Feb. 8, 2004
Fresno, Calif. - No. 6 Stanford (5-1) won the rubber game of a three-game series at Fresno State (1-2) on Sunday by a score of 10-3 as David O'Hagan (1-0) earned a victory by pitching 6.0 scoreless four-hit innings of relief and tied a career-high with eight strikeouts in the longest outing of his career. O'Hagan entered the game with no outs, the bases loaded and two runs already in during Fresno State rally in the bottom of the first inning, and limited the damage to just three runs. The Cardinal rallied from the early 3-0 deficit by scoring ten unanswered runs to end the game. John Mayberry, Jr. (3-4, RBI) and Danny Putnam (3-5, 2B, RBI) had three hits each to lead Stanford's season-high 16-hit attack as Putnam also extended his hit streak to seven games dating back to last season. Four other Stanford players - Donny Lucy (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI), Brian Hall (2-4), Jed Lowrie (2-5, 2B, RBI) and Adam Sorgi (2-5) - had two hits each.
The Cardinal has won 14 of its last 15 series overall and six straight series on the road, as well as 16 of its last 17 road games overall dating back to last season. Stanford has also won five straight series versus Fresno State dating back to the last Bulldog series win January 29-31, 1999.
Ryan Haag (3-5, SB) was the only Fresno State player with more than one hit and also stole the only base of the game by either team.
Haag and Richie Robnett had back-to-back singles to start Fresno State's first inning rally off Stanford starter Mark Jecmen, who did not record an out before O'Hagan relieved him. Jecmen then walked Kent Sakamoto and Kyle Wilson to force in a run and was taken out of the game after a bloop RBI single by Christian Vitters fell over the head of a retreating Sorgi at shortstop to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. Fresno State scored a third run when Tom Shannon hit a sacrifice fly to score Sakamoto and O'Hagan hit pinch-hitter David Gomez to reload the bases before striking out Chris Patrick and Nick Moresi to end the inning.
"It's important to try to get ahead of the hitters and just go right after them," said O'Hagan."We just wanted to stay close and have a chance to get back in the game, and that's what happened," added Stanford head coach Mark Marquess.
Stanford scored five runs in the top of the third inning to take a 5-3 lead. Lucy started the rally with a double down the left filed line before a single by Sorgi and a walk to Sam Fuld loaded the bases with no outs. Jonny Ash got the Cardinal on the scoreboard with an RBI single to score Lucy. The Cardinal tied the score on the next play when Lowrie hit a ground ball down the first base line that Wilson fielded cleanly but threw away at second base in an attempt to begin a double play, scoring Sorgi and Fuld. Putnam then bounced a single through the left side of the infield to plate Ash for a 4-3 Cardinal lead, chasing Fresno State starter and losing pitcher Matt Scott (0-1), who gave up five runs (four earned) and six hits in the first 2.0 innings as the first of six Bulldog pitchers. Rudy Quinonez relieved Scott and walked Mayberry to reload the bases. Quinonez nearly got out of the inning without any further damage by striking out Chris Carter and Hall before uncorking a wild pitch that allowed Lowrie to score Stanford's fifth run of the frame.
Stanford extended its lead to 8-3 with three runs in the top of the fifth. Lowrie started the rally with a single and moved to third on a double by Putnam before scoring when Vitters made an error on a hard-hit groundball to third base by Mayberry. Brandon Miller relieved Quinonez and struck out pinch-hitter Chris Minaker before walking Hall and allowing a two-RBI single by Lucy.
Stanford added two more runs in the top of the seventh for the final runs of the game when Fuld came through with a two-out, two-RBI single with the bases loaded to score Mayberry and Hall, who had both singled earlier in the inning.
Fresno State tied a school record by recording five double plays but also hit into three as the teams combined for eight.
Stanford left eight runners on base, while Fresno State stranded five of its seven runners in the first two innings.
Fuld (1-3, 2 RBI) now has 295 hits in his career and needs just five more to become only the fourth player in Stanford Baseball history to record 300 career hits. Fuld also walked twice in the game and now has a team-high nine bases on balls in the club's first six contests.
Stanford played errorless baseball for the fifth consecutive game and improved its season fielding percentage to .991. The Cardinal pitching staff recorded a 3.12 ERA in the series and has a 3.40 ERA on the season.
"I was very pleased that we didn't make an error in the entire series," said Marquess. "When you pitch well and play good defense, you will usually win some games."
Stanford begins a six-game homestand with a three-game series versus Kansas next Friday-Sunday, February 13-15 (6 pm, 1 pm, 11 am). The teams have never faced each other.