Feb. 19, 2005
Austin, Tex. - No. 6 Stanford (7-4) scored six runs in the top of the ninth inning but still came up just short in a gut-wrenching 8-7 loss at still unbeaten and No. 4 Texas (10-0) in a non-conference contest on Saturday at Disch-Falk Field. Jed Lowrie's second career grandslam and Pac-10 leading sixth homer of the season cut the Longhorn lead to a single run in the ninth before Texas could even record an out in the frame. Stanford was able to get the tying run to third base and the go-ahead run to second later in the frame before Clayton Stewart struck out Jim Rapoport to end the game and earn his first save of the season.
Texas led 8-1 heading into the ninth inning before the Cardinal mustered a rally against J. Brent Cox, one of the nation's top pitchers who had struck out five of the six batters he faced to earn a save in a 6-4 Texas win in the series-opener Friday. Brendan Domaracki started the Cardinal ninth with a single before a bunt single by Rapoport and an infield hit from Chris Lewis gave the Cardinal bases loaded with no outs. Another infield hit by Michael Taylor plated Domaracki for the first Cardinal run and an RBI single by John Hester brought home Rapoport before Lowrie cleared the bases by sending a 1-0 pitch from Cox over the wall down the left field line.
"It was just one of those things where I was able to hit it solid enough to get it out," said Lowrie, who homered for the third consecutive game and has seven RBI in the series.
John Mayberry, Jr. restarted the rally with the team's fourth infield hit of the inning before Stewart finally came on in relief of Cox and forced Chris Minaker into a fielders choice to finally record the first out of the inning. Adam Sorgi kept the Cardinal momentum going with a single before Domaracki kept the inning alive by just beating out the trail throw on a potential game-ending double play ball. Cameron Mathews pinch-ran for Domaracki and stole second base to give the Cardinal the go-ahead run at second in addition to the tying run at third before Stewart struck out Rapoport to end the contest.
Lewis (3-4) and Sorgi (3-5) both had three-hit games for the Cardinal, who outhit the Longhorns by a count of 17-15 and finished with a season-high for hits after collecting eight in the final frame. Hester (2-5, 2 RBI), Taylor (2-5, RBI), Rapoport (2-5, 2B) and Mayberry (2-5) all had two hits each for the Cardinal with Mayberry extending his team-best hit streak to seven games and Taylor collecting his third consecutive two-hit contest.
Drew Stubbs (2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, SB) hit a pair of home runs and drove in three runs for the Longhorns with one of his homers a two-run inside-the-park job in the bottom of the eighth. Robby Hudson (2-3, 2B, 2 RBI), Calvin Beamon (2-3) and Thomas Incaviglia (2-5, 2B, RBI) also had two-hit games, while Clay Van Hook drove in a pair of runs.Texas starter Kyle McCulloch (2-0) picked up the victory by allowing just one run on six hits with three strikeouts over the first 5.0 innings before Adrian Alaniz (3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 SO) kept the Cardinal scoreless until the ninth.
Stanford scored the first run of the game in the top of the third on a two-out RBI single by Hester to score Lewis before the Longhorns came up with eight unanswered runs prior to the Cardinal ninth.
Texas tied the score 1-1 with a single run in its half of the third when Stubbs homered over the rightcenter field fence with one out.The Longhorns took a 3-1 lead in the fourth, scoring a pair of unearned runs after two were out. Van Hook started the two-out rally when he went all the way to third base on a throwing error by Sorgi on a groundball to the Cardinal third baseman. Hudson then doubled home Van Hook before Stubbs walked and Incaviglia came up with an RBI single to plate Van Hook.
Texas took control of the contest with three more runs in the fifth as a two-run single by Van Hook and an RBI single from Hudson plated the three runs in back-to-back at bats. Taylor Teagarden had started the inning with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Carson Kainer before a walk to Chance Wheeless and an infield single by Beamon loaded the bases for Van Hook.
Stanford starter Jeff Gilmore (4.1 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 SO) suffered his first loss of the season to fall to 2-1. Cardinal reliever Blake Holler pitched the final 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on two hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
Stanford had at least one runner on base in every inning and equaled a season-high by leaving 10 runners stranded. Texas left eight runners on base.
Stanford and Texas will conclude the three-game series on Sunday (1 pm, CT/11 am, PT).
"The biggest thing for us tomorrow is that we need to come out and play in the first inning like we did in the ninth today," said Lowrie. "That will be the key for us."
STANFORD NOTES
Stanford dropped its second consecutive game for the second time this season and fell to 1-4 on the road by losing its 11th road game in its last 17 contests away from Sunken Diamond dating back to last year
Texas has ended Stanford's regular season series win streak against the Longhorns at four by winning the first two games of the series
Stanford has homered in 10 of its first 11 games and has outhomered its opponents this season, 15-6
Jed Lowrie has homered in three straight games and currently leads the Pac-10 with six homers in Stanford's first 11 contests
Michael Taylor posted his third consecutive two-hit game
John Mayberry, Jr. extended his season-high hit streak to seven games
The 5938 fans marked the largest crowd the Cardinal has played in front of this season
Stanford had a season-high 17 hits and reached double-digits in hits for the seventh 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
Chris Lewis (3-4) tied a career-high with three hits
Jeff Gilmore had his shortest outing of the season (4.1 IP) and walked a career-high four batters