Feb. 19, 2006
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Stanford, Calif. - Michael Taylor drove in a career-high four runs and three pitchers combined on a five-hitter to lead No. 24 Stanford (5-3) to a 5-1 victory over defending national champion and No. 7 Texas (5-5) on Sunday at Sunken Diamond, evening a three-game series that will conclude with a rubber game on Monday (1 pm, PT). Taylor's three-RBI bases-clearing double in the bottom of the third inning sent a season-high crowd of 2473 into a frenzy and gave the Cardinal an early 3-0 lead that proved to be plenty of support for the trio of Matt Manship, Nolan Gallagher and Jeremy Bleich on the hill.
Chris Minaker also had a key RBI triple to plate Joey August in a two-run Cardinal fifth, before coming home on Taylor's sacrifice fly. August and Minaker scored two runs each for the Cardinal as both players came across the plate in the third and fifth inning rallies, while Chris Lewis also scored in the third. John Hester (2-3) and Jason Castro (2-4, 2B) had two hits each for Stanford.
"We hit the ball better today and got some good pitching," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess.
Gallagher (2.2 IP, 4 BB, 2 SO) earned the victory to improve to 1-0 in relief of Manship (4.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO), while Bleich (1.2 IP, 1 SO) picked up his third save of the season by getting the final five outs.
Chais Fuller (2-3, RBI) had two of Texas' five hits and drove in Preston Clark with a fifth inning RBI single for the Longhorns' lone run.
Texas starter Kyle McCulloch (0-2) took the loss, allowing five runs on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts over the first 4.2 frames. Longhorn reliever Austin Wood (3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 SO) held the Cardinal scoreless in his relief stint.
Lewis started Stanford's three-run third with a single before August and Minaker drew walks to set up Taylor's shot, which was a line drive into the rightcenter field gap just of the reach of a diving Texas rightfielder Nick Peoples.
"I was like `please don't catch that'," said Taylor. "When I saw he had a beat on it, the only thing I could think was `please get down'. That was a big momentum shifter for us."
Manship cruised through the four scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fifth. Bradley Suttle's leadoff single started the rally and another single by Clay Van Hook two batters later put Longhorns on the corners with just one out. Fuller followed with his two-out RBI single two batters later to score Clark and chase Manship. Gallagher wild pitched the runners to second and third before walking Drew Stubbs to load the bases but Carson Kainer into a fielder's choice to end the threat without any further damage.
Stanford's two-run fifth immediately took away any momentum the Longhorns may have built. August drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jim Rapoport and scored on Minaker's triple to deep leftcenter field. Taylor's sacrifice fly brought Minaker home and closed out the afternoon's scoring.
Texas drew leadoff walks off Gallagher in both the seventh and eighth innings before both potential rallies were eventually ended by double plays with Bleich coming on to record the eighth inning rally killer."It's definitely a compliment and an honor to be called upon at that point in the game," said Bleich.
"Jeremy has pitched well for us this season," added Marquess. "He seems to like being our closer and has taken to that relief role pretty well."Bleich made sure there was no drama in the top of the ninth when he retired the Longhorns in order.
Texas has announced RHP Randy Boone (1-0, 4.15) as its probable starter for Monday's rubber game, while Stanford has yet to make an announcement.