Feb. 6, 2004
Fresno, Calif. - Fresno State (1-0) opened its 2004 campaign by handing No. 6 Stanford (3-0) its first loss of the season with a 3-1 victory over the Cardinal in the opener of a three-game non-conference series on Friday at Beiden Field. The loss in Stanford's first away game of the season also ended the team's 14-game road win streak that Stanford had achieved by winning its final 14 road games in 2003. Bulldog starter David Griffin (1-0) limited the Cardinal to an unearned and two hits over the first 7.2 innings, striking out five and spreading out three walks. Michael Cooper came on with two outs in the top of the eighth inning and retired all four batters he faced to record a save.
"Their pitchers were tough tonight," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "They would have matched up well with just about anybody the way they pitched."
Stanford starter Mark Romanczuk (1-1) took the loss despite shutting the Bulldogs out for the first four innings. Romanczuk allowed three runs and seven hits with three strikeouts over the first 5.1 innings before being relieved by Drew Ehrlich, who pitched well in relief holding the Bulldogs scoreless over the final 2.2 innings with five strikeouts.
Kent Sakamoto (3-4) had a game-high three hits for Fresno State, while Nick Moresi was 2-for-4 with a double to lead Fresno State's 10-hit attack.
John Mayberry, Jr. and Danny Putnam had one hit each for the Cardinal with Mayberry just missing a home run that would have put Stanford on the scoreboard first with a line drive double off the top of the leftcenter field wall in the top of the fifth inning. Mayberry moved to third with just one out before Griffin got Donny Lucy to foul out to Chris Patrick at shortstop and Chris Carter to fly out to Richie Robnett in centerfield to stop the threat.
The Cardinal also put a runner on third base in the top of the fourth inning when Sam Fuld walked to lead off the inning, moved to second base on a single by Putnam and third when the Cardinal attempted a double steal but Putnam was thrown out on the back end by Bulldog catcher Brandon Marcelli. Fuld was stranded at third when Lowrie hit a hard one-hopper that Patrick snared at shortstop and threw over to first baseman Kyle Wilson to end the Cardinal inning.
Romanczuk had been touched for just two singles in the first four innings before Fresno State finally broke the scoreless tie with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Both runs scored when Ryan Haag dribbled a one-out, two-RBI single up the middle just out of reach of a diving Lowrie at shortstop to score Patrick and Moresi. Romanczuk had hit Patrick with one out to start the rally and Moresi put runners on second and third base with one out after a double down the left field line.
The Bulldogs added a run in the bottom of the sixth inning on a long solo homer by Tom Shannon off the scoreboard over the left field wall.
Stanford scored an unearned run in the top of the eighth inning to avoid being shutout for the first time since April 29, 2003. Jonny Ash walked to lead off the inning, moved to second base on a one-out sacrifice bunt by John Hester and scored when a two-out ground ball from pinch-hitter Chris Minaker went through the legs of Patrick at shortstop. Griffin walked Fuld to bring the go-ahead run to the plate before Cooper came on in relief and struck out Brian Hall to get out of the jam.
The two hits by Stanford were the team's fewest since also managing just a pair of hits in a classic 1-0 victory over USC and current Oakland A's pitcher Barry Zito in an NCAA Super Regional game at Sunken Diamond on June 4, 1999.
The loss also snapped Stanford's four-game win streak against the Bulldogs. Stanford needs to win the final two games of the series on Saturday and Sunday to avoid having a series win streak of four versus Fresno State snapped. The last time the Bulldogs won a series against the Cardinal was when Fresno State took two-of-three at Sunken Diamond from January 29-31, 1999.