning as the 17-run output was the team's second biggest of the season. Santa Clara scored six of its eight runs in the first three innings off of Stanford starter Tim Cunningham and first reliever Billy Paganetti before Ehrlich came in with two outs in the bottom of the third frame and finished the game.
The Cardinal started the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. Hall started the rally with a one out walk and scored on an RBI double by Quentin, who advanced to third on the play when Bronco second baseman A.J. LaBarbera threw the ball away in an attempt to throw Hall out at home. Garko followed with an RBI groundout to score Quentin with an unearned run.
Santa Clara responded with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Dierks led off the Bronco first with his long solo homer over the leftcenter field fence and a two-RBI double by Wallace later in the inning scored Jack Headley and LaBarbera. Headley had restarted the rally with a single and LaBarbera walked before a double steal put Broncos on second and third to set up Wallace's double. Cunningham was relieved by Billy Paganetti after facing five batters and without recording an out. Paganetti loaded the bases when he hit Michael Thompson with one out but got of the jam by getting Matteucci to fly out to left field and Lange to ground out to second base.
Stanford scored three times in the top of the third to retake a 5-3 lead, scoring the first two runs on a one-out homer by Hall. The Cardinal added an unearned run when Quentin reached on an error, moved to third on a double by Garko and scored on Lowrie's sacrifice fly.
Santa Clara answered back with three runs after two were out in the bottom of the third for a 6-5 advantage. Will Thompson and Scott Shapiro started the rally with one-out back-to-back singles. After Paganetti got Michael Thompson to fly out to center field for the second out, Matteucci doubled home Will Thompson and Lange came through with a key two-RBI single to score Shapiro and Matteucci. Ehrlich relieved Paganetti and retired Headley on a pop-up to Swope at shortstop to get the Cardinal out of the jam.
In the top of the fourth, the Cardinal loaded the bases for Quentin when Chris Carter led off with a single for his first hit of the season, Ash singled and Fuld drew a walk.
Santa Clara got one run back in the bottom of the fourth on Will Thompson's two-out solo homer.Stanford extended its lead to 12-7 with three runs in the top of the sixth. Quentin and Garko drew back-to-back one out walks to start the rally before Lucy singled home Quentin and Lowrie followed with an RBI single to score Garko. Lucy also scored on Lowrie's RBI single when Headley's throw from center field got away from Michael Thompson at third base.
Stanford added four runs in the top of the eighth inning. Quentin led off with a triple, Garko was hit by a pitch and John Mayberry, Jr. came through with an RBI single to bring home Quentin. After a sacrifice bunt by Lowrie moved the runners to second and third, Swope tripled to score Garko and Mayberry. Swope scored the final run of the inning on a wild pitch.
The Cardinal closed its scoring on a solo homer by Quentin in the top of the ninth.
Santa Clara picked up a run in the bottom of the ninth when Will Thompson led off with a single, moved to second on a groundout, advanced to third on a fly ball and scored on an RBI single by Matteucci.
Stanford's 14 hits marked the 15th time in the last 16 games the Cardinal has reached double-digits in hits and raised its team batting average to .323, which is the highest its been since the team had 15 hits in its season-opener at Santa Clara for a .365 mark. The current .323 mark would rank third on the school's all-time single-season list.
Stanford also took advantage of four Santa Clara errors to score three unearned runs.
Santa Clara left 10 runners on base, while the Broncos stranded eight.
Stanford continues a stretch of four consecutive non-conference games by playing a two-game home and home series versus Sacramento State this Friday (6 pm, PT) at Sunken Diamond and Saturday (2 pm, PT) in Sacramento. The Cardinal ends the stretch by hosting San Jose State next Tuesday, April 15 (6 pm, PT) before returning to Pac-10 by welcoming Oregon State to Sunken Diamond for a three-game series Thursday-Saturday, April 17-19 (6 pm, 6 pm, 1 pm, PT).