Feb. 22, 2004
Box Score
Updated Season Stats
Tickets
Stanford, Calif. - No. 4 Stanford (10-2) picked up its eighth straight series victory with an 8-1 win over No. 6 Texas (11-2) in the rubber game between the clubs before a season-high crowd of 2872 on Sunday at Sunken Diamond. Stanford's Sam Fuld (2-4, RBI) collected his 300th career hit with an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh inning, becoming only the fifth player in Stanford history to reach the milestone. John Mayberry, Jr. and Jed Lowrie hit two-run homers for the Cardinal in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively, while Lowrie added a sacrifice fly for a three-RBI contest. Blake Holler earned his first career victory in his debut as a collegiate starter by limiting the Longhorns to just one run and three hits with five strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work. Kodiak Quick pitched 3.0 scoreless innings of relief to earn his first save of the campaign.
"I wasn't really thinking about it (300 hits) too much," said Fuld, who received a standing ovation from both Texas and Stanford fans after the milestone was announced. "It was more about doing the things that I needed to do to help our team win."
"The biggest thing that we had happen to our program this year was to have Sam Fuld come back for his senior year," added Stanford head coach Marquess.
Stanford has now won four consecutive regular season series versus Texas dating back to the 2001 campaign and holds a 17-13-1 advantage in the all-time series between the collegiate baseball national powers.
"This series was a good test for us," analyzed Marquess. "It was kind of a measuring stick for where we are."
The Longhorns went down in order only once, in the top of the ninth, but hit into three double plays that helped end potential rallies in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings. On the final double play, Texas had runners on first and second base with one out when cleanup hitter Taylor Teagarden hit a fly ball to deep center field that Fuld chased down near the warning track with a spectacular catch and easily doubled Michael Hollimon off second base.
"It makes it a lot easier when you have a great defense behind you," confirmed Holler. "It's easier just to throw strikes and let your defense do the work. Once I got settled in everything went great, and I felt like I was in a good groove."
Stanford scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning when Danny Putnam reached on a fielding error by Texas pitcher Justin Simmons when he dropped the ball while covering the bag after Putnam had grounded to Teagarden at first base. Putnam moved to second on a ground out by Mayberry and scored two outs later on a clutch two-out, two-RBI double by Brian Hall.
Texas tied the score in the top of the third when Dooley Prince led off with a triple and scored two batters later on an RBI ground out by Seth Johnston.
The Cardinal took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Putnam walked with one out and Mayberry followed with his team-leading fourth home run over the left field wall.
Stanford extended its advantage to 7-1 with four more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Jim Rapoport started the rally by leading off the inning with a single for his first collegiate hit and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Chris Lewis before scoring on an RBI single from Fuld, who advanced to second on the play when Texas centerfielder Drew Stubbs failed to field the ball cleanly for one of Texas' three errors. Jonny Ash followed with an RBI double to extend his hit streak to seven games to drive in Fuld before Lowrie followed with a long two-run homer off a light pole behind the fence in rightcenter field that also extended his hit streak to eight games, one shy of his career-high.
The Cardinal added a final run in the bottom of the seventh when Fuld led off with his single, stole second base, moved to third on a ground out by Ash and scored on Lowrie's sacrifice fly.Simmons (2-1) took his first loss of the season for the Longhorns, allowing six runs (five earned) on five hits with four strikeouts over the first 4.1 innings.
Curtis Thigpen (2-3) was the only Texas player with more than one hit.
The teams combined to leave just eight runners on base, six by Texas and only two by the Cardinal.
"We got some big hits today that we weren't able to get yesterday," said Marquess, in reference to the Cardinal leaving 13 on base in a 9-6 loss to the Longhorns on Saturday.
Nine of Stanford's 10 wins this season have now come by more than three runs.
The Cardinal captured its 16th series victory in its last 17 attempts despite hitting just .208 over the three games as the Longhorns helped the Cardinal cause with 10 errors.
Stanford will next host Rikkyo University of Japan in an exhibition game at Sunken Diamond on Tuesday, February 24 (2 pm, PT). Admission is free.
The Cardinal will then travel to local rival California for a three-game non-conference series next Friday-Sunday, February 27-29 (2 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PT) to begin a stretch where Stanford is scheduled to play 15 of 18 contests on the road. Stanford has won 10 straight games versus the Golden Bears, including a six-game season sweep in 2003.
Stanford does not return to Sunken Diamond for a regular season home series until hosting Cal Poly from March 26-28 (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PT). Tickets are available for all 2004 regular season Stanford Baseball home games online at gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD.