Feb. 22, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford (1-1) and Nebraska (1-1) split a doubleheader to open the 2008 college baseball season on Friday at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond. The Cardinal took the opener, 17-7, before Nebraska rallied with a 9-2 win in the nightcap. Morning rain on Friday had threatened to delay the start of the 2008 campaign for the Cardinal, but the skies finally cleared a couple of hours before game time and the first pitch was thrown at 2:03 pm, PT.
Not long after the first pitch was thrown, Cord Phelps led off the bottom of the Stanford first with the first two home run of his career. Phelps also drove in a career-high four runs to lead the Cardinal offense in the opener, while Jeremy Bleich (1-0) earned the victory with 6.0 innings of one-hit shutout work on the hill.
"Jeremy Bleich pitched really well for us in the first game, but then in the second game we just didn't do anything offensively," summarized Stanford head coach Mark Marquess.
"It felt great," said Phelps, a junior who had not homered during his first two seasons at Stanford. "Everybody was hitting the ball really well. Their pitchers made some mistakes, and we made them pay for it.""I didn't necessarily have my best stuff, but I battled," offered Bleich. "It was great to get all that run support early."
The Cardinal gave Bleich and his relievers all of the support they would need by jumping out to a 17-0 lead after six innings.
Phelps led off the bottom of the first with an opposite field home run over the left field wall to start a five-run Cardinal scoring outburst. He got the inning going with his first career home run on a high fly ball drifted over the wall in left field. The Cardinal would score another pair of runs on a two-run double from Jason Castro to plate Brendan Domaracki and Sean Ratliff, before an RBI groundout from Brent Milleville and an RBI single from Jeff Whitlow capped the rally and gave Stanford an early 5-0 lead.
The Cardinal would add to its five-run first with three more big innings, adding three runs in the third, four more in the fifth and five in the sixth.
A leadoff triple by Castro and back-to-back doubles from Randy Molina and Austin Yount scored the first two third inning runs for the Cardinal before Whitlow followed with his second RBI single in as many trips to the plate.
Molina started the fifth inning rally off with a single and Jones followed with a rocket home run over the left field wall in his first collegiate at bat. Domaracki brought home the final two runs late in the frame with a two-run single to score Whitlow and Jake Schlander who had walked and doubled in front of him.
Stanford increased its lead to 17-0 with five more in the sixth with a three-run homer by Phelps the key blow. A leadoff walk by Toby Gerhart had started the rally and back-to-back singles by Milleville and Schlander sandwiched around an error by Husker first baseman Cody Neer scored two runs and set the stage for Phelps.
While the Cardinal was racking up runs, Bleich was moving down Nebraska hitters. Bleich set the side down in order in four of his six innings and retired the final 10 batters he faced.
Nebraska was able to muster seven runs off four Cardinal relievers but the late rally wasn't nearly enough to overcome the 17-run deficit.
The Huskers finally got on the board when Mitch Abeita connected on a solo homer off Michael Marshall in the top of the seventh. A costly two-base throwing error by Marshall would contribute to two more Husker runs after Nick Sullivan and Belfonte made him pay with an RBI single and RBI double later in the frame. Stanford reliever Blake Hancock allowed Belfonte's RBI double but then settled down to retire his next four hitters and keep the Cardinal lead at 17-3 heading into the top of the ninth.
Nebraska would score four times with two outs in their last trip to the plate, picking up single runs on an RBI fielders choice by Ben Kline and an RBI double from Jake Mort before Jake Opitz capped the rally with a two-run single up the middle to end a short collegiate debut for Cardinal reliever Billy Vernon. Rex Petrill came into the game and an allowed an infield single to Neer before getting designated hitter Brett Sowers to hit into a game-ending groundout.
Six different Stanford players - Phelps (2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI), Whitlow (2-2, 2 RBI), Domaracki (2-4, 2 RBI), Schlander (2-4, 2B, RBI), Castro (2-5, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI) and MIlleville (2-5, 2B, RBI) - each had two of Stanford's 16 hits while Jones drove in a pair of runs.
Sullivan (2-2, RBI), Belfonte (2-5, 2B, RBI) and Neer (2-5) each had two hits for the Huskers, while Optiz picked up two RBI.
Nebraska starter Thad Weber (0-1) took the loss, allowing eight runs on eight hits with two walks and a strikeout in his 3.0 inning outing.
The second game was nearly exactly opposite of the first contest as Dorn handcuffed the Cardinal, allowing just a first inning unearned run and three hits with seven strikeouts and only one walk.
The Cardinal manufactured scored its first inning run when Phelps was hit by a pitch to start the frame before stealing second and then taking third on the play when Abeita's throw from behind the plate hit him on the helmet and bounced into the outfield. Ratliff followed with a deep sacrifice fly to the wall in left field to score Phelps.
Nebraska, who had not worked out outdoors since official team practice started on February 1 before arriving at Stanford on the eve of the series on Thursday, got its bats going in the top of the second with a four-run rally off losing pitcher Erik Davis (0-1). The Huskers took advantage of Davis' wildness in the inning, making him pay for a pair of hit batsmen, a wild pitch and a walk. Belfonte had the big hit of the frame with a two-out two-run single up the middle to score Bryce Nimmo and Kline, who had singled earlier in the inning with Kline's base knock plating Neer before Jeff Tezak would score on a wild pitch.
Nebraska added three more runs in the third on an Abeita RBI double, a wild pitch and a two-out double by Belfonte that would end Davis' short season debut (2.2 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO).
Nebraska would close out its scoring with single runs in the fifth and eighth innings on an RBI single by Mort in the fifth and on Belfonte's fourth hit of the game in the eighth to bring home Nimmo.
Stanford got a run in the bottom of the ninth when Colin Walsh doubled in his first collegiate at bat and was singled to third by Jones before scoring when pinch-hitter Ben Clowe hit into a 5-4-3 double play.
Nimmo (2-4) and Abeita (2-5, RBI) had a pair of hits for a Huskers' team that left 16 runners on base while drawing seven walks and reaching on hit batsmen on five other occasions.
Molina (2-3) was the only Stanford player with more than one hit in the nightcap.
The teams are scheduled to play the third game of a four-game non-conference series on Saturday with the start time of the contest moved up one hour to 1:00 pm, PT, due to the a forecast of inclement weather. Nebraska RHP Dan Jennings is scheduled to take the hill against Stanford RHP Max Fearnow.