April 2, 2004
Updated Season Stats
Stanford Baseball Tickets
Los Angeles, Calif. - No. 1 Stanford (22-3, 1-0 Pac-10) kicked off its Pac-10 schedule and extended its win streak to a season-high seven games with an 11-4 victory over UCLA (14-12, 0-1 Pac-10) on Friday in the opener of a three-game set at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Friday. Mark Romanczuk (6-1) picked up his sixth win of the year and struck out 10 in a season-high 8.0 innings, while scattering 10 hits and four runs. Chris Minaker (2-5, HR, 4 RBI) hit the first homer of his career, a three-run shot in Stanford's six-run second inning, and drove in a career-high four runs. Stanford has also won 13 of its last 14 contests and is off to the third-best 25-game start in school history, just one-half game behind the 22-2-1 starts posted by both the 1978 and 1982 clubs.
"I just wanted to be ready for my opportunities," said Minaker, who has now started nine games this season and three in a row after not making any last season.
Brian Hall (3-4) extended his hit streak to 10 games, one shy of his career-high, while Jed Lowrie (2-4, 3B, 2 RBI) and Donny Lucy (2-3, 2B, 2 RBI) both had an extra-base hit and drove in a pair of runs. Sam Fuld (2-4) added a pair of hits, while Jonny Ash extended his hit streak to seven games with a fourth inning single.
"It's very nice to open our Pac-10 season with a win like this," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess.
"There's three steps to the season with preseason games, the Pac-10 schedule and postseason play," added Romanczuk. "This is a transitional game, and it's important to get going early."
Danny Putnam started Stanford's six-run top of the second with a base hit before coming around to score on back-to-back doubles by John Mayberry, Jr. and Lucy, before Hall walked to load the bases. The Cardinal scored a pair of runs on the next play when UCLA first baseman Wes Whisler was charged with an error when he failed to come up with a throw from Bruin second baseman Mike Svetlic on a soft RBI groundout by Ryan Seawell, allowing Lucy to score all the way from second and Seawell to reach safely before Minaker capped the rally with his three-run homer just inside the left field foul pole.
UCLA got one run back in the bottom of the second when Brandon Averill singled with one out, moved to second on the first of Romanczuk's two balks and then scored two batters later on a two-out RBI single by Chris Denove.
UCLA closed the gap to 6-4 in the third when Ryan McCarthy blasted a three-run homer over the left field wall to bring home Svetlic and Whisler, who had doubled and singled to lead off the inning.
Stanford regained momentum with a pair of runs in the sixth to extend its advantage to 8-4. Hall led off the inning by bouncing a hard-hit one-hop single off the knee of UCLA third baseman Brandon Averill, then stole his team-leading sixth base of the season to move to second, advanced to third on a long fly out down the right field line by Seawell and scored on an RBI single up the middle by Minaker. Fuld then singled Minaker to third before Ash drove him home with a sacrifice fly. Fuld was thrown out on the play trying to advance to second but Minaker's run counted as he touched the plate before Fuld was tagged out on a throw from Bruin centerfielder Chad Concolino to Svetlic at second base.
The Cardinal picked up another run in the seventh when Lowrie led off the inning with a single, moved to second on a groundout by Mayberry and scored on Lucy's two-out RBI single.
Stanford closed out the game's scoring in the eighth on Lowrie's two-out, two-RBI triple off the rightcenter field wall to score Fuld and Ash. Fuld had started a rally with a two-out single that was extended when Ash was hit by a pitch.
Donny Lucy was hit by a pair of pitches and now leads the Cardinal with eight on the season.McCarthy (2-4, HR, 3 RBI), Denove (2-4, RBI) and Svetlic (2-4) had two hits each for the Bruins.
UCLA starter Casey Janssen (5-2) suffered the loss, allowing eight runs (seven earned) and eight hits over the first 6.0 innings. Daniel Reid (0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER) and Kevin Brophy (2.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 SO) also pitched in relief for the Bruins.
Stanford's Jeff Stimpson pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth for the Cardinal and has not been charged with a run in his first 11.2 innings over six career relief appearances.
UCLA left eight runners on base, while the Cardinal stranded seven.
UCLA recorded a pair of double plays, while Stanford had one.
The Cardinal also picked up its 12th errorless game of the season and its third in a row.Stanford continued winning in dominating fashion and has more than doubled its opponents' run total this season, scoring 220 runs compared to just 98 for its opponents. Stanford has been victorious by three or more runs in 19 of its 22 victories. Stanford's double-digit run game was his 11th of the season, while the double-digit hit contest was the team's 18th this season.
Fuld moved up on a couple of all-time lists and is now tied for third all-time at Stanford in at bats (923) and in sole possession of 10th-place for games played (225).
Romanczuk improved his career record at Stanford to 18-3 and ranks sixth on Stanford's all-time won-loss percentage list with an .857 mark.
The Cardinal has now won 25 of its last 27 true road games and 45 of its last 52 contests overall dating back to last season.
Stanford and UCLA will continue the first Pac-10 series for both teams on Saturday and Sunday with 1:00 pm starts scheduled each day. The Cardinal needs to win just one of the two games to extend its overall series win streak to 12 and take a series for the 20th time in its last 21 efforts. Stanford also is looking to extend its series win streak over UCLA to seven. The Cardinal is scheduled to start LHP Blake Holler (3-1, 3.03) on Saturday versus UCLA RHP Bryan Beck (2-2, 2.12). On Sunday, RHP Jeff Gilmore (5-1, 4.64) is slated to go for Stanford versus the left-handed Whisler (1-2, 4.91) of UCLA.
Stanford, who became the nation's unanimous No. 1 team for the first time this season on Monday and has been the top-ranked by Baseball America for six consecutive weeks, next returns to Sunken Diamond for a six-game homestand that begins with a non-conference game versus Santa Clara on Tuesday, April 13 (6 pm, PT), before continuing with a three-game Pac-10 home series against California (Friday-Sunday, April 16-18, 6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PT), as well as single contests versus Saint Mary's (Tuesday, April 20, 6 pm) and Sacramento State (Friday, April 23, 6 pm) the following week. Tickets are available for all 2004 regular season Stanford Baseball home games online at gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD.