Feb. 14, 2004
Stanford, Calif. - No. 4 Stanford (7-1) extended its home win streak to 14 games with a 6-3 victory over Kansas (7-6-1) in non-conference game that lasted just two hours and nine minutes at Sunken Diamond on Saturday. The victory also assured Stanford of its 15th series win in its last 16 outings. Stanford starter Jeff Gilmore (2-0) picked up the victory by limiting the Jayhawks to two runs and five hits with five strikeouts over a career-high 7.0 innings. Sam Fuld (2-3, 2B) and Jonny Ash (2-5, RBI) had two hits each for the Cardinal, while Jed Lowrie drove in a pair of runs and Brian Hall stole two bases. Danny Putnam (1-5) extended his hit streak to nine games, one shy of his career-high, with a first inning single.
"Jeff Gilmore pitched well today and was very consistent," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess.
"I had good enough stuff to get a strikeout here and there, but the consistent outs were coming as a result of groundballs," commented Gilmore.
Travis Metcalf (2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI) had a pair of solo homers for Kansas to account for the only two runs off Gilmore, while Travis Dunlap (2-3) also had a multiple-hit game for the Jayhawks.Stanford got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning when Fuld walked, moved to second on a wild pitch, third on a groundout by Ash and scored on an RBI groundout from Lowrie.Metcalf's first solo homer with one out in the top of the second tied the score at 1-1.
The Cardinal answered back with a run in the bottom of the second. Adam Sorgi started a two-out rally with a single before moving to second on a single by Fuld and scoring on Ash's clutch two-out RBI single.
Stanford added two more runs in the bottom of the third to extend its lead to 4-1. John Mayberry, Jr. walked with one out to begin the rally and scored when Chris Carter doubled deep to the base of the wall in center field. Carter came home on a two-out RBI double from Donny Lucy.
Metcalf's second solo shot in the top of the fourth cut Stanford's lead to 4-2.
Stanford scored single runs in the fifth and sixth frames to increase its margin to 6-2. Mayberry led off the fifth with a double, moved to third on a groundout by Carter and scored on Hall's sacrifice fly. In the sixth, Fuld led off with a double, moved to third on a groundout by Ash and scored on an RBI single from Lowrie.
Kansas closed out the scoring with a run in the top of the ninth off Cardinal reliever Matt Manship when Jared Schweitzer led off with a double and scored on a one-out single by Matt Tribble before Manship forced Metcalf into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play to quell the threat. Manship allowed one run and two hits with a pair of strikeouts while pitching the final 2.0 frames.
Stanford stranded 10 runners, while Kansas left just three on base.
Eight of Stanford's nine starters had at least one hit as the Cardinal outhit Kansas, 10-7, to reach double-digits in hits for the seventh time in eight games this season.
Kansas starter Chris Smart (2-3) suffered the loss, allowing four runs and six hits in the first 2.2 innings.
Stanford did not make an error for the sixth time this season as the Cardinal improved its fielding percentage to .990 and won for the 30th time in its last 35 games dating back to last season.
"It's fun to coach when you don't make a lot of errors because usually you don't lose much," smiled Marquess. "Not making many errors and not walking people is conducive to having a good chance to win. Hopefully, we can continue doing that. We've been playing phenomenal defense."
"The most underrated part of our team is our defense," added Gilmore.
Fuld's two hits increased his career total to 297, moving him to within three hits of becoming just the fifth player in Stanford Baseball history to reach 300 career hits. Fuld also walked twice to reach base in four of his five at bats as he improved his team-leading on-base percentage to .513.
Kansas is 0-4-1 over its last five games after opening the season with a 7-2 mark.
Stanford and Kansas conclude their three-game series Sunday with a special start time of 11 am, PT. Stanford is scheduled to pitch RHP Mark Jecmen (1-0, 7.20) while Kansas is slated to go with LHP Mike Zagurski (1-0, 2.53).