May 15, 2007
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Santa Clara, Calif. - Stanford (22-27) won its third straight game with a 14-4 non-conference victory over Santa Clara (25-29) on a chilly Tuesday evening at Stephen Schott Stadium. The victory helped the Cardinal avoid being swept by the Broncos in the season series between the clubs after Santa Clara had won the first three meetings of 2007. David Stringer (1-2) earned his first victory of the campaign by pitching a career-high 7.0 innings without giving up an earned run in an outstanding relief outing. Stringer scattered seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
"I was happy that I was able to go out there and keep my team in the game," said Stringer, who came into the contest with the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the second inning.
Brendan Domaracki (2-3, HR, 3 RBI) and Michael Taylor homered for the Cardinal, while Stanford's bottom third of the starting lineup - Ryan Seawell (3-4, 2 RBI, SB), Cord Phelps (2-3, RBI) and Brian Juhl (2-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI) - combined to go 7-for-12 with five RBI.
"This was a great game for us in a lot of areas," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "We obviously got a great pitching performance from David Stringer, but we also had excellent production from just about everywhere in our lineup."
Santa Clara had four players - Gabe Alcantar (2-4, 2 RBI), Carl Bacon (2-4, RBI), Matt Long (2-5, 2B) and Ryan Conan (2-5) - with a pair of hits each. Jon Karcich homered for the Broncos.
Stanford broke the game open with a five-run third inning that snapped a 3-3 tie. Taylor's mammoth two-run homer was the first scoring blow of the inning coming two batters after Toby Gerhart had led off the frame with a single. Justin Kuehn (0.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB) then came into the game in relief of starter Sean O'Neill (2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER), who took the loss to fall to 2-3 on the season. Kuehn immediately got the second out of the inning when he retired Adam Sorgi on a groundout before walking three consecutive Cardinal hitters - Brent Milleville, Seawell and Phelps - to load the bases for Juhl, who delivered a clutch two-out, two-RBI double to put the Cardinal ahead 7-3. Daniel DeMarco (2.1 IP, 2 BB, 3 SO) then came into the game and hit Domaracki before walking Joey August to force home the final run of the inning.
Santa Clara picked up an unearned run in the fourth. Tommy Medica reached safely to start the inning on Seawell's error on a grounder to the Cardinal third baseman. The Broncos then had the bases loaded with no outs after back-to-back singles from Conan and Bacon, but Stringer settled down to surrender just one run on an RBI fielder's choice by Alcantar before getting Evan LeBlanc to hit into a rally and inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.
Neither team would score again until the Cardinal tacked on three more runs in both the eighth and ninth frames.
Wildness by Santa Clara reliever Alex Rivers (1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) helped Stanford put up its three-spot in the eighth. Domaracki got the rally started with a leadoff single but was forced out at second on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by August. Rivers then walked Sean Ratliff and hit Taylor to load the bases for Sorgi, who hit a potential inning-ending double play ball to David Hoffmire that the Bronco second baseman turned into an RBI fielder's choice for Sorgi when his throwing error on the lead end of the potential double play pulled Karcich off the bag covering from shortstop. Seawell made the Broncos pay two batters later when he bounced a single up the middle that snuck in between Karcich and Hoffmire.
Domaracki accounted for the final three Cardinal runs when he blasted a three-run shot off Jeff Lombard (1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 SO) in the top of the ninth with Phelps and Juhl aboard after the duo had singled and doubled to start the inning.
The game had started with each team scoring in each of its first three trips to the plate as the Cardinal 8-4 after three complete innings.
Stanford started the scoring with a run in the top of the first when Jeff Whitlow led off the game with a double, moved to third on Gerhart's grounder to Hoffmire and scored on Sean Ratliff's sacrifice fly.Santa Clara answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first on back-to-back RBI singles by Bacon and Alcantar to take a 2-1 lead. Nathan Faulkner started the rally with a one-out walk and stole second before moving to third on a Medica single to set the stage for Bacon and Alcantar.
Stanford came back with a pair of runs in the top of the second to go back in front, 3-2. Sorgi was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning before moving to second on a Milleville groundout. Seawell then singled Sorgi to third before Cord Phelps brought him in with a bloop single down that dropped just inside the right field foul line. Juhl then beat out a potential inning-ending double play ball for an RBI fielder's choice to allow Seawell to come home.
Santa Clara tied the game at 3-3 when Karcich led off the bottom of the second with a solo homer to end a short outing for Stanford starter Nolan Gallagher (1.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO).Stanford will return to Sunken Diamond for the opener of a three-game non-conference series versus Pacific (13-40) this Friday, May 18 (6 pm, PT) with the annual Town & Country Fireworks Show scheduled to take place after the contest. The series will continue at Pacific on Saturday (3 pm, PT), before returning to Sunken Diamond for the series finale and Fan Appreciation Day on Sunday (1 pm, PT).
Tickets for Fireworks Night and all Stanford Baseball games are available at the Sunken Diamond Ticket Office beginning one hour before first pitch. Tickets for any of the three remaining regular season 2007 Stanford Baseball home contests are also available online at gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD. For group ticket information (groups of 10 or more), call 650-725-2876.
A complete recap will follow.