Feb. 11, 2007
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Box Score - Sunday | Box Score - Saturday's Resumed Game
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (2-3) picked up a pair of wins over Fresno State (1-5) at Sunken Diamond on Sunday as the Cardinal came up with a 9-2 victory in a game that was resumed after being suspended Saturday due to weather conditions and then won the regularly scheduled contest, 6-4. A pair of freshmen led the Cardinal to a victory in the resumed game as Toby Gerhart (2-5, HR, 3 RBI) hit his first collegiate home run and Jeff Inman (1-1) recorded his first win on the hill at Stanford. Stanford scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to snap a 4-4 tie in the regularly scheduled contest and then David Stringer protected the lead by pitching 3.0 shutout innings for his first save of the season.
Stanford left off right where it started on Saturday in the resumption of the suspended contest. Cord Phelps tripled with two outs in the bottom of the fifth and scored an unearned run when Bulldog third baseman Tommy Mendonca booted Gerhart's routine grounder.
The Cardinal added two more in the sixth when Adam Gaylord doubled home Austin Yount, who had singled with one out and then came all the way home on the play when Bulldog shortstop Todd Sandell sent a relay throw in the Cardinal dugout trying to throw Yount out at the plate.
While the Cardinal was adding to the 6-1 lead the club had built on Saturday, Inman (5.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 SO) did not allow a run in his first four frames before giving up one to the Bulldogs in the top of the ninth when Steve Susdorf singled with two outs and was doubled home by Ozzie Lewis.
Gerhart had helped the Cardinal build that 6-1 advantage on Saturday when he drilled his first collegiate home run with a three-run long and high blast over the rightcenter field wall with two outs to cap a four-run Cardinal third. The Cardinal already had one run in before Gerhart's homer when Brian Juhl singled, moved to second on a groundout and scored on Gaylord's RBI single up the middle. Phelps then walked to set up Gerhart's heroics.
The Cardinal erased an early 1-0 deficit Saturday with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the first. Stanford had runners on first and second after back-to-back one-out singles from Sean Ratliff and Michael Taylor but Fresno State seemed to be out of the inning before Erik Wetzel failed to come up with Juhl's groundball hit to the Bulldog second baseman, allowing Ratliff to tie the game. Yount followed with an RBI single to plate Taylor and put the Cardinal ahead.
Fresno State got on the scoreboard first on Saturday when Loren Storey led off the game with a single, stole second, moved to third on a balk and scored on Susdorf's RBI sacrifice bunt.
Nolan Gallagher held Fresno State to one run on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 4.0 innings.
Fresno State starter Brandon Miller (0-2) took the loss after being touched for six runs (four earned) on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 3.0 frames on Saturday.
Gerhart (2-5, HR, 3 RBI), Gaylord (2-4, 2B, RBI), Yount (2-4, RBI), Juhl (2-4) and Ratliff (2-5) all had two hits each and accounted for all five of the team's RBI as the Cardinal also cashed in on three Fresno State errors that led to four unearned Cardinal runs.
Todd Sandell (2-4), Tommy Mendonca (2-5, 3B) and Brian Lapin (2-5) had two hits each for the Bulldogs.
Relief pitching was the key for the Cardinal in Sunday's regularly scheduled contest as relievers Max Fearnow (1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 SO) and Stringer (3.0 IP, 2 H, 2 SO) shut down the Bulldogs after Fresno State had rallied to tie the game, 4-4, with four runs in the top of the fifth off Cardinal starter Jeremy Bleich (4.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 SO). Fearnow, who did allow back-to-back singles to Susdorf and Lewis to allow an inherited Bleich runner to score and tie the game at 4-4, settled down to get out of the fifth inning jam and was credited with the victory.
Stanford took advantage of two costly Bulldog errors on the same play in the bottom of the sixth to score the eventual game-winning runs. After back-to-back singles from pinch-hitters Brent Milleville and Ryan Seawell, the Cardinal was in business with runners on first and second and one out. Juhl then grounded a bouncing ball up the middle that Sandell failed to come up with. Seawell rounded the bag at second and headed for third as Fresno State second baseman Erik Wetzel rounded up the baseball. Wetzel threw to third but was too late to get Seawell. The Bulldogs still had a play on Milleville, who had made a late break home, but Mendonca's throw from third hit Milleville to allow both runners to score.
The Cardinal had taken an early 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first on six singles in the inning. Gerhart and Taylor put runners on first and second with back-to-back one out singles and moved to third on Yount's groundout. Joey August beat out an RBI infield single to score Gerhart and Taylor came around all the way from second while a play was being made on August at first base. Brendan Domaracki's single gave the Cardinal runners at first and third before back-to-back RBI singles from Juhl and Gaylord capped the rally.
Fresno State tied the game at 4-4 with its four-run fifth. Sandell started the rally with a leadoff double and moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Steve Detwiler's sacrifice fly. The Bulldogs got going again when Yount couldn't come up with Ryan Overland's routine grounder to second. Storey then singled before Fresno State took advantage of another Cardinal misplay when the Cardinal had Storey caught off first and threw behind him at first base but ended up without an out on the play when Overland scooted over safely to third. Lapin made the Cardinal play with a clutch two-RBI single up the middle to end Bleich's day. Susdorf and Lewis greeted Fearnow with back-to-back singles to tie the game before the Cardinal reliever retired Mendonca and Wetzel to get out of the inning.
Fresno State reliever Justin Wilson (1-1) took the loss despite not allowing an earned run in his 1.1 innings of work. Wilson allowed two hits and struck out two.
Stanford will host Rikkyo University of Japan in an exhibition game at Sunken Diamond this Tuesday, February 13 (2 pm, PT) in a game that will be free to all fans, before traveling to Texas for a three-game non-conference set Friday-Sunday, February 16-18 (2:30 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, CT). The series versus Texas will be played at Dell Stadium in Round Rock, Texas, due to construction at Disch-Falk Field. Dell Stadium is the Houston Astros AAA facility and located approximately 19 miles from Austin.
Tickets for all regular season Stanford Baseball home games are available online at gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD. For group ticket information (groups of 10 or more), call 650-725-2876.