April 8, 2004
Updated Season Stats
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Corvallis, Ore. - No. 1 Stanford (24-4, 3-1 Pac-10) scored seven runs in the final two innings and John Mayberry, Jr. hit a pair of home runs in an 11-8 victory over Oregon State (18-10, 3-4 Pac-10) in the opener of a three-game series Thursday at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. Stanford trailed 7-4 before tying the game with a three-run eighth inning and scored four more runs in the ninth to win for the ninth time in its last 10 games. Donny Lucy's two-RBI single in the ninth proved to be the game-winner, while Brian Hall hit a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth two batters after Mayberry led off the eighth with a tape measure blast.
"We just had to stay patient, and we were going to come through offensively," said Mayberry.
Stanford has now come back in 12 of its 24 wins and has a 4-4 record when trailing or tied after eight innings.
Mayberry (2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI) hit a pair of homers for the second time this season and is now tied for the team lead with eight, while Hall (2-5, HR, 2 RBI) extended his career-high hit streak to 13 games, which is the longest by a Stanford player this season. Lucy (2-5, 2 RBI), Jed Lowrie (2-5, 2B) and Chris Minaker (2-5, RBI) also added two hits each. All nine Stanford starters had at least one hit, including a first inning inside-the-park homer by Jonny Ash that extended his hit streak to 10 in a row.
David O'Hagan (4-0) picked up the victory, allowing just a solo homer to lead off the ninth by Chris Campos and striking out three in 2.0 innings of work. O'Hagan entered the game to start the bottom of the eighth after the Cardinal tied the score with three runs in the top of the eighth.
Jonny Ash reached safely on an error by Oregon State shortstop Tony Calderon to start the top of the ninth, making three of the four runs that scored in the inning unearned. Danny Putnam then had a key double down the right field line two batters later and Mayberry was walked intentionally to load the bases for the Lucy, who greeted Beaver reliever Jared Sanders by fisting a two-RBI single into right field to score Ash and Putnam. Pinch-hitter Jim Rapoport came through with a two-out RBI single two batters later to score Mayberry and Minaker finished the rally with an RBI single to plate Lucy.
Mayberry started Stanford's comeback when he led off the eighth with his second homer of the contest. Hall's two-run homer two batters later was a high fly ball that just cleared the fence a few feet inside the left field foul pole and scored Lucy, who had followed Mayberry's homer with a single to restart the rally.
Campos (2-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) and Paul Richie (2-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) both doubled, homered and drove in three runs for Oregon State, while Andy Jenkins (2-4, RBI) and Tyler Graham (2-4, RBI, SB) added two-hit games.
Kevin Gunderson (5-1), the fourth of six Beaver pitchers, suffered his first loss of the season. Gunderson allowed three runs (one earned) on one hit and one walk with one strikeout, while recording two outs. Andy Baldwin (5.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO) was effective as Oregon State's starter and left the game with a 6-4 lead and one out in the top of the sixth. Nathan Pendley (1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 SO), Jake McCormick (0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 SO), Jared Sanders (0.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R) and Kevin Joslyn (0.1 IP, 1 SO) also pitched in relief for Oregon State.
Stanford starter Mark Romanczuk (5.1 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO) got off the hook and received a no-decision to maintain his 6-1 record when the Cardinal mounted its comeback. Jeff Stimpson (1.1 IP, 1 BB) and Mark Jecmen (0.1 IP, 1 SO) helped keep Stanford close with impressive relief performances.
Stanford got on the board first on a strange play in the top of the first inning. Ash was credited with his inside-the-park homer when he hit a fly ball deep in the rightcenter field gap. Oregon State rightfielder Jacob Ellsbury dove for the ball and seemingly made the catch while crashing into the fence. However, the umpires ruled that Ellsbury did not catch the ball and Ash continued around the bases, scoring before Beaver centerfielder Aaron Matthews could retrieve the ball and get it to the plate. Ellsbury remained on the ground for several minutes after the play but walked off on his own power before leaving the contest and being replaced by Campos.
Oregon State came up with five runs in the bottom of the second to go out in front 5-1, equaling the most runs scored off the Cardinal in a single inning this season. The rally started when Andy Jenkins reached on an error after hitting a hard ground ball that one-hopped off the chest of Ash at third. Ash was able to retrieve the ball but his hurried throw skipped by Mayberry at first base. Mathews then singled up the middle to set up a three-run homer by Richie to leftcenter field. Chris Kunda restarted the rally by walking and Graham singled down the right field line to put runners on first and third before putting himself into scoring position by stealing second. Campos capped the rally with a two-RBI double.
Stanford got three runs back in the third on Mayberry's blast to straight away center field that followed a one-out double by Lowrie and a walk to Putnam, cutting the Beaver lead to 5-4.
Oregon State added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to increase its lead to 7-4. In the fifth, Mike Lissman walked to lead off the inning but was cut down by Lucy attempting to steal second base. Shea McFeely restarted the rally with a double and scored on a clutch two-out RBI single up the middle by Jenkins. Richie doubled to lead off the sixth, moved to third on an infield single by Kunda and scored on an RBI single by Graham. The Beavers still had runners on second and third with only one out before Stimpson came on in relief of Romanczuk and got the Cardinal out of the jam by retiring Lissman on a groundout to Ash at third base and McFeely on a line out to Sam Fuld in center field.
Fuld continued to climb several Stanford career lists and is now second in runs scored (239), third in hits (320) and at bats (938), tied for third in triples (16), seventh in doubles (57), and tenth in games played (228).
Stanford has now won 27 of its last 30 true road games and has a 47-8 record in its last 55 contests dating back to last season.
Stanford left eight runners on base, while the Beavers stranded five.
Oregon State made a pair of errors that helped the Cardinal scored three unearned runs, while one Stanford error led to a single unearned Beaver run. Neither team turned a double play.Stanford's three-run victory marked the 20th time in 24 wins that the Cardinal has been victorious by three or more runs as the team has more than doubled the run output of its opponents (251-125).
Stanford scored in double digits for the 13th time this season and outhit the Beavers, 15-11, to record its 21st double-digit contest of the year.
Lowrie, a native of Salem, Oregon, was playing a collegiate game in his home state for the first time in his career.
"This was a big game for me," said Lowrie. "I had some butterflies and jitters at the beginning."
Stanford's victory moved the Cardinal into first-place early in the Pac-10 season as the Cardinal win coupled with losses Thursday by Arizona (4-3 Pac-10), Washington (4-3 Pac-10) and USC (2-2 Pac-10) put the Cardinal one-half game in front of the Wildcats and the Huskies, as well as one game ahead of the Trojans.
Stanford and Oregon State will continue their series with single games on Friday (5 pm, PT) and Saturday (12 pm, PT) before taking Sunday off for the Easter holiday. The Cardinal needs to win just one of the two contests to extend its series win streak to 13 and win for the 21st time in its last 22 series overall. Stanford has also won four of its last five meetings with Oregon State.
The Cardinal next returns to Sunken Diamond for a six-game homestand that begins with a non-conference contest 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, PT) and Sacramento State (Friday, April 23, 6 pm, PT) the following week. The first game of the California series will be televised on a tape-delayed basis by Fox Sports Net and shown on Saturday, April 17 (3 pm, PT).
Tickets are available for all 2004 regular season Stanford Baseball home games online at gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD.