March 10, 2007
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Postgame Inteviews
Jeremy Bleich
Stanford, Calif. - Jeremy Bleich carried a three-hit shutout through eight innings but No. 20 USC (15-8) rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth to hand Stanford (10-8) a heartbreaking 2-1 non-conference loss on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Sunken Diamond. Hector Estrella's two-out RBI single through the right side of the infield scored Lucas Duda with the game-winning run.Duda had tied the game at 1-1 earlier in the inning when he singled home pinch-runner Spencer Pabst. Paul Koss retired the Cardinal in order in the bottom of the ninth and struck pinch-hitter Randy Molina for the final out to notch his 10th save of the season and the 30th of his career.
USC reliever Kevin Couture (2-0) earned the victory after limiting the damage in the Cardinal seventh following Adam Gaylord's RBI single that had brought home Cord Phelps for the first run of the game. Couture retired all five batters he faced with a pair of strikeouts, getting the two batters he saw in the seventh to leave a pair of Stanford runners stranded and setting down the Cardinal in order in the eighth. USC starter Brad Boxberger (6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) was also effective and had a shutout of his own until Gaylord's run-scoring hit.
Duda (3-4, 2B, RBI, SB) had half of USC's six hits, while Sean Ratliff (2-4, 2B, SB) was the only Stanford player with more than one of the six Cardinal hits.
"I should have gotten job in the ninth, and I didn't," said a subdued Bleich after the contest. "I've got to do a better job at finishing the job and obviously I will work at that."
Boxberger and Bleich traded zeros for the first six and a half innings with Bleich retiring nine in a row at one point and Boxberger setting down eight consecutive hitters at the height of his outing.
"Both guys pitched a good game, and it's unfortunate [Jeremy] had to lose that game, but they did a better job in the big spot that we did today," added Stanford head coach Mark Marquess."
Boxberger and Bleich traded zeros for the first six and a half innings with Bleich retiring nine in a row at one point and Boxberger setting down eight consecutive hitters at the height of his outing.Stanford did manage to get runners in scoring position in four of the first six frames before Boxberger got out of each jam but his own wildness cost him Stanford's lone run in the seventh when he walked Phelps and hit Ryan Seawell before Gaylord's hard groundball RBI single up the middle ended his outing.
The Trojans were able to get a runner in scoring position only three times in Bleich's first eight frames and never moved one past second base before Matt Cusick started the decisive ninth with a leadoff single. Pabst pinch-ran and stole second to get into scoring position but Bleich got J.J. Owen to line out to Michael Taylor in right field for the first out before Duda's single up the middle tied the game at 1-1. Bleich recovered to record the second out on a Johnny Bowden pop-up before issuing a walk to the switch-hitting former Stanford player Darren Gemoll to set up Estrella's game-winner.
Stanford and USC conclude the three-game series on Sunday (1 pm, PT). The Trojans have named LHP Tommy Milone (2-2, 5.74) as their probable starter for the contest, while the Cardinal has yet to announce a starter.
Tickets for the finale of the current USC series and all regular season Stanford Baseball home games 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.