March 24, 2004
Updated Season Stats
Stanford Baseball Tickets
Santa Clara, Calif. - Jed Lowrie (2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI) had his first career two-homer game, scored a career-high four runs and tied a career-high with four RBI to lead No. 1 Stanford (17-3) to a convincing 18-4 victory over Santa Clara (12-14) in a non-conference game at Buck Shaw Stadium on Wednesday. Chris Carter (1-2, HR, 4 RBI) also homered and drove in a career-high four runs as the Cardinal scored nine of its season-high 18 runs in the top of the third inning to break the game open. Lowrie's second homer of the contest capped the rally, which marked the most runs scored by the Cardinal in an inning since the team also scored nine in a 17-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton on February 1, 2002. Lowrie also hit a mammoth solo shot into the parking structure behind the right field fence in the top of the first inning.
"We're being patient and waiting for our pitch," said Lowrie about the team's seven homers in the last two games. "It's a credit to everyone on this team."
"This was just one of those nights when you swing the bats well," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "We hit the ball very well tonight and Jed Lowrie is obviously swinging a really hot bat."
Lowrie, who has been listed on Baseball America's Player of the Year watch list, is now hitting .438 with seven homers and 31 RBI in the team's first 20 games.
John Mayberry, Jr. (3-5, 2 RBI), Brian Hall (2-5, 2B, 2 RBI), Danny Putnam (2-6, RBI) and Jonny Ash (2-5, 2B) added multiple-hit games for the Cardinal, while Sam Fuld (1-4, 2 RBI) drove in a pair of runs and Donny Lucy tied a career-high with three runs scored. Putnam extended his team-high hit streak to eight games.
Stanford also had a season-high 16 RBI in the contest.
Stanford starter Jeff Gilmore (4-1) earned the victory as the pitcher of record during a predetermined pitching rotation, spreading out two runs and five hits with two strikeouts over the first 3.0 innings. Cardinal relievers Mark Jecmen (1.0 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO), Matt Leva (2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO), Kodiak Quick (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO), Jonny Dyer (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO) and Matt Manship (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO) did not allow any earned runs.
Santa Clara starter Scott Lonergan (1-1) took the loss, allowing four runs on three hits and a walk with two strikeouts over the first 2.0 innings.
Will Thompson had a solo homer for the Broncos in the bottom of the first but no Santa Clara player had multiple-hits or RBI.
Stanford has now won 23 of its last 25 games on the road and is 9-2 away from Sunken Diamond this year.
"You can definitely feel something different about this team," said Lowrie. "There is a certain energy and everyone is in it together. Everyone is trying to use their own abilities for the betterment of the team. This team has balance offensively, defensively and pitching."
The Cardinal has won 26 of its last 28 meetings versus Santa Clara.
Lowrie's first home run with two outs in the top of the first inning put the Cardinal up 1-0 before the Broncos came to bat.
Santa Clara answered back with two runs in the bottom of the first to take a brief 2-1 lead. Robert Perry blasted a one-out triple that one-hopped the rightcenter field fence and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael Thompson before Will Thompson blasted his fifth homer of the season, a solo shot to right field.
Stanford regained the lead for good when Carter's three-run homer to leftcenter field in the top of the second gave the Cardinal a 4-2 advantage. Lucy had drawn a one-out walk to start the really and moved to second on a single by Hall.
"We've really been working on hitting the ball to the opposite field during practice, and I just wanted to make my contribution to that," said the left-handed Carter about his homer that was the team's fifth opposite field homer in the last two games. "We've got a lot power on this team."
Stanford thwarted a possible Santa Clara rally in the bottom of the second. The Broncos put runners on first and third base with just one out on singles by Mark Folgner and Matt McColgan before Gilmore picked McColgan off first base after faking to third, the second time this season Gilmore has picked a runner off first after faking to third. Gilmore then ended the threat by striking out Eric Newton.
Lowrie capped Stanford's nine-run third with his second homer of the game, a two-run shot over the rightcenter field fence. Santa Clara reliever Scott Shapiro came in to start the inning and pitched to six Cardinal batters without recording an out. Ash started the big inning off with a single, Lowrie walked and the runners moved to second and third base on a wild pitch before Putnam brought home Ash when he beat out an infield single deep in the hole behind second base. Mayberry followed with a line drive single to left field to score Lowrie before Lucy and Hall drew back-to-back walks to force in a run and chase Shapiro. Carter greeted reliever Deke Dormer with a sacrifice fly to score Mayberry. Lucy and Hall moved to second and third on a Dormer wild pitch and the Cardinal loaded the bases on a walk to Sorgi. Fuld followed with a two-run single up the middle to plate Lucy and Hall, before Sorgi scored on the third Bronco wild pitch of the inning and Lowrie hit his two-run homer.
The Cardinal added another run in the top of the fourth inning when Lucy singled with one out and scored on an RBI double by Hall.
Santa Clara picked up two unearned runs without a hit in bottom of the fourth when Ryan Chiarelli and McColgan scored when Hall dropped a fly ball down the right field line hit by Newton with two outs. Jecmen had retired the first two batters before hitting Chiarelli and walking McColgan to start the rally.
Stanford scored an unearned run in the top of the fifth when Ash doubled to lead off the inning and scored when Putnam's one-out grounder bounced off the foot of Santa Clara's Will Thompson at first base.
The Cardinal scored a run in the seventh inning when Lowrie led off the inning by drawing his second walk of the game before Putnam and Mayberry came through with back-to-back singles.Stanford scored the final two runs of the game in the top of the eighth. Chris Minaker led off the frame with a single and scored on Jim Rapoport's first career triple. Lowrie brought home Rapoport two batters later with an RBI groundout.
Fuld moved into fifth-place on Stanford's all-time at bat list, running his career total to 903 and passing Mark Davis (901, 1983-86).
Stanford left seven runners on base, while the Broncos stranded six.
Stanford was official credited with a come-from-behind victory in the contest after trailing 2-1 early in the game. The Cardinal has now come from behind in 10 of its first 17 games. The 14-run winning margin was the biggest of the year for Stanford, who has now picked up 15 of its 17 victories by three or more runs and more than doubled its opponents' run total (175-86).
Stanford will return home to Sunken Diamond for the first time since February 22 when the Cardinal takes on Cal Poly in a three-game series this Friday-Sunday, March 26-28 (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm).
Tickets are available for all 2004 regular season Stanford Baseball home games online at gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD.