March 27, 2007
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San Jose, Calif. - Stanford (13-9) scored five runs in the top of the 10th inning on its way to an 8-3 victory over San Jose State (16-11) in the first extra inning game of the season for the Cardinal on a chilly Tuesday night at San Jose Municipal Stadium. Adam Sorgi drove in the first of the five runs in the 10th inning with an RBI single to score Adam Gaylord and snap a 3-3 tie. Ryan Seawell gave Stanford a pair of runs with his third home run of the season in the top of the seventh.
"This was a big team win for us tonight," said Sorgi. "Our character showed there in the 10th inning."
Adam Gaylord drew a leadoff walk from losing pitcher Loren Moneypenny (2-4) to start the Cardinal 10th inning after the Spartan reliever had retired all three batters he faced in the ninth. Reliever Greg Shannon (1.0 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) gave up a double to Sean Ratliff to put runners on second and third before Sorgi singled to center field to put the Cardinal ahead, 4-3. Stanford took advantage of a pair of San Jose State miscues to score its next two runs when a passed ball by Spartan catcher Jason Thinnes and a Shannon wild pitch allowed Ratliff and Sorgi to score. Jason Castro brought in the final two runs of the frame with a two-out RBI single up the middle to plate Michael Taylor and Brendan Domaracki, who had both walked earlier in the rally.
"We bunched together some hits in the 10th inning and battled well tonight," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "I'm very proud of the way we came back."
Andrew Clauson (2-0) recorded the victory by coming on to get the Cardinal out of the San Jose State ninth and shutting the Spartans out while allowing just one hit and striking out one over the final 1.1 innings.
Andrew Clauson recorded the victory in Stanford's 8-3 win in 10 innings at San Jose State on Tuesday |
Stanford needed the five-run 10th inning after losing a 3-0 lead when San Jose State scored once in the eighth and two more times in the ninth.
Marcus McKimmy connected for his third home run of the season off Cardinal reliever David Stringer (1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB) to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning, cutting the Cardinal lead to 3-2. Corey Valine then drew a walk and pinch-runner Brian Yocke moved to second on pinch-hitter John Shaffer's sacrifice bunt to end Stringer's outing. Reliever Blake Hancock (0.1 IP) then balked Yocke to third before allowing pinch-hitter Aaron Loewenthal to tie the game with a sacrifice fly to bring home Yocke.
Ryan Angel started the Spartan eighth with a one-out infield single before Donato Giovanatto singled to put runners on first and second, ending a short outing for Cardinal reliever Erik Davis (0.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER). Stringer came into the game and walked Kyle Bellows to load the bases. Sonny Garza then brought home Angel with a sacrifice fly for the first Spartan run of the contest, but the Cardinal escaped a potential big inning when Taylor's throw from right field nabbed Giovanatto trying to move to third on the play.
The game had been scoreless until Seawell was hit by a pitch with two outs and scored on Gaylord's RBI double down the left field line in the Cardinal fifth.
Seawell's two-run homer in the seventh that followed Castro's leadoff walk made it 3-0 in favor of Stanford.
Stanford's first three pitchers - Austin Yount (3.2 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 SO), Max Fearnow (2.1 IP, 2 SO) and Tom Stilson (1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 SO) - held San Jose State scoreless over the first seven innings.
Joey August (2-5, 2B) was the only Stanford player with more than one hit and extended his career-high hit streak to eight games. Castro and Seawell both had a pair of RBI.
McKimmy (2-4, HR, RBI) had the only multiple-hit game for the Spartans.
Stanford extended its win streak over the Spartans to eight in a row dating back the last San Jose State victory over the Cardinal in 2002.
"We're not where we need to be, but we're getting better," said Marquess in advance of the team's conference opener. "There's a lot of good things, but we've got a lot of work to do."
Stanford next returns home to open Pac-10 play with a three-game series against UCLA (10-14, 0-0 Pac-10) this Friday-Sunday, March 30 - April 1 (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PT). Tickets for the UCLA series at Sunken Diamond 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.