April 24, 2005
Stanford, Calif. - No. 24 Stanford (24-14, 7-5 Pac-10) completed a three-game sweep of Washington (24-17, 4-8 Pac-10) with a 6-3 victory over the Huskies in the series finale Sunday at Sunken Diamond. Chris Minaker (3-4, 2B, 2 RBI) and Ben Summerhays (2-3, 2B, 2 RBI) drove in two runs each, while John Hester (2-4, 2B, HR, RBI) homered and also had a two-hit game to lead the Cardinal offense.
Matt Leva (2-1) recorded the victory, allowing just one run and four hits over the first 5.1 innings before Blake Holler (3.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 SO) finished the game to record his first save of the season.
"It was huge to get this sweep, especially after being swept at Arizona State last weekend," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "Both teams played well the entire series, we were just able to come through in several big spots and that's often what it takes."
The three-game sweep moved Stanford into sole possession of fifth place in the Pac-10 and within 3.0 games of league-leader Arizona (10-2 Pac-10). Arizona State (9-3) is in second-place in the conference, followed by Oregon State (8-3), USC (8-4), Stanford (7-5), California (7-8), Washington (4-8), UCLA (0-9) and Washington State (0-11). Oregon State and Washington State were completing the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday evening.
"I look at this series as a pivotal turning point in our season," added Minaker. "This was a huge opportunity that we couldn't lose."
Hester put the Cardinal on the scoreboard first Sunday when he skied a long fly ball over the left field for his second homer of the season to lead off the Stanford second. The Cardinal got another run in the inning to make it 2-0 when Lewis doubled home Michael Taylor, who had followed Hester's home run by drawing the first of three his three walks.
Stanford increased its advantage to 4-0 with two more runs in the third. Taylor drew a two-out walk to spark the rally before an RBI double from Minaker and an RBI single by Summerhays.
Leva held the Huskies scoreless until two outs in the top of the fourth until Matt Hague connected on his sixth homer of the season over the left field wall to cut Stanford's lead to 4-1.
Washington put runners on first and second base with one out in the sixth before Holler came on in relief of Leva to retire Kyle Larsen and Hague to get out of the jam.
The Huskies did get to Holler for a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to pull within a run of the Cardinal at 4-3 before Holler worked his way out of the inning without any further damage. Curt Rindal led off the frame with an infield single before Nick Batkoski singled through the right side on a hit and run to put Husky runners on first and second with no outs. Joey Dunn moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt and Kiel Lillibridge beat out an infield single to plate Rindal. Brent Lillibridge then brought home Batkoski with a sacrifice fly before Holler retired Taylor Johnson on a comebacker.
Washington also got the first two runners on in the eighth when Zach Clem and Larsen led off the frame with back-to-back singles before Holler retired the next three hitters.
Stanford added a pair of insurance runs in its half of the eighth. Hester started the rally with a two-out double and Taylor drew his third walk of the game to spell the end of a long relief outing for Washington's David Dowling (6.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO). Minaker greeted Washington relief ace Josh Conover with an RBI single to plate Hester and Summerhays doubled down the right field line to score Taylor before Lewis walked to mark the end of Conover's short and ineffective appearance. Emmanuel Pedroza came on to limit the damage by striking out Jim Rapoport to leave the bases full of Cardinal runners.
"I took the position that I could beat the pitcher in that situation," said Minaker about his key eighth inning RBI single. "Essentially, the big spot comes down to who thinks they can win it. I thought I could win it (today), and I ended up doing it."
Holler retired the side in order in the ninth to wrap up the Cardinal victory.
Clem (2-3) was the only Washington player with more than one hit.Washington starter Matt Kasser (3-4) took the loss for the Huskies, allowing two runs on three hits and three walks in a short 1.1 inning outing.
Stanford will host Santa Clara in a non-conference contest to complete its current five-game homestand next Tuesday, April 26 (6 pm, PT) in a game that was originally scheduled to be played at Santa Clara but has been moved to Sunken Diamond. Stanford will be out of Pac-10 action next weekend before resuming its schedule with a pair of non-conference games at UC Davis (Monday, May 2, 2:30 pm, PT) and Nevada (Tuesday, May 3, 2 pm, PT). Stanford returns to conference action May 6-8 with a three-game set at California.
STANFORD NOTES
Stanford played errorless baseball for the 20th time in 38 games this season to improve its fielding percentage to a .981 mark that leads the Pac-10 and is .004 points higher than the school record .977 fielding percentage posted by the 2001 club
Stanford has now won 11 of the 12 games it has played at Sunken Diamond versus Washington since the Pac-10 North and South Divisions merged in 1999
Stanford equaled its longest winning streak of the season with its fourth consecutive victory on Sunday
Stanford's victory was its sixth in a row at Sunken Diamond, where the Cardinal has posted a 58-12 record in its last 70 contests
Michael Taylor had career-highs with three runs scored and three walks
Ben Summerhays had the first multiple-hit and multiple-RBI games of his career with two of each
John Mayberry, Jr. had his six-game hit streak snapped
FOX Sports Net televised Stanford's 2-1 victory over Washington in Friday series-opener on a tape-delayed basis. The game aired on FOX Sports Bay Area earlier Sunday (11 am, PT) and will be shown again Monday (12 pm, PT)