May 2, 2005
Davis, Calif. - No. 24 Stanford (25-15) began a season-long six-game road trip with an 8-0 win in a non-conference game against UC Davis (21-22) on a pleasant Monday afternoon at Dobbins Baseball Stadium. The victory was the fifth in the last six contests for the Cardinal, while UC Davis has now dropped a season-high eight in a row. Jeff Gilmore, Mark Romanczuk and Greg Reynolds combined on the three-hit shutout and struck out a team season-high 13 batters. Adam Sorgi (2-5, 3B, 3 RBI) drove in a career-high three runs to lead the Cardinal offense, while Jim Rapoport (1-1, 2B, RBI, 2 SB) walked a career-high five times, reached base in all six of his plate appearances and tied a career-high with a pair of stolen bases.
"I've never even seen anybody walk five times in a game," joked Rapoport. "But, that is my job to get on base and hopefully set the table for the guys behind me to drive in some runs."
"We pitched very well today and got some timely hitting," added Stanford head coach Mark Marquess.
Gilmore (7-1) was credited with the win as the first of three or more Stanford hurlers in a predetermined pitching rotation, holding the Aggies scoreless while scattering three hits and a walk with two strikeouts over the first 3.0 frames. Romanczuk retired the final 12 batters he faced in a stellar outing, not allowing a hit and striking out seven while giving up only a walk to the first batter he faced. Reynolds (2.0 IP, 4 SO) closed out the contest with the only two runners reaching on a Cardinal error and a wild pitch after a strikeout.
Chris Minaker (2-4, 2B), Brendan Domaracki (2-5, 2 RBI) and Jed Lowrie (2-5, RBI, SB) each added a pair of hits for the Cardinal.UC Davis starter Paul Gonzales (1-2) took the loss, giving up six runs (five earned) on seven hits and four walks with two strikeouts in 4.0 plus innings.
Brandon Oliver and Daniel DeScalzo had two of the Aggies' three hits when they led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back double. Grant Hirneise doubled to start the second for the only other UC Davis hit of the game.
Stanford jumped out of the gate with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. Rapoport drew his first walk to lead off the game before stealing second and moving to third on the play on a throwing error by Aggie catcher David Treat. Sorgi followed with an RBI triple before Lowrie singled him home.
The Cardinal made it 3-0 in the fourth when Minaker doubled, moved to third two batters later on a fly ball by Chris Lewis and scored another two batters after that when Sorgi beat out an RBI infield single.
Stanford broke the game open with four runs in the fifth frame to take a 7-0 lead. John Mayberry, Jr. started the rally with a leadoff single and the Cardinal had runners on first and second with no outs after John Hester reached on a fielding error by Hirneise on a groundball to the Aggie third baseman. Michael Taylor then followed with an RBI double to the rightcenter gap to plate Mayberry and chase Gonzales. Domaracki drove in Hester and Taylor two batters later with a two-RBI single up the middle that bounced by Aggie reliever Justin Fitzgerald (3.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO). A two-out double by Rapoport scored Domaracki to cap the uprising.
Stanford scored the final run of the game in the seventh. Minaker and Domaracki led off the frame with back-to-back singles before moving to second and third on a wild pitch from Fitzgerald. Rapoport was then walked intentionally to load the bases before a sacrifice fly by Sorgi brought Minaker home.
"I think the team is really coming together and picking each other up on both sides of the ball," said Rapoport. "We're pitching well and starting to get some timely hits."
Stanford continues its road trip at Nevada on Tuesday, May 3 (2 pm, PT) before resuming Pac-10 action at California this Friday-Sunday, May 6-8 (2:30, 1, 1 pm, PT). The Cardinal will conclude its season-long six-game swing away from Sunken Diamond at Santa Clara on Tuesday, May 10 (6 pm, PT). Stanford next returns home for a three-game Pac-10 series against UCLA from Friday-Sunday, May 13-15 (6, 1, 1 pm, PT).
STANFORD NOTES
Stanford has won five of its last six games overall
Stanford snapped a three-game road losing streak with Monday's win over UC Davis
Stanford has now won seven straight games versus UC Davis as the Cardinal and Aggies played for the first time Monday since Stanford was a 12-4 winner in Davis on February 18, 1997 (the last UC Davis win in the series was in Davis on March 27, 1991)
Stanford made one error Monday to maintain a .979 fielding percentage that leads the nation and is .002 points higher than the school record .977 fielding percentage posted by the 2001 club
Stanford's eight-run margin of victory was its third-largest of the season
Stanford had 12 hits in the contest and now has 10 or more hits in five of its last seven games
Stanford's shutout was its third of the season
Stanford's pitching trio of Jeff Gilmore, Mark Romanczuk and Greg Reynolds combined for a team season-high 13 strikeouts
Jeff Gilmore picked up his seventh win of the season and is now tied for third in the Pac-10 in victories
Adam Sorgi extended his career-high hit streak to seven games and drove in a career-high three runs
Jim Rapoport drew a career-high five walks, the most by a Stanford player this season, and has now walked eight times in his last two contests
Jim Rapoport reached the 50-hit, 20-RBI and 10-stolen base marks for the season
Mark Romanczuk retired the final 12 batters he faced after issuing a walk to the first batter he saw after entering the game to start the bottom of the fourth
Stanford head coach Mark Marquess coached his 1800th collegiate game at Stanford on Monday and now has a 1215-580-5 (.676) record in his 29th season as a college head coach (all at Stanford)