Feb. 25, 2005
Stanford, Calif. - Mark Romanczuk pitched the first complete game shutout of his collegiate career to lift No. 13 Stanford (8-5) to a 6-0 victory over previously unbeaten and No. 22 USC (4-1) in the opener of a non-conference series on Friday at Sunken Diamond. Romanczuk (3-2) allowed just four hits and struck out 12 as he became the first Pac-10 pitcher to win his third contest of the season. Chris Minaker (4-4, 2 2B, RBI) had four hits and a pair of doubles for the Cardinal, while Chris Lewis and Jed Lowrie drove in two runs each.
Romanczuk's complete game shutout was the first by a Cardinal pitcher since Jeremy Guthrie blanked UCLA in Los Angeles on May 17, 2002."I'm very proud of Mark Romanczuk and the way he pitched tonight," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "He came up with a huge pitching effort and a big time performance against a USC team that has been playing very well."
"I needed a good start for myself but more importantly for the team," added Romanczuk. "I told myself that I was going to find a way to win and that I owed the team."
The victory snapped a season-long three-game losing streak for Stanford, who improved to 7-0 at home this year and has won 45 of its last 50 games at Sunken Diamond overall.
"It feels good to end the skid and get this series started on the right foot," said Minaker.
Roberto Lopez (2-4) had half of USC's four hits.
Trojan starter Zack Kalter (1-1) suffered the loss, allowing four runs (one earned) and five hits with three walks and three strikeouts over the first 5.0 innings.
USC was victimized by a season-high four errors that led to four of Stanford's six runs being unearned.
Stanford's first two runs in the bottom of the first frame were unearned. Michael Taylor reached on a catchers' interference to lead off the inning and the Cardinal had runners on second and third base after Minaker's first double of the contest. Lowrie followed with the first of two sacrifice flies to plate Taylor and Minaker scored all the way from second on the play when USC centerfielder Daniel Perales made the first of his two errors in the contest by overthrowing his cutoff man.
Stanford added two more runs in the fourth on a two-RBI single by Lewis that scored Adam Sorgi and John Hester. Sorgi had led off the inning with a double and the Cardinal had runners on second and third base with one out after Perales dropped a routine fly ball hit by Hester two batters later.
Stanford scored the final two runs of the game in the seventh. Taylor singled with out to extend his hit streak to six games before scoring on Minaker's second double of the game. Minaker moved to third on the play when the Trojans' relay throw on Taylor got by Jeff Clement for the second error of the contest on the USC catcher. Lowrie followed with a long sacrifice fly to the warning track in left field to score Minaker.
Stanford and USC continue the series Saturday and Sunday with starts scheduled each day for 1 pm, PT. Stanford is slated to start RHP Jeff Gilmore (2-1, 3.09) on Saturday versus Trojan righthander Ian Kennedy (1-0, 0.00).