June 5, 2005
Waco, Tex. - Stanford (34-24) advanced to the championship of the NCAA Waco Regional with a 12-4 victory over No. 24 TCU (41-20) in an elimination game at Baylor Ballpark on Sunday. The victory was the second of the day for the Cardinal, who stayed alive in the regional earlier on Sunday with a 6-2 win over Texas-San Antonio. The two wins in elimination games on Sunday earned Stanford a meeting with top-seeded host and No. 8 Baylor (41-20) in Monday's championship (2 pm, PT/12 pm, CT). Stanford will need to beat Baylor twice on Monday to advance to its sixth Super Regional in the last seven seasons.
"Obviously, this was a big win for us," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess at a post-game press conference. "We had one of the better offensive games that we have had in the past couple of weeks, especially considering the circumstances and the quality of team we were playing today. We also played some good defense."
Matt Manship was the story of the day for the Cardinal, picking up saves in both games and retiring all 17 batters he faced with seven strikeouts. Manship set down all nine batters he faced in the second game after coming into the contest protecting a slim 6-4 lead with no outs in the top of the seventh and runners on the corners.
"I figured I was going to have to throw again in the second game today and prepared accordingly," said Manship. "I will have to do the same again tomorrow."
"Matt Manship did a great job for us today," added Marquess. "Two saves in one day - not bad."
Adam Sorgi (2-5, 2B, 3 RBI) had a two-RBI double to key Stanford's four-run sixth inning, while Ryan Seawell (2-4, 2B, RBI) also had an RBI single in the inning that scored Michael Taylor to give the Cardinal its first lead of the game at 4-3. Jed Lowrie was hit by a pitch leading off the frame to start the rally before Taylor singled and John Hester moved the runners up to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Chris Lewis tied the game at 3-3 with a sacrifice fly that scored Lowrie and preceded the back-to-back clutch run-scoring hits from Seawell and Sorgi.
"I knew it was a big spot," said Sorgi about his sixth inning double. "I got the pitch I was looking for and was able to drive it."
"I don't think any of us were tired (today)," continued Sorgi when asked about the Cardinal playing two games on Sunday. "I think we're ready to go tomorrow, and I'm sure Baylor is ready, too."
John Mayberry, Jr. (2-5, HR, 2 RBI) and Lowrie homered for the Cardinal with Lowrie's three-run homer capping a five-run Cardinal bottom of the eighth that broke the game open. Mayberry also had an RBI single in the eighth, while Jim Rapoport scored the first run of the frame on a wild pitch.
Chris Minaker (2-5, 2 2B, 2 SB) had a pair of doubles in the game for the Cardinal to increase his season total to 25, moving him into sole possession of second-place on Stanford's all-time single-season list. Taylor (2-5, RBI, SB) also had a multiple-hit contest.
Nolan Gallagher (2-5) was credited with the win while throwing 1.2 innings of relief between starter Mark Romanczuk (4.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) and Manship. Gallagher allowed four hits but just one run and struck out two in his stint.
J.J. Estrada (2-4, RBI), Shelby Ford (2-5, 2B) and Stuart Musslewhite (2-5, 2B) all had two hits each for TCU.
Horned Frogs starter Brad Furnish (5-6) was charged with the loss, allowing the first five Stanford runs on six hits and two walks with just one strikeout.
TCU scored the game's first run when Estrada singled home Bo Cogbill with one out in the top of the second. Austin Adams and Cogbill had opened the frame with back-to-back singles but Adams was cut down at third on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by Spencer Jackson before Estrada came through with his run-scoring single.
Stanford tied the game at 1-1 with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Minaker started the inning with a bloop single to shallow leftcenter that fell just out of the reach of a diving Adams coming in from left field. Lowrie walked two batters later before the Cardinal executed a double steal to put runners on second and third with just one out. Taylor then hit a grounder to Musslewhite at shortstop that scored Minaker but Lowrie was thrown out trying to advance to third on the play. Taylor later moved around to third base on a single by Hester but Furnish got Lewis to pop out to Musslewhite at shortstop to avoid further damage.
