April 22, 2007
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Berkeley, Calif. - California (21-20, 5-7 Pac-10) scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back in a 13-5 win over Stanford (16-20, 2-10 Pac-10) in a marathon rubber game of a three-game series at Evans Diamond on Sunday that lasted four hours and two minutes. Eight of the 13 batters sent to the plate in California's first trip to the plate came up hits, while the Golden Bears also took advantage of two Stanford errors in the inning. California has now won each of the last three series over the Cardinal played in Berkeley but Stanford still managed to win the season series between the clubs four games to two and has not lost a season series to California since 1978.
All nine starters in the California lineup had at least one hit as the Golden Bears pounded out 20 base knocks. Charlie Cutler (3-4, RBI, SB), David Cooper (3-5, 3 RBI) and Blake Smith (3-5, 2 RBI, SB) had three hits each. Stephen Carlson (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI), Mike Van Winden (2-4, RBI), Ryan Hanlon (2-4, 2B, RBI) and Michael Brady (2-5) picked up two apiece, while Michael Capbarat drove in a pair.
Stanford came up with 14 hits of its own as Brian Juhl (3-4), Ryan Seawell (2-3) and Adam Sorgi (2-4, 2B, RBI) had multiple-hit contests while Toby Gerhart added a pair of RBI.
The Cardinal actually jumped ahead 2-0 in the contest with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning on back-to-back two-out RBI singles by Brendan Domaracki and Sorgi after Sean Ratliff had started the rally with a one-out single and moved to second on Michael Taylor's groundout. Stanford also knocked out California starter Travis Erickson (0.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) in the process.
Stanford starter and losing pitcher Max Fearnow (0.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 SO) wouldn't last as long as Erickson in his first start of the season and the first Pac-10 start of his career. Carlson and Cutler started the Golden Bear first inning with back-to-back singles before Fearnow struck out Josh Satin for the only out of the game he would record. Cooper loaded the bases with a one-out single before Van Winden produced an RBI infield single that scored Carlson with the first California run. Capbarat gave the Golden Bears their first lead of the game when he followed with a two-RBI to make the score 3-2 in favor of California. Erik Davis (0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R) came into the contest and allowed both of the runners he inherited to score on an RBI single by Smith and a sacrifice fly from Hanlon. Randy Molina had a ball hit by Brady go through his legs to keep the rally alive and Carlson followed with a two-RBI double to mark the end of Davis' short stint. Tom Stilson (1.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER) came on as the fourth Cardinal pitcher of the inning and finally got the third out but not before Cutler capped the rally with an RBI single up the middle.
The first inning lasted an even one hour as the teams combined for 10 runs, 11 hits, two errors, one walk, five pitchers and 77 pitches.
California added to its lead with two more runs in the third when Cooper connected on a bases loaded two-out two-run single up the middle off reliever after Hanlon had led off the inning with a double, Brady followed with a single and Cutler was hit by a pitch two batters later to end Stilson's outing. Bannister would get out of the inning with no more damage when he got Capbarat to fly out with the bases loaded for the final out.
Stanford picked up two runs in the fourth on a two-RBI single by Toby Gerhart to cut its deficit to 10-4. Cord Phelps started the inning with a single before Ryan Seawell and Brian Juhl followed with one-out back-to-back hits to load the bases for Gerhart before Craig Bennigson (4.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 SO) came on in relief of winning pitcher Nick Nunez (3.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 SO) to strike out Sean Ratliff with runners on second and third.
Stanford had a chance to score in the fifth but Taylor was thrown out at home plate by Smith for the final out of the inning when he tired to score on a medium depth fly ball to the California right fielder. Taylor had reached third after walking and moving to third on a Sorgi double.The Cardinal was able to pick up one run in the sixth to close to within 10-5 but failed on an opportunity for a big inning to get back into the game after loading bases with no outs when Bennigson got Gerhart to hit into a double play. Seawell and Juhl started the inning with back-to-back singles and the Cardinal caught a brake when Smith made an error at shortstop on a potential double play ball hit by pinch-hitter Brent Milleville that loaded the bases.
California stopped any possible momentum by adding three insurance runs.
The Golden Bears added one run in the seventh on three consecutive singles to start the inning by Van Winden, Brett Jackson and Smith.California also started the eighth with three consecutive singles by Cutler, Satin and Cooper for a run and then scored another when Van Winden grounded into a double play.
Sunday's loss combined with Washington State's win over Arizona sent Stanford into sole possession of last place in the Pac-10 at the halfway point of the league schedule.
Stanford will return to Sunken Diamond to begin a six-game homestand by hosting San Jose State (Record) in a non-conference contest on Tuesday, April 24 (6 pm, PT). The homestand will continue with a three-game conference series against defending College World Series champion Oregon State (Friday-Sunday, April 27-29, 7 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PT) before concluding with another non-conference contest against Santa Clara on Tuesday, May 1 (6 pm, PT). The first two games of the Oregon State series will be televised live by Fox Sports Net and CSTV, respectively.
Tickets for the upcoming homestand and all regular season Stanford Baseball home contests are available online at gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD. On game days, tickets may be purchased at the Sunken Diamond Ticket Office window beginning one hour before first pitch. For group ticket information (groups of 10 or more), call 650-725-2876.