April 15, 2005
Tempe, Ariz. - Arizona State (23-15, 4-3 Pac-10) opened a three-game Pac-10 series with a 9-2 victory over No. 14 Stanford (20-12, 4-3 Pac-10) on a warm Friday evening at Packard Stadium. The Sun Devils scored all nine of their runs in the first four innings, while Arizona State starter Erik Averill (7-2) earned the win on the mound by holding the Cardinal to two runs and five hits in 8.0 innings of work with five strikeouts and just one walk. Zechry Zinicola held Stanford scoreless in the ninth to complete the five-hitter.
Jeff Larish (2-3, HR, 3 RBI) led five Arizona State players with a pair of hits each as the Sun Devils outhit the Cardinal, 12-5. Travis Buck (2-3, SB), Tuffy Gosewisch (2-4, 2 2B, RBI), Joey Hooft (2-4, RBI) and Seth Dhaenens (2-4) added two hits each. Joe Persichina drove in a pair of runs.
Jim Rapoport extended his career-high hit streak to 11 games for the Cardinal with the second homer of his career, a solo shot in the fifth inning.
Stanford starter Mark Romanczuk (5-4) took the loss, allowing all nine Arizona State runs on a season-high 12 hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Erik Davis retired all three batters he faced in the ninth.
Stanford's only lead of the game came when the Cardinal scored a run in the top of the first. Adam Sorgi doubled down the left field line with one out and scored on a soft line drive single by John Mayberry, Jr. to left center to put the Cardinal ahead, 1-0.
Arizona State quickly responded by picking up three runs in its half of the first to take a 3-1 lead. The ASU rally started when Rocky Laguna was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame before Gosewisch tied the contest two batters later with an RBI double to left center. After a walk to Larish, Colin Curtis narrowly beat the throw on the back end of a potential inning-ending double play ball for a fielders choice. Romanczuk then uncorked a wild pitch to score Gosewisch and Hooft bounced an RBI single up the middle that plated Curtis.
The Sun Devils added four more runs in the third to take a 7-1 advantage with a two-out, two-RBI bases loaded single by Persichina highlighting the rally. Buck led off the inning with a single and stole second before scoring on an RBI single from Larish. Hooft got the rally going again with a two-out single before Dhaenes beat out an infield single to load the bases for Persichina. The Sun Devils scored their final run of the frame when J.J. Sferra laid down a bunt single to score Persichina.
Larish drilled a long two-run homer down the right field line in the fourth for the final two Arizona State runs of the evening. Buck, who had beat out an infield hit to lead off the inning, also scored on the Pac-10 leader's 14th long ball of the season.
The loss dropped Stanford into a fourth-place tie in the Pac-10 standings with Arizona State. Arizona leads the league with a 9-1 conference record after a 7-5 victory over second-place Oregon State (5-2) in the series opener between the conference's top two teams in Tucson on Friday. USC (6-3) sits percentage points behind the Beavers in third-place. California (5-5), Washington (3-4), UCLA (0-6) and Washington State (0-9) round out the conference standings.
Stanford and Arizona State continue their three-game set on Saturday (6:30 pm, MT) and Sunday (1:00 pm, MT). Stanford is slated to start RHP Jeff Gilmore (5.1, 4.03) versus Arizona State RHP Jason Urquidez (5-3, 3.74). Arizona State has named RHP Pat Bresnehan (3-3, 4.22) as its probable starter for Sunday, while the Cardinal has not announced a starter for the series finale.
STANFORD NOTES
Jim Rapoport extended his career-high hit streak to 11 games, the longest by a Stanford player this season, with his fifth inning homer and hit safely for the 17th time in his last 18 contests
John Hester had his career-high hit streak end at eight games
Michael Taylor had his career-high-tying hit streak stopped at six contests
Stanford was held to five or fewer hits for the sixth time this season
Stanford had a five-game road win streak snapped
Stanford played errorless baseball for the 14th time this season to improve its fielding percentage to .979, two percentage points above the school record of .977 set by the 2001 club
Stanford played on television (AZ-TV) for the first time this year
Stanford's pitching staff now has a 3.98 ERA as the Cardinal is attempting to record an ERA under 4.00 for the fourth time in the last six seasons