April 27, 2007
Stanford, Calif. - No. 8 Oregon State (33-8, 5-5 Pac-10) outlasted Stanford (17-22, 2-11 Pac-10) by a score of 13-7 in the opener of a three-game series that was televised live nationally by CSTV and lasted 4:04 on a warm Friday night at Sunken Diamond. The victory was the defending CWS champion's sixth in a row over Stanford and also their eighth in the last nine games against the Cardinal. Oregon State scored three runs in the top of the first inning and never trailed in the contest despite being outhit, 14-8.
Darwin Barney (3-6, 2 RBI) had three hits for the Beavers, while Mitch Canham (2-4, 3 RBI) and Jordan Lennerton drove in three runs each for Oregon State. Jason Ogata added a pair of RBI for the Beavers. Canham and Chris Hopkins each scored three times.
Adam Sorgi (3-4) led Stanford offensively with a season-high-tying three-hit game, while all nine Stanford starters had at least one hit each. Joey August (2-3, RBI) and Michael Taylor (2-5, 2B) joined Sorgi with multi-hit contests, while Adam Gaylord and Brian Juhl both knocked in a pair of runs.
Oregon State reliever Blake Keitzman (1-0) recorded the first win of his career as the second of four Beaver pitchers, allowing one run on three hits and two walks with a strikeout. Eddie Kunz (1.1 IP, 1 SO) picked up his eighth save of the campaign by coming in with the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the eighth and recording all four batters he faced to end the contest.
Stanford starter Jeremy Bleich (1-8) suffered the loss, allowing nine runs (seven earned) on six hits and three walks with four strikeouts over the first 4.1 innings. Brandt Walker (2.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO), David Stringer (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB), Tom Stilson (0.2 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO) and Blake Hancock (0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 SO) also pitched for a Cardinal staff that walked nine batters, hit two more and had a wild pitch.
Stanford's control problems on the mound were compounded by a defense that made three errors and had a pair of passed balls.
Oregon State took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Beavers scored before the Cardinal could record an out when Hopkins singled, Canham walked and Barney singled before Bleich uncorked a wild pitch to allow Hopkins to score the first run of the game. Mike Lissman popped up to Sorgi at second base before Ogata hit into what could have potentially been a double play ball had the bases still been loaded but turned into an RBI groundout to Sorgi with the runners having moved to second and third on the wild pitch two batters earlier. The third run scored when a routine groundball by Lennerton went through Cord Phelps' legs at third base.
Stanford got one run back in the bottom of the first when Taylor doubled with two outs and scored when August followed with an RBI single.
Oregon State came back with one run in the top of the third on an RBI fielder's choice by Ogata to increase its lead to 4-1 after Canham and Lissman had singled to put runners on the corners with one out.
Stanford tied the game at 4-4 by scoring three runs after two were out in the bottom of the fourth inning. A one-out single by Sorgi started the rally and a two-out walk to Phelps two batters later kept it alive. Jason Castro's single up the middle brought Sorgi home with the first run of the rally before a clutch two-RBI double by Gaylord tied the game and got an energetic crowd fired up.
Oregon State quelled Stanford's momentum and the crowd almost immediately by answering the Cardinal with five runs in the top of the fifth as Lennerton's clutch bases loaded three-run double with one out keyed the uprising. Bleich's wildness started the Beaver rally as he walked Hopkins and hit Canham before Barney brought Hopkins home with a single up the middle. Lissman then moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt before Ogata was intentionally walked to load the bases and set the stage for Lennerton, who ended Bleich's outing with his big hit. Brandt Walker (2.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) came into the game and struck out Braden Wells for the second out before Castro made his second error of the game when he dropped a throw at first base that allowed Lennerton to score from second with an unearned run to cap the rally.
Stanford managed to get two runs back in the bottom of the fifth on a bases loaded two-RBI single by Juhl to cut the Oregon State margin to 9-6. Taylor and August singled back-to-back with one out before Oregon State starter Mike Stutes (4.1 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO) walked Sorgi to load the bases and was removed in favor of Keitzman, who allowed Juhl's two-run single before striking out Phelps and getting Milleville to fly out to Wells in right field to avoid any further damage.
Stanford got as close as 9-7 by scoring another run in the seventh. Pinch-hitter Ryan Seawell walked to lead off the inning and moved to second on single by Sorgi, before going to third on Juhl's deep fly ball to left and scoring on an RBI single from Phelps that ended Keitzman's outing. Mark Grbavac (1.1 IP, 2 H, 3 SO) came in and got the Beavers out of the jam by striking out Milleville and pinch-hitter Brendan Domaracki to get out of the jam without allowing another run.
Oregon State picked up one more run in the eighth when Joey Wong drew a walk from Walker to lead off the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Hopkins with Stringer now in the game and scored two batters later on a Barney RBI single to right field.
Stanford managed to get the tying run to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the eighth when Toby Gerhart and Seawell singled before Kunz came on and get Sorgi to hit a grounder to the right side that Seawell was called interference on to end the threat.
Oregon State added three more insurance runs in the ninth to make the final score 13-7 when Canham cleared the bases with a two-out three-RBI double off Hancock after Stilson had walked them loaded.
Stanford and Oregon State will continue their current series at Sunken Diamond on Saturday (1 pm, PT) and Sunday (12:30 pm, PT). Saturday's game will be televised live by Fox Sports Net.
Tickets for the remainder of the Oregon State series 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.