April 30, 2004
Updated Season Stats
Stanford Baseball Tickets
Stanford, Calif. - No. 2 Stanford (33-6, 8-2 Pac-10) won its 11th straight game at home and its 18th in a row over Washington State (23-17, 5-8 Pac-10) with an 8-3 victory over the Cougars in the opener of a three-game series at Sunken Diamond on Friday. Mark Romanczuk (9-1) picked up his Pac-10 leading ninth victory of the season, allowing just three runs on seven hits and three walks with three strikeouts over the first 7.0 innings. Brian Hall (4-4, HR, 3 RBI) posted his seventh career four-hit game and continued his torrid hitting (.600, 24-40, 4 HR, 14 RBI) over his first 10 Pac-10 games. Donny Lucy (2-4, HR, 3 RBI) added a homer and three RBI, while Danny Putnam (2-3, 2B, 2 RBI) and Jed Lowrie (2-3) also had two-hit games for the Cardinal with Lucy (15) and Putnam (12) extending their career-high hit streaks.
"We got some clutch hitting and a good pitching performance from Mark Romanczuk tonight," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess.
"I felt like I had a good fastball and mixed my pitches well," added Romanczuk, who is 8-0 with two no decisions in his last 10 starts.
Romanczuk improved to 21-3 in his Stanford career with the victory and ranks fourth on Stanford's all-time won-loss percentage list with an .875 mark.
"I've played at an opportune time here at Stanford with our potent offense," explained Romanczuk when asked about his career winning percentage. "It's nice to pitch in front of this type of offense."
The victory coupled with a 7-3 loss by second-place Washington (8-5 Pac-10) at Oregon State increased Stanford's lead in the Pac-10 race over the Huskies to 1.5 games.
"We just have so many games left to play," commented Marquess about the significance of the victory in the Pac-10 standings. "We're just trying to win as many games as we can."
Washington State starter Aaron MacKenzie (5-5) suffered the loss as the Cardinal touched him for eight runs and 10 hits with two walks and three strikeouts over the first 5.0 innings. Dane Renkert tossed 3.0 innings of two-hit scoreless relief for the Cougars, walking two and striking out two.
Hall put Stanford ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the second with his eighth homer of the season over the left field wall that also scored Putnam, who was aboard with a leadoff walk.
Stanford came up with four more runs in the third when Putnam and Lucy combined for four RBI in back-to-back at bats. Sam Fuld started the inning with a leadoff walk and moved to second on a one-out single by Lowrie before Putnam drove in both runners with a two-RBI double. Lucy then followed with his ninth homer of the year down the left field line.
Stanford scored its final two runs of the game in the fifth when Lowrie and Putnam singled with one out to give the Cardinal runners on first and second before coming home on back-to-back RBI singles from Lucy and Hall.
Washington State ended Romanczuk's shutout bid in the top of the sixth when Freeman led off with a single, moved to second with one out on another single by Richardson and scored on an RBI single by McAngus.
McAngus gave the Cougars two more runs in the top of the eighth when he followed Richardson's leadoff walk with his sixth homer of the year, a two-run shot that chased Romanczuk. Stanford reliever Kodiak Quick (2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 SO) walked Jeremy Farrar and allowed a single to Justin Hart before inducing pinch-hitter Zach Franklin into a fielders' choice double play and striking out Kaeo Rubin two batters later to get out of the jam without any further damage.Quick also pitched a perfect ninth inning.
Washington State left 10 runners on base, while the Cardinal stranded six.
Neither team committed an error in the contest as the Cardinal played errorless baseball for the 16th time this season and maintained its Pac-10 leading .975 fielding percentage that is just two percentage points shy of the school record .977 mark set by the 2001 club.
Stanford also improved its Pac-10 leading batting average to .331 in the contest by outhitting the Cougars, 12-8, for its 14th double-digit hit contest in its last 15 games. In addition, the Cardinal lowered its season ERA to 3.83 by allowing just three earned runs.
Stanford continues to average 9.1 runs per game and has more than doubled the run total of its opponents (353-165). The Cardinal has won 29 of its games by three or more runs and is a perfect 19-0 in contests decided by five or more runs.
Stanford's two home runs in the contest increased its season total to 61 as the Cardinal continues its run at the school record of 102 set by the 1997 club. Stanford has hit 24 of its home runs in 10 Pac-10 contests and has homered at least once in 30 games this season.
Fuld (0-4) remained at 333 career hits after going hitless for the third consecutive game (0-15) and is 35 hits behind all-time Stanford and Pac-10 record holder John Gall (368, 1997-2000). His four at bats did increase his career total to 987, moving him past Paul Carey (983, 1987-90) into sole possession of second-place on Stanford's career at bat list. He is already Stanford's all-time record holder for runs scored and increased his all-time total to 253 with his third inning run. In addition, he ranks among the school's career leaders in triples (16, #3T), doubles (58, #6T) and games played (239, #7). Fuld has played in 232 consecutive Stanford games with 149 straight starts.
Stanford's 33-6 record is the second-best in school history after 39 games, ranking behind only the 34-4-1 mark posted by the 1967 club.
Stanford and Washington State will continue their three-game series Saturday (1 pm, PDT) and Sunday (12 pm, PDT). Stanford RHP Jeff Gilmore (6-2, 4.30) is scheduled to face Washington State RHP Aaron Trolia (4-3, 4.80) on Saturday. The Cardinal has won 27 of its last 28 games at Sunken Diamond and is 18-1 at home this season. Stanford has posted an overall record of 56-10 in its last 66 games dating back to last year.
Tickets are available for all 2004 regular season Stanford Baseball home games online at gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD.