Feb. 20, 2005
Drew Stubbs' inside-the-park homer to center field on the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth inning lifted No. 4 Texas (11-0) to a stunning 5-4 victory over No. 6 Stanford (7-5) and completed a three-game Longhorn sweep in the finale of a non-conference series played in front of a season-high crowd of 6720 at Disch-Falk Field. Jed Lowrie (2-4, HR, RBI) homered for the fourth consecutive game with his seventh homer of the season for the Cardinal, who led 3-0 until a four-run Longhorn sixth started the comeback win. Stubbs (2-5, HR, 3 RBI) also had a key two-out, two-RBI single to cap Texas' four-run sixth and was the only Longhorn with more than one hit.
Adam Sorgi (2-4), John Mayberry, Jr. (2-4) and Michael Taylor (2-5, 2B) added two-hit days for the Cardinal as Stanford outhit the Longhorns for the second straight day, 12-6, but left a season-high 12 runners on base and hit into three double plays with each of its last two innings ending in a twin killing.
J. Brent Cox (1-0) recorded the victory for the Longhorns, holding the Cardinal scoreless over the final 1.2 innings despite allowing two hits and a walk but inducing each of Stanford's final two double plays.
Matt Leva (0-1) suffered the loss for the Cardinal, giving up three runs on three hits and three walks over the final 2.2 innings in relief of starter Nolan Gallagher (5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 5 SO).
Stanford scored twice in the top of the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. Chris Minaker got the rally going when he was hit by a pitch before he moved to second on a single by Sorgi and scored on pinch-hitter Brendan Domaracki's RBI single. Sorgi crossed the plate on the next play on Robby Hudson's error when the Longhorn second baseman threw the ball away on the back end of a potential inning-ending double play ball hit by Chris Lewis.
Lowrie increased Stanford's advantage to 3-0 in the fifth with his long two-out homer down the right field line. Mayberry restarted the rally with a single to extend his season-high hit streak to eight games and Minaker beat out an infield single to knock out Longhorn starter Randy Boone (4.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) before Texas rightfielder Thomas Incaviglia's nice play on a line drive hit by Sorgi ended the threat.
Gallagher kept the Longhorn bats silent on just one hit in 5.1 innings of work before Texas' bats came alive with four runs in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. Carson Kainer singled for the first Texas hit since a Seth Johnston one-out single in the first frame before Incaviglia was credited with a RBI triple on a soft line drive that fell at the feet of a diving Taylor in rightcenter field to plate Kainer and knock Gallagher out of the contest. Van Hook squeezed home Incaviglia to cut the Cardinal lead to 3-2 and Beamon restarted a two-out rally with a two-out single. Leva then walked pinch-hitter Dooley Prince and Hudson before Stubbs' gave the Longhorns a 4-3 advantage with his clutch two-RBI single.
Stanford tied the score at 4-4 in the eighth off Longhorn reliever Clayton Stewart when Domaracki walked with one out, moved to third on a single by Lewis and scored when Jim Rapoport beat out a bouncing ball up the middle for an RBI infield single. Taylor then singled to load the bases but Cox came on force John Hester into an inning-ending double play.
Stanford looked to be in business again in the top of the ninth. Lowrie and Mayberry led off the frame with back-to-back singles but Lowrie was forced out on a close play at third when Minaker tried to bunt the runners up a base. Sorgi then walked to load the bases with just one out but Domaracki hit a comebacker to Cox that ended in a 1-2-3 double play to end the threat.
"We had three close games with a chance to win all of them," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess about his club that dropped three contests to the still unbeaten Longhorns by a total of just four runs. "But in fairness to Texas, they came up with the win each time."Stanford was swept in a regular season three-game series for the first time since dropping three in a row at Cal State Fullerton from January 31 - February 2, 2003, a span of 32 regular season three-game sets.
Stanford will return home where the Cardinal is a perfect 6-0 this season to host USC in a three-game non-conference series next Friday-Sunday, February 25-27 (5 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PT).
STANFORD NOTES
Stanford's current three-game losing streak is the team's longest since the Cardinal was swept at Cal State Fullerton (January 31 - February 2, 2003)
Stanford has not dropped four straight games since April 9-14, 1996, when the Cardinal lost at San Jose State (April 9) before being swept in a three-game road series at USC (April 12-14)
Stanford fell to 1-5 on the road this season by dropping its 12th road game in its last 18 contests away from Sunken Diamond dating back to May 7, 2004
Texas ended Stanford's regular season series win streak against the Longhorns at four by sweeping the series
Stanford has homered in 11 of its first 12 games and has outhomered its opponents this season, 16-7
Jed Lowrie has homered in four straight contests and currently leads the Pac-10 with seven homers in Stanford's first 12 contests
Michael Taylor posted his fourth consecutive two-hit game
John Mayberry, Jr. extended his season-high and team-best hit streak to eight games
Adam Sorgi posted his fifth multiple-hit game in his last six contests
Nolan Gallagher pitched a career-best 5.1 innings and tied a career-high with five strikeouts but also walked a career-high five batters
Matt Leva allowed his first two runs of the season after beginning the campaign with 8.1 consecutive scoreless frames
The 6720 fans marked the largest crowd the Cardinal has played in front of this season
Stanford reached double-digits in hits for the eighth time this season
Stanford has now lost four consecutive regular season road series for the first time since the Cardinal dropped seven straight regular season road series from April 29, 1988 - April 10, 1989