April 1, 2005
Pullman, Wash. - Two-time defending Pac-10 champion and No. 12 Stanford (15-9, 1-0 Pac-10) opened defense of its conference title with a convincing 14-5 victory at Washington State (15-15, 0-4 Pac-10) in the opener of a three-game series on a chilly and windy evening at Bailey-Brayton Field. Michael Taylor (4-5, 3 2B, 3 RBI) had the first four-hit game of his career and added a career-high-tying three RBI while also doubling three times. Stanford pounded out a season-high 20 hits with 10 for extra-bases, including a season-high eight doubles.
John Mayberry, Jr. (3-4, 2B, RBI) and Adam Sorgi (3-7, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) added three hits for the Cardinal, while Chris Lewis (2-3, 2B, 2 RBI), Jim Rapoport (2-4, 3B, 2 RBI, 2 SB), Jed Lowrie (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI), John Hester (2-5, RBI) and Chris Minaker (2-7, 2B, SB) had two each.
"It was nice to hit as well as we did tonight," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "We also had some big clutch hits in there."
Mark Romanczuk (5-3) earned the victory by allowing just three runs on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts over the first 6.0 innings. Nolan Gallagher picked up his second save of the season with three effective innings of relief work, allowing just two runs and five hits with three strikeouts.
"Mark Romanczuk pitched well tonight," commented Marquess. "He had a good fastball and kept it down. It was a nice performance."
Zach Franklin (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI), Jim Murphy (2-5, 2B) and Jay Miller (2-5, 2B) each had two hits for the Cougars.
Washington State starter James Freeman (6-2) took the loss, giving up seven runs on 11 hits and a walk with two strikeouts over the first 4.0 frames.
Stanford jumped on the Cougars with three runs in the top of the first inning. Minaker led off the game with a single, moved to third on a double from Sorgi and scored on an RBI single by Lowrie to make it 1-0 in favor of the Cardinal. Mayberry then drew a walk to load the bases before Taylor drove in Sorgi and Lowrie with a two-RBI single two batters later.
The Cardinal added single runs in the second and third to go ahead 5-0. Minaker led off the second with a double, stole third and scored on Lowrie's sacrifice fly. In the third, Taylor led off with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Lewis and scored two batters later on Rapoport's RBI single.
Stanford scored two more runs in the fourth after Mayberry started a two-out rally with a single. Hester was then hit by a pitch before Taylor plated Mayberry with the second of his three doubles and Lewis beat out an RBI infield single that brought home Hester.
The Cardinal increased its margin to 8-0 with another run in the sixth. Hester's one-out single started the rally before Taylor's third consecutive double and an intentional walk to Lewis loaded the bases. Stanford scored on an RBI groundout from Brendan Domaracki and Cougar reliever Travis Webb (2.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB) hit Rapoport to reload the bases before retiring Minaker to avoid further damage.
Romanczuk shut the Cougars out on just two hits through his first five frames of work before a three-run Cougar sixth. A one-out walk to Brady Everett got the Washington State sixth started. Murphy and Zach McAngus then singled back-to-back to load the bases for Franklin, who put the Cougars on the board with a two-run double. Jeff Miller brought home the final run with an RBI groundout.
Stanford maintained momentum by coming up with two more runs in the seventh as the Cardinal was aided by three bases on balls in the frame. Lowrie and Mayberry drew back-to-back one-out walks before Hester singled home Lowrie with the first Cardinal run of the inning. After another walk to Taylor loaded the bases, Lewis brought home Mayberry with a sacrifice fly.
Washington State picked up a run in its half of the seventh on a two-out RBI single from Everett to score Jason Freeman, who had singled with one out before moving around to third on a pair of wild pitches by Gallagher.
Stanford continued its offensive onslaught with a three-run eighth that was keyed by Sorgi's two-run blast over the rightcenter field fence that also plated Rapoport, who had walked to leadoff the inning two batters earlier before stealing his second base of the contest. Lowrie followed Sorgi's homer with a double before being driven home by Mayberry.
Washington State scored its final run in the bottom of the eighth on a Gallagher balk that brought home Franklin. McAngus reached on an error by Sorgi on a hard-hit grounder to the Cardinal third baseman to start the inning before a Franklin single put runners on first and second. Jeff Miller then reached on a fielders choice that retired McAngus before a single by pinch-hitter Zach Kosturos loaded the bases prior to Gallagher's balk.
Stanford completed the scoring in the top of the ninth when Lewis led off with a double and scored on Rapoport's second career triple two batters later.
The victory was Stanford's 21st in a row over Washington State dating back to the last Cougar win in the series on March 28, 1978.
Stanford and Washington State continue the three-game set Saturday (1 pm, PT) and Sunday (12 pm, PT). Stanford is scheduled to start RHP Jeff Gilmore (4-1, 2.84) versus Washington State RHP Wayne Daman, Jr. (4-1, 3.02) on Saturday. On Sunday, Washington State is slated to go with RHP Nick Cebula (2-2, 5.19), while the Cardinal has not announced a probable starter.
STANFORD NOTES
Stanford won its third consecutive road game to improve to 4-5 away from Sunken Diamond this season
Stanford won its Pac-10 opener for the fifth time in the last seven seasons and needs just one win in the final two games of the series to run its string of Pac-10 opening series victories to 10
Stanford won its 21st consecutive game against Washington State dating back to the last Cougar victory in the series at the UC Riverside Invitational on March 28, 1978
Stanford needs to win just one of the final two games of the Washington State series to snap a current four-series road losing streak that is its longest since the club dropped seven straight road series from April 29, 1988 - April 10, 1989
Stanford had a season-high 20 hits (the team's first 20-hit game since getting 21 hits in a 15-1 win over Sacramento State at Sunken Diamond on April 23, 2004) to raise its team batting average 10 points to .290, which would still be the club's lowest since the 1994 team hit .285
Stanford scored in eight of the nine innings, the most innings the team has scored in this season
Stanford had a season-high 31 total bases
Stanford had one error in the contest but still maintained its .982 fielding percentage that is .005 percentage points better than the school record of .977 posted by the 2001 club
Stanford's pitching staff ERA rose just a hundredth of a point to 3.65 and is on track to be the team's second lowest since 1977 when the club posted a 3.44 ERA
Michael Taylor had the first four-hit and three-double contests of his career, while tying a career-best with three RBI
Adam Sorgi hit his second home run in the last three games and tied a career-high with two RBI
Jed Lowrie posted his third straight multiple-hit contest
Mark Romanczuk won his 28th career game at Stanford to move into a tie for sixth-place on the school's all-time list with Bruce Mignano (1979-82) and within nine victories of all-time leader Jeff Ballard (37, 1982-85)
Stanford's eight doubles and 10 extra-base hits were both season-highs
Stanford had a season-high eight players in the game with at least two hits
Stanford left a season-high 15 runners on base
Stanford tied a season-best with three stolen bases
Stanford improved to 9-0 in games that the Cardinal leads after the first inning, while now outscoring its opponents 31-13 in the first frame
Jim Rapoport tied a individual team season-best with the first two stolen base of his career