Feb. 4, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (2-0) stunned No. 5 Cal State Fullerton (0-2) with its second dramatic win in as many days as John Hester was balked home by Titan reliever Bryan Harris with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Cardinal a 6-5 victory at Sunken Diamond on Saturday. Austin Yount, the nephew of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Robin Yount, was the hitting hero as the freshman blasted his first collegiate home run and drove in three to go with a triple in his 2-for-4 effort.
Sean Ratliff earned the victory in his first collegiate appearances on the mound, allowing just one hit and striking out six over the final 3.2 innings of the contest.
Hester drew a leadoff walk to start Stanford's game-winning rally before moving to second on a Chris Lewis sacrifice bunt and third when Brian Juhl grounded out prior to the balk.
"I think [John] Hester caused that when he bluffed," Stanford head coach Mark Marquess explained about the game-winning play.
"I was running so I didn't really see it," said Hester, who confirmed he was bluffing on the play. "I'm not sure exactly what he did, but at any rate it happened."
Jason Castro, also a freshman, hit his first collegiate homer while Jim Rapoport (2-3) and Hester (2-4) added two-hit games to support Yount's offensive outbreak.
Yount put the Cardinal out to a 2-0 lead when he drilled a two-run homer over the right field wall with one out in the bottom of the third.
Castro made it 3-0 with a one-out third inning solo shot.
"This is a good freshman class, and they have done a good job for us in the first two games," offered Marquess.
"You can't say enough about our freshman class so far," added Yount. "Everyone is pretty intense and wants to contribute as much as possible."
Cal State Fullerton scored four times in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead with five of the first six batters in the inning getting hits. Justin Turner started the rally with a leadoff double and was driven in on an RBI-single from Blake Davis. Brett Pill then doubled to put runners on second and third before John Curtis brought home Davis with a sacrifice fly. Clark Hardman followed with an RBI single to chase Cardinal starter Matt Manship (3.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 SO) and Danny Dorn greeted Cardinal reliever Nolan Gallagher (3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 SO) with a single to put Titans on first and third with one out and three runs already in. Gallagher then retired Evan McArthur on an RBI groundout that scored Hardman before striking out Joe Turgeon to avoid further damage.
Stanford answered immediately in the bottom of the fourth with Yount once again getting the big hit when he tripled home Ryan Seawell, who had doubled with one out. Yount scored the go-ahead run on a clutch two-out RBI single by Chris Minaker.
The Titans tied the game in the seventh when pinch-runner Joe Scott scored on a Gallagher wild pitch. Pinch-hitter Scott Cooper had led the inning off with a double and Gallagher hit Brandon Tripp with a pitch before Turner advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt. Ratliff (3.1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 6 SO) came on to strike out Blake Davis for the second out of the inning and after walking Pill, got Curtis on a groundout to keep the Titans from taking the lead.
"It was intense and fun," said Ratliff. "I felt great all day - the adrenaline was really pumping."
Dorn (3-5, SB) and Turner (2-3) had multiple-hit contests for Cal State Fullerton.
Harris (1.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB) took the loss despite not giving up a hit as the fourth Titan pitcher.
"We're out to prove something right now," added Hester. "We have a great attitude, and we're playing hard. This was a great win. Our defense played excellent, we pitched well and our hitting is coming around. We're giving it everything we've got and right now, we are coming out on top. We're just going to keep doing what we're doing and hopefully everything will keep going like this."
Stanford, who started the season unranked for the first time since the Baseball America poll began in 1981, will go for a sweep of Cal State Fullerton on Sunday (1 pm, PT). The Cardinal is scheduled to pitch RHP Matt Leva, while the Titans will counter with RHP Lauren Gagnier.