TCU took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth when an error by Sorgi on a foul pop-up eventually led to a pair of unearned Horned Frogs' runs. Musslewhite started the rally with a one-out single but it was ignited when Sorgi dropped a pop foul hit by Ford that would have been the second out. Ford made the Cardinal pay for the miscue with a single before Huffman walked to load the bases. Romanczuk was taken out of the game when he hit Keith Conlon to force in Musslewhite and Adams managed a sacrifice fly off Gallagher before Cogbill struck out to end the inning.
Stanford started its 14th comeback victory of the season with a single run in the fifth to cut the Horned Frogs' lead to 3-2 when Seawell doubled with one out and scored on a single up the middle by Sorgi.
After Stanford's four-run sixth put the Cardinal ahead, 6-3, the Horned Frogs got one run back in the seventh when Ford and Chad Huffman led off the inning with back-to-back doubles. Conlon then singled up the middle to put TCU runners on first and third with no outs but Manship squashed the rally when he came on in relief of Gallagher and retired Adams, Cogbill and pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter on a pair of pop-ups and a groundout to keep Stanford's two-run lead intact.
Mayberry's solo homer to lead off seventh got the Cardinal the run back before its five-run eighth accounted for the final 12-4 score. Rapoport drew a leadoff walk and ended up on third after stealing second and moving to third on the play after a throwing error by TCU catcher Kyle Dahlberg. Shawn Ferguson (2.1 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO) then struck out Seawell and Sorgi but uncorked a wild pitch on the strikeout of Sorgi to allow Rapoport to score and Sorgi to reach first. Minaker then reached on a throwing error by Ford at third base that put Cardinal runners on second and third with one out. Mayberry followed with an RBI single before Lowrie capped the inning with a three-run blast to rightcenter.
STANFORD NOTES
Stanford has come back from an opening round regional loss to win a regional once before in school history (1988) when the Cardinal lost its Northeast Regional (New Britain, Conn.) opener by a score of 5-3 to St. John's (May 27) before coming back to win four straight elimination games to capture the regional (Stanford went on to win its second straight and most recent College World Series title that season, winning a total of eight elimination games by adding four CWS elimination victories to its four at the regional)
Stanford won two games on the same day in the postseason for the fourth time in school history with an updated all-time record of 4-2-6 (sweeps/swept/splits) in postseason doubleheaders
Stanford has played two postseason games on back-to-back days only twice in school history, taking three-of-four games each time (May 28-29, 1995; May 26-27, 2001)
Stanford's current two-game postseason win streak is its longest since the club won two straight postseason games versus Cal State Fullerton at the College World Series from June 18-19, 2003
Stanford's updated all-time postseason record is 117-57 (.672), while its all-time regional record improved to 65-24 (.730)
Stanford's comeback victory was its 14th in 33 wins this season
Stanford stole a season-high five bases
Chris Minaker's two doubles increases his season total to 25 and moves him into sole possession of second-place on Stanford's all-time single-season list in that category, ranking just four behind school record holder Troy Paulsen's 29 two-baggers in 1990
Matt Manship's second save of the day, third of his postseason career and team-leading fifth of the season increased his career total to 17, ranking him tied for second on Stanford's all-time list with Scott Weiss (17, 1988-91)
Matt Manship lowered his season ERA to 0.80 with his season-high-tying 3.0 scoreless innings of work
Mark Romanczuk increased his career innings pitched total to 329.1 to move up one spot to eighth on Stanford's all-time list
John Mayberry, Jr. hit his fourth career postseason homer
Stanford maintained its .978 fielding percentage despite one error, ranking one point better than the school record of .977 set by the 2001 club
Stanford's pitching staff has an updated 3.79 season ERA as the Cardinal is looking to record an ERA under 4.00 for the fourth time in the last six campaigns
Stanford has five players - Jed Lowrie (2B), Chris Lewis (LF/RF), John Mayberry, Jr. (1B), Chris Minaker (SS) and Adam Sorgi (3B) - that have started all 58 of the team's games to this point with Mayberry and Minaker playing every inning of the season at their respective positions