May 8, 2004
Updated Season Stats
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Seattle, Wash. - No. 1 Stanford (37-7, 11-3 Pac-10) rebounded with a 7-2 win at No. 21 Washington (27-15-1, 11-6 Pac-10) on Saturday at Husky Ballpark to even a key three-game conference series between the top two teams in the Pac-10. Jeff Gilmore (8-2) picked up his eighth victory of the season, striking out a career-high-tying eight batters while allowing just two runs on six hits and a pair of walks. Jed Lowrie (3-4, 3 2B, RBI) had a career-high three doubles to lead the Cardinal offense.
"Jeff Gilmore pitched a phenomenal game today," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "Offensively, we got enough runs, but it was pitching that did it for us today."
"It was very important for to get a win today after an emotional loss last night," added Lowrie, who became the first Stanford player to hit three doubles in a game this season and regained his hold on the team's batting average race with a .398 season mark.
The victory moved Stanford back to 1.5 games ahead of the second-place Huskies, who had pulled to within a half-game of the Cardinal with a 3-2 victory in 10 innings in Friday night's series-opener. Stanford and Washington will play the rubber game of the series on Sunday (1 pm, PDT). Stanford has announced RHP Greg Reynolds (3-0, 5.12) as its probable starter, while Washington is slated to go with RHP Tim Lincecum (6-1, 3.64). Lincecum pitched 2.0 innings of scoreless relief in Washington's victory on Friday.
Stanford, who has won 12 of its last 14 games overall, needs a victory in the final game of the series to extend its regular season three-game series win streak to 16. The Cardinal has not lost a regular season three-game series since Arizona took two-of-three at Stanford (April 25-27, 2003).
"It's an important series but no important than last week or next week," added Marquess when asked about the importance of the current Washington series.
Chris Minaker (3-5, RBI) added a career-high-tying three-hit game for Stanford, while Sam Fuld (2-4, 2 RBI) and Danny Putnam (2-4) had two hits each as the Cardinal outhit the Huskies, 13-6. Stanford's double-digit hit effort was its 18th in the last 20 games and its 35th of the season.
David O'Hagan pitched 2.0 hitless innings with one strikeout in relief of Gilmore to close out the game.
Nick Batkoski accounted for the second of Washington's two runs with a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth for his second long ball of the season, while Taylor Johnson (2-3) was the only Washington player with more than one hit.
Washington reliever Trent Baysinger (3-3) took the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts over 3.2 innings of middle relief.
Washington struck first with a run in the bottom of the third. Johnson and Brent Lillibridge led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Johnson then moved over to third when Greg Isaacson grounded into a fielders choice before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Zach Clem.
The Cardinal took a 2-1 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. Minaker got things going with a single up the middle before moving to second on a wild pitch and scoring on Lowrie's first double. Putnam then singled to move Lowrie to third and Donny Lucy walked to load the bases. Washington starter Matt Kasser (4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) then forced Brian Hall into a double play that helped quell a possible big inning but allowed Lowrie to score. Kasser got out of the jam without any further damage when he struck out Chris Carter to end the inning, leaving Putnam stranded on third.
Batkoski's homer to lead off the bottom of the fourth tied the score at 2-2.
Stanford took a 4-2 advantage with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Baysinger replaced Kasser to begin the inning and hit Jim Rapoport to start the Stanford rally. Chris Lewis then singled down the right field line to move Rapoport to third and advanced to second when Johnson had a hard time picking up the ball for the first of three Washington errors. Fuld then came through with a sacrifice fly to score Rapoport with the go-ahead run before the game was delayed for 57 minutes due to rain. When play resumed, Minaker welcomed Baysinger back to the mound with an RBI single on the first pitch he saw to score Lewis.
Gilmore, who had allowed two runs on five hits over his first 4.0 innings of work prior to the rain delay, allowed only a one-out walk to Isaacson in the fifth and a two-out single by Johnson in the seventh after returning to the mound to pitch an additional 3.0 innings after the stoppage of play.
"I warmed up as if I was a closer before I came back out again," explained Gilmore on his approach to the rain delay situation. "I didn't want to try to save anything. I just wanted to pitch one good inning at a time as long as I could go until I got fatigued."
Stanford added single insurance runs in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings.
The Cardinal scored an unearned run in the sixth when Isaacson's error on a groundball by Lewis up the middle with two outs extended the Cardinal inning before Fuld came up with a clutch two-out, two-RBI single to score Hall, who had led off the frame with a single.
Carter drew a bases loaded walk in the seventh to force home Lowrie. The Cardinal had loaded the bases when Lowrie doubled to lead off the inning, Putnam walked and Lucy moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt before Hall was intentionally walked. Baysinger was able to limit the damage when he struck out Rapoport and pinch-hitter Adam Sorgi with the bases loaded to end the threat.
Stanford's Cameron Matthews added an unearned run for the Cardinal in the ninth after pinch-running for Carter, who led off the inning with a single. Matthews went from first to third on an errant pickoff attempt by Washington reliever Richie Lentz (1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 SO) and scored on a suicide squeeze from Rapoport.
Stanford was able to put the leadoff hitter on in each of the first seven innings. The Cardinal failed to score in each of the first three frames as Washington turned double plays in the first and third innings to erase Stanford baserunners. Stanford did bring the leadoff hitter around to score each inning from the fourth through seventh frames.
Washington finished with three double plays, while the Cardinal turned one to help limit a Husky rally in the fourth.
Stanford did not homer for the second consecutive game for only the second time this season. The Cardinal has 74 homers on the season and is threatening to break the school record of 102 set by the 1997 club. Stanford has homered at least once in 33 of its 44 games this season.
Stanford made just one error in the contest and maintained its .975 fielding percentage that is just two percentage points shy of the school record .977 mark set by the 2001 club. Stanford's batting average moved up a point to .334, which is three percentage points behind the school record .337 posted by the 1981 team. Stanford improved its team ERA to 3.84 as the Cardinal has posted a 2.45 ERA and a .200 opponents' batting average in the first two games of the series. The Cardinal leads the Pac-10 in all three categories.
Stanford continued its domination of opponents with the five-run victory. Stanford has more than doubled the run total of its opponents this season (399-186) as 32 of its 37 wins have been by three or more runs as the Cardinal also remained a perfect 22-0 in games decided by five or more runs.
Stanford also came back from behind to win for the 16th time this season.
Fuld's two hits moved his career total to 339 and within 29 of all-time Stanford and Pac-10 record holder John Gall (368, 1997-2000). His four at bats also moved his career total to 1008, just 19 shy of Gall's school record of 1027. Fuld is already Stanford's all-time leader for runs scored (254), while also ranking among the school's all-time lists in triples (16, #3T), doubles (58, #6T) and games played (244, #7). He has played in 237 consecutive Stanford games with 154 straight starts.
Tickets are available for all 2004 regular season Stanford Baseball home games online at gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD.