April 26, 2005
Stanford, Calif. - Santa Clara (19-22) scored three times in the top of the first inning and never trailed on its way to a 7-5 upset victory over No. 20 Stanford (24-15) in a non-conference game between the South Bay rivals at Sunken Diamond on Tuesday night. Ryan Conan (3-4, RBI) had three of Santa Clara's 13 hits, while the Broncos' Eric Newton (2-3, HR, 2 RBI) hit the only home run of the contest with a solo shot to lead off the eighth. Adam Sorgi (3-4, RBI) had half of Stanford's six hits.
"We just didn't get much going offensively tonight and left a lot of runners on base," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "It's disappointing; we didn't play very well."
Stanford stranded 10 runners on base, leaving the bags loaded in the fourth and eighth innings.
Five Santa Clara pitchers issued 11 walks and the Broncos also made a pair of errors but turned three double plays and picked one Stanford runner off to help quell Stanford rallies.
Santa Clara starter Anthony Rea (4-5) was credited with the victory as the first of three or more pitchers in a predetermined Santa Clara pitching rotation. Rea allowed just one hit and faced only the minimum of six batters in the first 2.0 frames. Patrick Overholt picked up his second save of the season by holding the Cardinal hitless with four strikeouts over the final 3.0 innings. Overholt did allow one unearned run, while walking four.
Stanford starter Erik Davis (2-1) suffered his first collegiate loss, allowing three runs on three hits and a walk while recording just one out in the first inning.
Dustin Realini (2-5, 2B, RBI), Michael Thompson (2-5, 2B, RBI) and Shawn Epidendio (2-5) also had two hits each for Santa Clara.
The three-run Bronco first started when Kevin Drever drew a leadoff walk. Epidendio then beat out an infield hit and the Broncos had runners on second and third when an errant throw by Cardinal shortstop Chris Minaker on the play skipped by John Mayberry, Jr. at first base. Jason Matteucci's RBI groundout brought Drever home with the first Bronco run before an RBI single by Thompson and an RBI double from Realini made the score 3-0 and chased Davis. Nolan Gallagher (3.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 SO) came on in relief to get the Cardinal out of the inning without any further damage.
Santa Clara added two more runs in the top of the fourth. Newton started the rally with a one-out bunt single before an error on a groundball to Mayberry put Broncos on first and third. Conan then singled up the middle to score Newton and a single by Ryan Chiarelli loaded the bases before Carl Bacon scored on a sacrifice fly from Drever.
Stanford came right back with two runs in its half of the fourth to close the gap to 5-2. Jim Rapoport and Sorgi drew back-to-back walks to start the frame before Jed Lowrie beat out an infield single to load the bases with no outs. Mayberry's sacrifice fly brought home Rapoport with the first Cardinal run of the game and John Hester followed with an RBI single to plate Sorgi but the Broncos got out of the inning without allowing any more runs when Scott Lonergan (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB) retired Ben Summerhays on a bases loaded groundout three batters later.
Santa Clara answered with a run in the fifth when Matteucci led off with a single, moved to second two batters later on a Realini single, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Newton.
Stanford came right back with one run in the bottom of the fifth when Chris Lewis and Rapoport started the inning with back-to-back walks, Sorgi singled to load the bases and Lowrie hit a sacrifice fly to score Lewis. However, the Broncos once again escaped further damage when Mayberry grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Stanford got to within 6-4 with a run in the seventh when Lewis doubled to lead off the inning, moved to third when Rapoport reached on an error by Conan at first base and scored on an RBI single from Sorgi. Overholt subdued another Cardinal rally when he came on to strikeout Lowrie and force Mayberry into popping out before Rapoport was picked off second base by Bacon from behind the plate to end the inning.
Newton's homer to leadoff the top of the eighth accounted for the final Santa Clara run.
Stanford cut the Bronco advantage to 7-5 with a run in the bottom of the eighth. Minaker reached on Drever's two-out error on a grounder to the Santa Clara shortstop to start the uprising before Overholt walked three consecutive hitters to force in a run before but the rally ended when Sorgi left the bases loaded by fouling out.
Stanford was able to get the tying run back to the plate in the bottom of the ninth after Hester walked with two out but Overholt got Taylor to bounce into a game-ending fielders choice.
Stanford will be out of action until beginning a six-game road swing with a non-conference game at UC Davis on Monday, May 2 (2:30 pm, PT). The Cardinal will continue the road trip at Nevada (Tuesday, May 3, 2 pm, PT) before moving on to play at California (Friday-Sunday, May 6-8, 2:30, 1, 1 pm, PT) and Santa Clara (Tuesday, May 10, 6 pm, PT). Stanford next returns home for a three-game series against UCLA from Friday-Sunday, May 13-15 (6, 1, 1 pm, PT).
STANFORD NOTES
Stanford had its season-high-tying four-game win streak snapped, as well as its six-game win streak at Sunken Diamond
Stanford had a five-game win streak versus Santa Clara snapped as the Broncos beat Stanford for just the third time in the last 33 meetings between the schools
Stanford made a season-high three errors in the contest but still has a .979 fielding percentage that leads the Pac-10 and is .002 points higher than the school record .977 fielding percentage posted by the 2001 club
Adam Sorgi extended his career-high hit streak to six games
Jim Rapoport drew a career-high three walks, equaling the most walks by a Stanford player this season
Stanford drew a season-high 11 bases on balls
Matt Manship pitched 2.0 scoreless innings and now has an 0.46 ERA this season, allowing just one run in 19.2 innings of work over 13 appearances