March 9, 2008
Austin, Texas - Stanford (8-4) scored five runs in the top of the first inning and then held off a late rally by No. 16 Texas (9-4) in a wild 12-9 rubber game victory before a crowd of 6,800 at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The last two outs of the game fittingly came on Stanford's school record sixth double play of the contest after the Longhorns had loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the eighth, which was the last inning of the contest due to an agreement before the game not to start an inning after 4 pm, CT, due to Stanford's travel plans.
Sean Ratliff (4-5, 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI) had a huge day at the plate and was also credited with the win as the most effective of Stanford's five relievers, while Alex Pracher came in to force pinch-hitter Kawika Emsley-Pai into the final double play that ended the game to record his first career save.
"I was definitely thinking about it [getting a double play] in that situation," said Pracher. "Those guys [Jake Schlander and Cord Phelps] are the best double play combination I've ever worked with."
The win extended Stanford's regular season three-game series win streak to six dating back to last season and marked the first time the Cardinal had defeated Texas in a regular season three-game set in Austin since 2003.
"It's tough to beat Texas here, so we are very fortunate to have won two out of three," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess after his 1293rd career victories that leaves him just seven shy of 1300 and the No. 10 spot on the all-time victory list for Division I coaches.
"It's huge to be able to go down there to Texas and win a series," added Ratliff. "It's a tough place to play. To be able to go in there and win a series especially after dropping Friday's opener is a big step for us."
Austin Yount (3-4, 2 2B, RBI), Cord Phelps (2-4, 2B, HR, RBI) and Randy Molina (2-4, 2 RBI) joined Ratliff with multiple-hit games.
Texas had seven players with multiple-hit games as the Longhorns outhit the Cardinal, 18-16. Brandon Belt (4-4, 2 RBI) led the way with a four-hit effort and was joined by Jordan Danks (3-4, HR, 2 RBI), Russell Moldenhauer (2-3), Preston Clark (2-4, HR, 3 RBI), Cameron Rupp (2-4, 2B, HR, RBI), Kyle Russell (2-4) and Travis Tucker (2-5, RBI, SB).
Stanford's five-run first came against Texas starter and losing pitcher Cole Green (0.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER), who was removed from the game after recording just one out. Phelps scored the first run when he led off the game with a double and scored two batters later on an RBI single from Joey August. Jason Castro then singled to put runners on first and third before an RBI single by Molina gave Stanford a 2-0 advantage. Ratliff followed with a triple just over the head of a leaping Danks in center field to score both Castro and Molina before Yount capped the rally with an RBI single to plate Ratliff. Casey Whitmer (2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) replaced Green and finally got the Longhorns out of the long inning.
The Cardinal came back with another run in the third when Brendan Domaracki led off the inning with a single and scored three batters later when Molina came up with a clutch two-out RBI single.
Texas answered with a run in its half of the third when Michael Torres led off with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by David Hernandez and scored on a single up the middle by Danks.
Stanford extended its lead to 9-1 with three more runs in the fifth. Ratliff led off the inning with the first of his two solo shots before Yount doubled to end the outing for reliever Keith Shinaberry (1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER). Jones then sacrificed Yount over to third before Phelps launched a ball to deep center field that turned into an inside-the-park homer when Danks went to the ground in a heap while trying to make a spectacular grab at the wall.
While the Cardinal scored nine runs in its first five trips to the plate, potential Texas rallies were wiped out by double plays induced by Stanford starter Jeffrey Inman (4.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) in each of the first four innings.
But Texas started to immediately chip away at Stanford's 9-1 advantage when Tucker drew a leadoff walk from Cardinal reliever Max Fearnow (2.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) to begin the bottom of the fifth. Despite being behind by eight runs Tucker stole second arguably to help stay out of a double play and ended up scoring on a two-out RBI single by Tucker.
Texas got two more runs back in the sixth when Clark and Rupp connected on back-to-back two out solo homers but not before the Cardinal had turned its fifth double play in the first six innings to wipe out another potential big inning after Texas had put its leadoff man on base for the sixth consecutive time.
Stanford would come back with one run in the seventh when Ratliff led off the inning with his second solo homer in as many at bats.
But Texas answered with four more runs in its half of the seventh to pull within 10-8 despite not getting the leadoff man on for the only time the entire game. With one out, Danks started the rally with the third Longhorn solo homer of the game. Tucker restarted the rally with a single to spell the end of Fearnow's outing. The Cardinal brought in southpaw Tom Stilson (0.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER) to face a pair of lefties but both Russell and Belt singled to bring home Tucker and cut the Cardinal lead to 10-6. David Stringer (0.1 IP, 1 H) came on as the third of four Stanford pitchers in the inning and retired pinch-hitter Tant Shepherd for the second out before giving up a two-run single to Clark. Ratliff (0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB) was brought in from him centerfield position to pitch and gave up a double to Rupp before retiring pinch-hitter on a groundout to Phelps at second and leave the Cardinal clinging to its 10-8 advantage.
The seventh inning ended just a few minutes before 4:00 pm, CT, and both teams were aware that the eighth inning would most likely be the final one played.
Stanford went out and got two important insurance runs to create a four-run gap heading into the bottom of the eighth. Jeff Whitlow started the Cardinal eighth with a leadoff single to end a relief outing by Brandon Workman (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 SO). Belt moved into pitch from first base and promptly uncorked a wild pickoff attempt that allowed Whitlow to move all the way to third before Castro brought him in two batters later with a sacrifice fly. Brent Milleville restarted the rally with a walk, stole second and scored on an RBI double by Ratliff.
Ratliff's wildness would make the end of the game interesting as he hit a batter and walked two more after a leadoff single by Hernandez to bring in one Texas run and load the bases with just one out in the bottom of the eighth, but Pracher came on and needed just two pitches to get Emsley-Pai to hit into a 4-6-3 double play that ended the contest and sent the Cardinal scurrying to make a flight to San Jose by 6:20 pm, CT.
"It was kind of relief to hold them off today," offered Ratliff. "It got kind of tense there at the end. They were chipping away and the more they chip, the louder that stadium gets and the harder it is to keep your composure. But I think it's a good indication as to where we are as a team right now, that we were able to hold them off late like that."
"Give them credit because they came back, but this was our day from the first inning on," wrapped up Marquess. "It was just our day the way everything went."
Stanford will be out of action for 11 days before resuming its season with the opener of a three-game non-conference series versus Pacific at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond on Friday, March 21 (7 pm, PT). The final two games of the series will be played at Pacific on Saturday, March 22 and Monday, March 24. Both contests in Stockton are scheduled to begin at 6 pm, PT.