May 21, 2006
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Los Angeles, Calif. - Tim Stewart's two-out walkoff homer in the bottom of the ninth lifted UCLA (30-22, 12-9 Pac-10) to a dramatic 8-7 victory over Stanford (29-23, 11-13 Pac-10) in a key series rubber game between the clubs Sunday at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The homer was the second of the game for Stewart (2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI), who also had a three-run blast to cap a six-run Bruin fifth that erased an early 5-0 Stanford lead. Blair Dunlap (2-3, HR, RBI) also had a key long ball for the Bruins when he led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo shot that answered Michael Taylor's solo shot in the top half of the inning that had given Stanford a 7-6 lead.
Chris Lewis (3-4, HR, 3 RBI) also homered and drove in three runs for the Cardinal in the contest, while Jason Castro (2-4, 2B, RBI), Grant Escue (2-3) and Ryan Seawell (2-4, SB) added two hits each with Castro extending his career-high hit streak to 10 games. Chris Minaker also ran his hit streak to nine with an RBI single in the top of the first.
Cody Decker (2-4) and Ryan Babineau (2-4) added two hits each for UCLA.
Matt Manship (2-6) took the loss, allowing the final two Bruin homers to Dunlap and Stewart in an otherwise solid relief outing (3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 SO).
Josh Roenicke (2-3) pitched a scoreless top of the ninth for the Bruins to pick up the victory, allowing just one walk and striking out two.
Stanford jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning, collecting five singles and a walk in the rally. Three consecutive singles by Seawell, Escue and Minaker to start the game plated Seawell with the first Cardinal run. After Taylor lined to center field for the first out, UCLA starter Tyson Brummett (6.0 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) walked Molina to load the bases for Lewis, who responded with a two-RBI single to left to field to score Escue and Minaker. Castro capped the rally when he followed with an RBI single to bring home Molina.
Stanford added another run in the fourth to go ahead 5-0 when Castro led off with a double down the left field line, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from John Hester and scored when Joey August fought off an 0-2 pitch for a line drive RBI single to center.
The Bruins turned a 5-0 deficit into a 6-5 lead when UCLA batted around in its six-run fifth that Stewart capped when he blasted a three-run homer off Stanford reliever Erik Davis (0.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER). Dunlap had started the rally with a leadoff single against Cardinal starter Jeremy Bleich (4.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) and Babineau just beat out an infield single two batter later to put Bruins on first and second with one out. Jermaine Curtis followed with an RBI double to score Dunlap with the first Bruin run of the contest. A hard-hit RBI infield single by Crawford brought home Babineau and ended Bleich's outing. Jensen then greeted Davis with an RBI single to score Curtis before Stewart lofted Davis' 2-2 delivery just over a jumping August at the left field wall.
Lewis tied the score at 6-6 when he lined an opposite field homer just inside the right field foul pole with one out in the top of the sixth, before Taylor and Dunlap traded their eighth inning solo shots.
Stanford will conclude its 2006 regular season with three non-conference contests next week, beginning with a game at Pacific on Wednesday, May 24 (2 pm, PT). The contest was originally scheduled for the previous day but was moved to Wednesday to allow members of the Stanford Baseball program to attend memorial services this Tuesday for former head coach Dutch Fehring, who passed away at the age of 93 on April 13. The Cardinal will then play a two-game home-and-home series with UC Davis, hosting the Aggies on Friday (6 pm, PT) before traveling to Davis on Saturday (2 pm, PT).
The 16 Regional host sites for the 2006 NCAA Championship will be announced on Sunday, May 28, while the 64-team field will be revealed on Monday, May 29. Stanford has made 12 consecutive appearances (1994-2005) in the postseason.