March 6, 2007
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Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (10-6) had its longest win streak of the season come to an end at eight games with a 13-5 loss in a non-conference contest at Santa Clara (11-10) on Tuesday at Stephen Schott Stadium. Stanford scored twice in the top of the first inning but Santa Clara answered with three runs of its own in the bottom of the first frame and would never trail again in the first of four scheduled meetings between the clubs this season.
Each pitching staff allowed 10 walks, while the Cardinal also hit three in a game that lasted three hours and 50 minutes.
"We just gave them too much," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. "That's tough. It's tough to beat anybody [when you do that]. We also left a lot of runners on base and when they got them on, they got them in. They did a good job of swinging the bat in clutch situations."
Carl Bacon (2-5, 3 RBI) and David Hoffmire (3 RBI) both drove in three runs for the Broncos, while Matt Long (2-4, 2 RBI) and Ryan Conan (2B, 2 RBI) had two RBI each. Leadoff hitter Juan Parra scored three times.
Santa Clara stole a season-high six bases in the contest.
Sean Ratliff (3-5, SB) equaled a career-high and team season-high with three hits and stole his sixth base of the season for Stanford. Brent Milleville (2-4, 2 RBI, SB) and Joey August (2-4, 2B, RBI) added two each.
Stanford stranded a season-high 14 runners, while the Broncos left nine on base.
Santa Clara starter Donald Brandt (2-0) earned the victory despite allowing three runs on five hits and five walks with two strikeouts over 4.0 innings in a predetermined pitching rotation.Stanford starter Brandt Walker (0-1) took the loss in the first start of his collegiate career. Walker had control problems with five walks and a pair of wild pitches in his short 1.1 inning start. He allowed six runs (five earned) on three hits with a strikeout.
Stanford got off to a good start by scoring twice in the top of the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead as the first four batters of the game reached safely for the Cardinal. Seawell led off the contest with an infield single and moved to second when Ratliff followed with a single through the right side. Michael Taylor then drew a walk to load the bases and Milleville brought in Seawell with an RBI single. Brian Juhl followed with a sacrifice fly that brought Seawell home but the Broncos got out of the inning without any further damage.
Walker got two of the first three batters he faced in the Santa Clara half of the first but also walked the bases loaded before Bacon came through with a two-out, two-RBI single on a high-hopper that bounced off the glove of leaping Cardinal second baseman Austin Yount to score Hoffmire and Alcantar. The Broncos picked up a third run in the inning when Yount made a diving stop of Evan LeBlanc's grounder but then threw the ball away at first base for an error.
Santa Clara scored three more times in the second inning. Parra drew a leadoff walk to start the rally before Hoffmire moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. Long then hit a bouncing ball up the middle that Yount made a nice stop on in shallow centerfield but Parra kept coming and scored all the way from second base. Alcantar ended Walker's outing with a single that moved Long to third and then stole second base for his second steal of the game before Conan greeted reliever Erik Davis (2.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) with a two-RBI double before he could record the final two outs.
The Broncos added another run in the fourth when Long led off with a single, stole second, moved to third on Alcantar's sacrifice bunt and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Bacon.
Stanford finally got back on the scoreboard with a run in the fifth. Taylor extended his season-high hit streak to seven games with a leadoff double to end a relief outing for Justin Kuehn (1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 BB). Milleville drew a walk from Steve Kalush (2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO) but Kalush got Juhl to ground into a double play that dampened the hopes for a big rally. The Cardinal was able to manage a run when August came through with a two-out RBI double two batters later to score Taylor but Kalush got Cord Phelps to ground out to escape further damage and help the Broncos maintain a four-run advantage.
Santa Clara got the run back and added one more in a two-run fifth to regain momentum. Hoffmire came through with a clutch two-run single to score Jon Karcich and Parra, who had drawn a walk off Andrew Clauson (1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) and reached on a Phelps error to put runners on first and third before Parra moved into scoring position by swiping second.
Stanford cut the margin to 9-4 with a run in the sixth but left the bases loaded with an opportunity to get back into the game. Yount started the frame with a leadoff double before Seawell drew a walk. Ratliff was able to beat out the back end of a potential double play ball to put runners on first and third with still just one out. Ratliff then stole second base and Taylor walked to load the bases. Kalush struck out Milleville for the second out but walked in a run when he issued a free pass to pinch-hitter Jason Castro before getting Randy Molina to hit into an inning-ending groundout to Karcich at shortstop.
Santa Clara closed out its scoring with four more runs as the Broncos hit around the order in the seventh. Max Fearnow (0.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER) gave up back-to-back singles to LeBlanc and Kevin Drever to start the inning before being relieved by Rex Petrill (0.0 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 HP), who walked the bases the loaded before hitting back-to-back batters to force in a pair of runs. Blake Hancock (1.0 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO) came on to get three outs but allowed a pair of sacrifice flies to Long and pinch-hitter Tommy Medica before getting the Cardinal out of the inning.
Brent Milleville (2-4, 2 RBI, SB) managed a pair of hits and two RBI in Tuesday's 13-5 loss at Santa Clara |
Stanford managed the final run of the game in the eighth when Ratliff led off with a bunt single, moved to second on Taylor's groundout and scored when Milleville grounded an RBI single through the right side of the infield.
Stanford returns home for a three-game non-conference series against USC (13-8) this Friday-Sunday, March 9-11 (5 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm, PT). Stanford is off to a perfect 9-0 start at home this season that is its best since the 1993 club started 10-0 at Sunken Diamond.
Tickets the upcoming series against USC and all regular season Stanford Baseball home games are also available online at gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD. Tickets may also be purchased at the Sunken Diamond Ticket Office window one hour before first pitch on game days. For group ticket information (groups of 10 or more), call 650-725-2876.