April 18, 2006
Complete Recap in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (16-15) ended its season-high-tying four-game losing streak with a 12-5 win over Sacramento State (17-23) in a non-conference contest at Sunken Diamond on Tuesday. Chris Minaker (3-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI) and Chris Lewis (3-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI) led a Cardinal offense that broke out for 15 hits. Joey August (2-3), John Hester (2-5, 2B, 2 RBI) and Ryan Seawell (2-5) also contributed multiple-hit contests, while Michael Taylor drove in a pair of runs and was hit twice. Stanford starter Matt Leva (2-0) picked up the victory, allowing just one unearned run on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts in his first outing since March 26.
"Offensive confidence is something we've been lacking a little bit," said Lewis. "But, we just have to stick with what we do well, which is to have big guys hit the ball hard and in the air, and little guys hit the ball on the ground and run fast. I would like to take some personable responsible for myself and try to help this team win."
"I'm just trying to hit the ball hard every time I can every time," continued Lewis, who has upped his average from .186 to its current season-high .269 while hitting safely in eight of his last nine games. "I want to put as good of a swing on every pitch that I can. The more times I can maximize the barrel contact, the more times I'm going to get a hit."
The contest didn't start well for the Cardinal when Sacramento State scored an unearned run in the top of the first inning to take a brief 1-0 lead. Gary Johnson led off the contest with a single and ended up all the way at third base on the play when the ball rolled by August down the left field line for a two-base error. Leva retired Patrick Cummins on a foul out before Buddy Morales brought in the first run of the game with an RBI groundout.
Stanford scored four runs in the bottom of the first and would never relinquish the lead. Minaker and Lewis both had two-RBI doubles in the frame that began when Seawell and August singled back-to-back to start the rally before scoring on Minaker's double to leftcenter. Lewis' two-out double brought home Taylor and Hester, who were hit by a pitch and reached on a fielders' choice following Minaker's double.
The Cardinal added three more runs in the second to take a 7-1 advantage. Minaker had an RBI single to end a short outing for Hornet starter and losing pitcher Travis Kane (1.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 SO) to drive in Seawell, who was hit by a pitch with one out to start the rally and advanced to second on an August single. Hester's two-run double two batters later off reliever Chris Mols (1.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) capped the rally.
Stanford scored two more runs in the bottom of the third to extend its lead to 9-1. Lewis started the rally with a leadoff double, moved to third on a single by Brent Milleville and scored on a sacrifice fly from Cord Phelps. Seawell then singled to move Milleville to third and Taylor was hit with the bases loaded three batters later to force in Milleville.
Neither team scored again until the seventh when Flores doubled, moved to third when pinch-hitter Brian Conradi singled and scored on Montana Dye's sacrifice fly to give the Hornets a run.
Sacramento State cut the Cardinal advantage to 9-4 with two more runs in the eighth. Taylor Watanable's one-out single started the rally before a two-out double from Devin Spurling chased Cardinal reliever Blake Holler (2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 SO) and Josh Levin's RBI single greeted Austin Yount (0.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER).
Stanford picked up three more runs in its half of the eighth with five consecutive hits. Minaker started the onslaught when he doubled with one out and scored on Taylor's scorching single through the left side of the infield. Hester ended the outing of Levin (0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER) with a single before Jason Castro and Lewis greeted Cyrus Sarraf (0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB) with back-to-back RBI singles.
Sacramento State loaded the bases with just one out in the top of the ninth before Eric Davis (0.2 IP) ended the game by retiring the final two batters.
David Flores (2-4, 2B) was the only Sacramento State player with more than one hit.
Sacramento State used eight pitchers in the contest.
"We just have to play better and swing the bats better like we did tonight," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "We just have to concentrate on playing good solid games and to do that we just have to play better."
Stanford returns to action with a three-game Pac-10 series at Arizona (15-19, 3-6 Pac-10) this Friday-Sunday, April 21-23 (7 pm, 6 pm, 12 pm, MT/PT).