April 17, 2005
Tempe, Ariz. -- Arizona State (25-15, 6-3 Pac-10) completed a three-game sweep of No. 14 Stanford (20-14, 4-5 Pac-10) with a wild 10-9 victory over the Cardinal in the finale of a three-game set at Packard Stadium on Sunday. Travis Buck's bases-clearing three-RBI double keyed a seven-run Arizona State sixth inning that erased a two-run deficit and the Sun Devils held off a late Stanford rally with the game ending on a line drive double play in the top of the ninth inning.
Buck finished the game 2-for-5 with his clutch double and three RBI. Colin Curtis (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, SB) and Seth Dhaenens (2-4, 2 RBI) had two hits and two RBI each for the Sun Devils, while Zechry Zinicola (2-4) also had a two-hit contest.
The Sun Devils used six pitchers in the contest with reliever Tony Barnette (3-1) being credited with the win despite giving up two runs on three hits and one walk in his 1.0 innings of work. Jason Urquidez picked up his second save of the season, allowing just one hit and striking out in 1.1 innings to thwart Stanford's comeback. Pat Bresnehan (4.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO) started the contest, while Brett Bordes (1.0 IP, 1 H), Erik Averill (0.1 IP) and Zinicola (1.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 SO) joined Barnette and Urquidez out of the bullpen.
Jim Rapoport (4-5, HR, career-high 4 RBI, SB) and Adam Sorgi (4-5, 2B, RBI) both equaled career-bests with four-hit games in the top two positions of a starting lineup that had Rapoport hitting in the leadoff spot for the first time in his career. Four other Stanford players - Jed Lowrie (2-3, RBI), Chris Minaker (2-4, 2B), John Mayberry, Jr. (2-5, 2 RBI) and John Hester (2-5, RBI) - had two hits each as the Cardinal outhit Arizona State, 17-11.
Greg Reynolds (0-2) took the loss for the Cardinal, allowing five runs on just one hit but walking three batters and hitting another while recording just two outs (one strikeout) in Arizona State's seven-run sixth. Stanford starter Matt Leva (5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO) gave way to Reynolds with a 5-3 lead and runners on first and second base with no outs in the bottom of the sixth. Matt Manship was not charged with a run over the final 2.1 innings of work by the Cardinal pitching staff but did allow all three inherited runners to score after relieving Reynolds with two outs and the bases loaded in the ASU sixth.
Arizona State's sixth started when Dhaenens drew a leadoff walk from before Zinicola singled through the right side to chase the Cardinal starter and put Sun Devil runners on first and third base with no outs. Reynolds came on in relief and issued a walk to Joe Persichina to load the bases before striking out Rocky Laguna for the first out of the inning. Buck followed with his huge double that cleared the bases to put the Sun Devils ahead, 6-5. Reynolds recorded the second out of the inning on Tuffy Gosewisch's grounder before issuing two more walks and hitting another batter to force in ASU's fourth run of the inning. Manship came on but the Sun Devils executed a triple steal to make the score 8-5 before Dhaenens capped the rally with a two-run single.
Stanford had scored the first run of the contest in top of the first inning to go ahead. Rapoport led off with a single and stole second base but was thrown out trying to advance to third after Sorgi blooped a single just in front of Laguna in left field. Lowrie then drew a walk before Mayberry brought home Sorgi with an RBI single.
Arizona State came up with three runs in the third inning after two were out with a two-RBI bases loaded single by Curtis the big blow. Zinicola led off the inning with a single and Laguna walked two batters later to give the Sun Devils runners on first and second. Leva struck out Buck for the second out but Gosewisch came through with a clutch RBI single to plate Zinicola and Larish then drew a walk to load the bases for Curtis.
Stanford cut the Arizona State lead to 3-2 with a single run in the third when Sorgi singled with one out, Lowrie walked and Mayberry came through with his second RBI single in as many at bats.Rapoport tied the game at 3-3 with a solo homer to lead off the top of the fifth, his second long ball of the series.
Stanford took a 5-3 advantage with two more runs in the sixth when Rapoport came through with a clutch two-out, two-RBI single to bring home Minaker and Chris Lewis. Minaker had drawn a leadoff walk to lead off the inning before moving to second two batters later while running on a pitch that Brendan Domaracki grounded to Persichina at shortstop for the second out. Lewis kept the inning alive with an infield single and then stole second to set the stage for Rapoport.
Stanford begins a five-game homestand with a non-conference game versus San Jose State at Sunken Diamond on Tuesday, April 19 (6 pm, PT). The Cardinal will host Washington in a three-game series next Friday-Sunday, April 22-24 (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PT) before concluding the stretch of home games with a non-conference contest against Santa Clara on Tuesday, April 29 (6 pm, PT).
The sweep at the hands of Arizona State has dropped the two-time defending conference champion Cardinal into sixth place in the Pac-10 standings. Arizona leads the league with a 10-2 conference record after taking two-of-three games from Oregon State (6-3 Pac-10), who is in a three-way tie for second-place along with Arizona State and USC. California (6-6 Pac-10) is in fifth, while Stanford and Washington are tied for sixth with 4-5 conference marks. UCLA (0-6) and Washington State (0-9) round out the standings.
STANFORD NOTES
Jim Rapoport extended his career-high and the longest hit streak by a Stanford player to 13 games with the second four-hit game of his collegiate career and has now hit safely for the 19 of his last 20 contests
Stanford was swept for the first time in a Pac-10 series since Arizona State won three in a row over the Cardinal on The Farm from April 11-13, 1997, a span of 64 straight conference series
Stanford's 17 hits helped the Cardinal raise its team batting average to .295, equaling the highest it has been since it stood at .324 following the team's third game of the campaign
Matt Manship was not officially charged with a run in his 2.1 inning outing to maintain his 0.00 ERA in 14.2 innings of work over 11 relief appearances this season