May 16, 2006
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Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (28-21) ran its longest win streak of the season to seven in a row with an 11-7 victory over Santa Clara (28-26) in a non-conference contest at Sunken Diamond on Tuesday. The Cardinal trailed 6-0 after four and a half innings before exploding with an eight-run fifth frame. Chris Minaker and Jason Castro both homered in the Stanford fifth with Minaker's three-run homer tying the contest at 6-6 and Castro's two-run pinch-hit shot three batters later giving the Cardinal the lead for good. Michael Taylor (5-5, 2B) extended his hit streak to a new career-high nine games with the first five-hit contest of his career and the first by a Stanford player this season, while Jim Rapoport (2-3, 3 RBI, SB) drove in three runs and John Hester brought home a pair.
"It's a great feeling when everyone is hitting and scoring," said Taylor. "When one guy hits the ball hard everyone hits the ball hard, and it's contagious. Obviously, I was really excited about getting five hits tonight, but the main thing is that we won. It's exciting to still have a chance to go to the playoffs and compete for a national title. To have all of those things together, that's what it's all about."
Erik Davis (1-1) was credited with his first victory of the season despite allowing a pair of runs on three hits with one strikeout over 2.0 innings of middle relief.
Daniel DeMarco (5-4) took the loss for the Broncos, allowing both Cardinal homers and giving up five runs on five hits over 2.1 innings of relief.
Kevin Drever (4-4, 2B, SB) had four hits, was on base all five times and scored three runs for Santa Clara. Carl Bacon (2-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) added a homer and a pair of RBI, while Kris Watts (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI) and Daniel Nava (2-4, RBI, SB) also had two-hit games for the Broncos.
Stanford erased Santa Clara's early 6-0 lead quickly in the fifth, tying the game with the first six runs of the frame before the Broncos even recorded a single out. Three consecutive singles to open the inning from Randy Molina, Joey August and Rapoport plated Molina with the first Cardinal run. Ryan Seawell was then hit by a pitch to load the bases for Hester, who ended a short and ineffective outing for Santa Clara reliever Jeff Lombard (1.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 SO) by doubling home August and Rapoport. Minaker then launched the second pitch he saw from DeMarco for a three-run homer off the top of the scoreboard in left field to tie the game at 6-6. Taylor restarted the rally with a double before DeMarco finally retired Chris Lewis for the first out of the inning but Castro followed with his two-run pinch-hit blast to right field to put the Cardinal in front, 8-6.
"It feels great to come back from behind," said Minaker. "When you feel that momentum shift your way, it's very gratifying and a lot of fun. That being said, it's always better to be ahead."
Stanford added three more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Taylor started the rally with a one-out single and moved to second on a wild pitch before Lewis followed with an RBI double to end DeMarco's day. Deke Dormer (0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) came on to get Castro on a pop-up for the second out before walking Molina, hitting August and giving up a two-run single to Rapoport.
Santa Clara scored a run in the eighth to make the final score 11-7 when Bacon doubled with one out, moved to third on single from Drever and came home on Matt Long's sacrifice fly.
The Broncos had jumped out to a 6-0 lead with three runs in first inning, one in the second and two more in the fourth frame.
Stanford starter Max Fearnow (0.1 iP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB) lasted just four batters, walking Drever to lead off the game before allowing back-to-back one-out singles to Nava and Watts to bring home the first Bronco run. Sean Ratliff (2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) came on to get Dustin Realini for the second out but not before Nava stole third and scored when Molina couldn't come up with Hester's throw. Jason Matteucci then followed with an RBI single to right field to score Watts.
Drever started Santa Clara's second inning rally with a two-out single before an error by Brent Milleville on a grounder to the Cardinal first baseman kept the Bronco inning alive. Ratliff then hit Nava to load the bases and walked Watts to force Drever home but got out of further trouble by getting Realini to fly out to end the inning.
Bacon led off the Bronco fifth with a solo homer and Santa Clara scored another run in the frame when Drever followed with a double and scored two batters later on Nava's RBI single.
Stanford returns to action with its final Pac-10 series of the season in a three-game set at UCLA this Friday-Sunday, May 19-21 (6 pm, 2 pm, 1 pm, PT).
"We can't really worry about the big picture," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess about the team's postseason possibilities. "We just have to worry about the little picture, but the thing that's going to help us is the difficulty of our schedule. We have played good teams."
"The good thing is that we think we can control our own destiny," added Minaker. "If we play well and we win, we should get a shot (at the postseason). I feel like we're getting better at the right time."