March 31, 2007
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Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (13-11, 0-2 Pac-10) scored nine runs in the bottom of the ninth inning but still dropped a 16-11 contest to UCLA (12-14, 2-0 Pac-10) in the second game of a three-game Pac-10 series at Sunken Diamond on Saturday. The Cardinal's biggest inning of the season wasn't enough to overcome a 16-2 lead the Bruins had built heading into the bottom of the ninth as UCLA defeated Stanford for the second straight game to open the series.
Cody Decker (3-5, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI) had the first two-homer game of his career and drove in a career-high six runs. Three others Bruins - Brandon Crawford (4-6, HR, 2 RBI), Alden Carrithers (4-5, 2 RBI) and Gabe Cohen (4-5) - had four hits each. Mickey Weisser (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI), Ryan Babineau (2-4, 2 2B, RBI) and Brady Dolan (2-5, 2B) each added two of the Bruins' season-high 24 hits that were the most allowed by the Cardinal this season as were the 16 UCLA runs. Tim Stewart also homered for the winners, while Jermaine Curtis doubled and drove in a pair of runs.
Michael Taylor (3-6, HR, 4 RBI) homered and drove in four for the Cardinal, while Joey August extended his career-high hit streak to 10 games with a ninth inning single. Min Moon (2-2, RBI) and Jeff Whitlow (2-2, RBI) both had the first multiple-hit games of their career by each picking up two hits in the Cardinal ninth, while Cord Phelps (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI) also had a two-hit game and tied career-highs with two runs scored and two RBI. Adam Sorgi extended his season-high hit streak to seven in a row with an eighth inning single.
Jeff Whitlow had his first multiple-hit game at Stanford on Saturday |
UCLA starter Tim Murphy (2-2) had a solid effort to earn the victory, blanking the Cardinal on just four hits and three walks with seven strikeouts over the first 5.2 innings.
Stanford starter Jeffrey Inman (2-1) suffered the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits with one strikeout over just 1.1 innings in the shortest start of his young career.
UCLA had built a 16-2 lead before the Cardinal made things interesting with its nine-run ninth. Phelps led off the inning with a single as the first of 14 batters that Stanford would send to the plate. After reliever Brendan Lafferty (1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 SO) got Adam Gaylord to pop-up to Crawford at shortstop for the first out, Whitlow and Moon followed with back-to-back singles to bring Phelps around to score and end Lafferty's outing. Taylor then greeted Jason Novak (0.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) with a long three-run homer that cleared a tall tree behind the leftcenter field fence. Brent Milleville drew a walk to restart the rally and August followed with a bloop single to extend his career-high hit streak to 10 games in his final opportunity. Novak retired Jason Castro on a lineout to Cohen in right field for the second out before Brendan Domaracki came through with the first of five consecutive two-out hits when he singled home Milleville. Phelps' second hit of the inning was a two-RBI double to score August and Domaracki. Gaylord then tripled home Phelps before scoring on Whitlow's infield single. Moon kept the inning alive with another infield single before Taylor struck out swinging to end the game and was ejected after the call.
The Bruins had scored five runs in the top of the ninth to extend their lead to 16-2 with back-to-back homers by Crawford and Stewart keying the rally that started when reliever Blake Hancock (4.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB) walked Weisser. Dolan followed with a double to put Bruins on second and third with no outs before back-to-back RBI groundouts from Babineau and Curtis brought the runners home. Carrithers restarted the rally with a two-out single before Crawford connected on a two-run shot and Stewart followed with a long solo homer down the left field line.
Stanford had trailed 11-0 before finally getting on the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth. Grant Escue started the rally with a pinch-hit leadoff double before moving to second on a Sorgi single and scoring on Taylor's RBI single up the middle. August drew a one-out walk two batters later to load the bases and end a relief outing for Garett Claypool (1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) before Lafferty came in to get the final two outs but not before allowing Sorgi to score on an RBI fielder's choice from Castro.
UCLA scored in each of the first six innings to take its 11-0 advantage.
Decker connected on the first of his two three-run shots in the top of the first to put the Bruins on top, 3-0, after Carrithers had singled with out and Crawford had reached when Sorgi booted a potential inning-ending double play ball.
Dolan started a two-run Bruin second with a leadoff single and moved to second on Babineau's sacrifice bunt before scoring when Curtis doubled against Inman to end his brief appearance. Curtis moved to third when Gaylord dropped a pickoff attempt by reliever Max Fearnow (2.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER) before scoring on a sacrifice fly from Carrithers.UCLA got one run in each the third, fourth and fifth frames to extend its lead to 9-0.
Decker doubled to lead off the third but was eventually cut down at the plate on a fielder's choice. Cohen, who had singled earlier to move Dolan to third, would eventually score on a two-out RBI single from Weisser.
Babineau started a fourth inning rally with a double, went to third on a Curtis groundout that ended Fearnow's outing and scored when Carrithers singled off new reliever Tom Stilson (1.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 SO).
Cohen led off the fifth with a single and came around to score after a single from Will Penniall and an RBI double by Weisser.
Decker made it 11-0 with his second three-run blast in the sixth off reliever Austin Yount (0.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER), who was ejected from the contest after hitting Cohen with the following pitch. Carrithers and Crawford had set the table for Decker with back-to-back singles off Stilson to start the inning.
Stanford had just one hit in the first four innings against Murphy before putting together rallies that the Bruins were able to get out of without a run scoring in both the fifth and sixth. Murphy got out of the fifth inning jam when he struck out Gaylord and Ryan Seawell after the Cardinal had loaded the bases with just one out. In the sixth, Stanford had runners on second and third after a Taylor single and a Milleville double but Curtis caught Taylor off third with a hidden ball trick for the second out and Claypool came on two batters later to retire Brian Juhl on a foul-out to end the inning and leave runners stranded on first and second.
The three-game series concludes Sunday (1 pm, PT) with the Cardinal needing a victory to avoid being swept in a three-game regular season home series for the first time since 1997. Stanford is scheduled to start RHP Nolan Gallagher (2-2, 5.82) versus UCLA RHP Gavin Brooks (2-3, 4.54).
Tickets for series finale versus UCLA 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.
A full recap will follow.