Feb. 11, 2006
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Stanford, Calif. - Kansas (6-1) scored four times in the fourth inning on a pair of two-run homers by Ryne Price and Buck Afenir and then held off No. 19 Stanford (3-2) for a 5-4 victory Saturday at Sunken Diamond, their second in a row over the Cardinal after coming into this series with an all-time record of 0-6 against Stanford. Chris Minaker (2-3, RBI, SB) had half of Stanford's four hits while Brent Milleville drove in the first two runs of his career. Gus Milner (2-4) was the only Jayhawk player with more than one hit.
Kansas starter Ricky Fairchild (2-0) was credited with the win, holding the Cardinal to three runs (two earned) on four hits, a pair of walks, and a hit batsmen despite not striking out a Stanford batter over the first 5.1 innings. Don Czyz, the sixth Jayhawk pitcher of the game, earned his second save in as many days by setting down the Cardinal in order in the ninth.
Stanford starter Matt Manship (0-1) took the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits before he could get an out in the fateful fourth. Manship struck out four and did not walk a batter.
Stanford took an early 1-0 lead in the contest when Minaker led off the second inning with a single, stole second base and came around on a two-out RBI single by Milleville.
Kansas tied the score at 1-1 with an unearned run in the third, taking advantage of a pair of Stanford errors. Minaker's errant throw on Matt Baty's routine grounder to the Cardinal shortstop allowed the Jayhawks' leadoff man to reach. Baty then stole second, moved to third on Ritch Price's groundout and scored when Cardinal third baseman Austin Yount could not field a grounder by Jared Schweitzer.
The Cardinal went back in front, 2-1, with its own unearned run in the bottom of the third. Jim Rapoport reached on a one-out error by Ryne Price at second base, before going to third on a single by Jason Castro and scoring on a clutch two-out RBI single from Minaker.
The Jayhawks struck quickly in their four-run fourth that ultimately proved to be the winning margin. John Allman, who had the game-winning hit in Friday night's series-opener, led off with a single before Ryne Price hit a high fly ball that cleared the right field wall. Erik Morrison followed with a double to chase Manship. Eric Davis came on to retire Preston Land for the first out of the inning before Afenir touched him for a two-run homer to left field that would provide the Jayhawks with all the scoring they would need.
Davis (3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) and Nolan Gallagher (2.2 IP, 5 SO) kept the Cardinal in the contest with outstanding relief work.
Stanford did manage single runs in the sixth and eighth frames to make the final score, 5-4, but left two runners on base in each inning.
In the sixth, the Cardinal scored three times without a hit, taking advantage of three consecutive one-out walks by Jayhawk pitchers to John Hester, Yount and Milleville, before Ryan Seawell plated Hester with a sacrifice fly. The rally ended when Andy Marks (1.2 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO) retired Chris Lewis on a fly out to Milner in right field.
Stanford again took advantage of wildness from the Jayhawk pitching staff in the eighth when Minaker drew a leadoff walk and moved all the way to third on a wild pitch. Pinch-hitter Brian Juhl drew the second walk of the inning two batters later to put runners on first and third with only one out. Kansas then brought in its third pitcher of the inning and its fifth of six in the game in Paul Smyth (0.2 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO), who allowed a sacrifice fly to Milleville that scored Minaker but protected Kansas' slim lead when he struck out Lewis with the tying run on second base two batters later to end the threat.
The teams conclude the series on Sunday with former Stanford righty Kodiak Quick (1-0, 1.29) slated to start for Kansas against Cardinal righthander Matt Leva (0-0, 0.00). First pitch is scheduled for a special start time of 11 am, PT.