March 22, 2008
Stockton, Calif. - Stanford (9-5) rebounded from a Friday loss to Pacific (5-15) with a 7-3 victory over the Tigers on a nice Saturday evening at Klein Family Field to even the three-game non-conference series. Erik Davis earned the victory by striking out a career-high 10 in a career-high-tying 7.0 innings of work. Drew Storen came on with two outs and nobody out in the bottom of the eighth to get the Cardinal out of a jam and retired all six batters he faced with two strikeouts to pick up his second save.
Davis allowed just three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks in his outing.
"I felt pretty good all day," said Davis. "One of the reasons I was successful tonight is that I was able to attack the zone and throw strikes. That's the biggest thing about pitching is just to throw strikes and let the defense work behind you."
"Erik Davis and Drew Storen were outstanding tonight," added Stanford head coach Mark Marquess, who moved to within six victories of 1300 for his career and the Top 10 on the all-time list of Division I wins. "When you have a well-pitched game, it makes you feel good."
Cord Phelps (3-3, 2B, RBI) and Jeff Whitlow (3-5, 2B, SB, RBI) had three hits each to lead the Cardinal offensive attack with the leadoff hitter Phelps reaching safely in all five of his plate appearances and also scoring a career-high-tying three runs. Whitlow's three hits were a career-high. Brendan Domaracki (2-3, 2B, RBI) and Zach Jones (2-5) also had multiple-hit contests as the Cardinal outhit the Tigers, 13-5.
Joe Oliveira (2-3, 2 2B) was the only Pacific player with more than one hit.
Pacific starter Mark McCain took the loss, allowing six runs (five earned) on 10 hits in his 5.1 frames. McCain struck out seven and combined with relievers David Rowse (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 SO) and Corey Kohnke (2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 SO) to strike out 11 Cardinal hitters.
Stanford jumped out of the gates with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning and never trailed in the contest. Phelps and Domaracki started the top of the first inning with back-to-back singles and then scored on back-to-back sacrifice flies from Jason Castro and Randy Molina.
Pacific came back with one run in the bottom of the first when Oliveira doubled down the third base line to start the frame and scored three batters later on Jason Haar's two-out double to the leftcenter field gap.Stanford extended its lead to 5-1 with a run in the third and two more in the fourth.
Phelps got the Cardinal going again in the third when he started the frame with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Domaracki double.
In the fourth, Jones singled with one out and Whitlow followed with a double to put Cardinal runners on second and third. Jake Schlander then got Jones home with a sacrifice fly before Phelps doubled to bring home Whitlow.
Pacific got one run back in the fifth on Nick Longmire's first career homer to lead off the inning before the teams traded single unearned runs in the sixth.
In the Stanford sixth, Austin Yount struck out to the start the inning but ended up reaching second when Oliveira's throw from behind the plate hit him in the back on his way to first after he had swung at a pitch in the dirt for strike three.
Oliveira doubled to start the Pacific sixth and moved to third with two outs on a Mike McKeever grounder but would have been stranded there if not for a passed ball on Castro behind the plate.
Stanford scored the final run of the contest in the top of the eighth when Pacific's fourth error of the game contributed to another unearned Cardinal run. Phelps got the rally going again with a leadoff walk before Tigers' third baseman Curt Wideman failed to come up with Toby Gerhart's hard-hit grounder that potentially was a double play ball, putting Cardinal runners on second and third with no outs when the ball bounced into left field. Kohnke then intentionally walked Castro to load the bases before Molina brought Phelps home with Stanford's fourth sacrifice fly of the contest.
Pacific's best chance to get back in the game came in the bottom of the eighth when Davis allowed a leadoff single to J.B. Brown and walked Oliveira. Storen came on and Adam Ching greeted him with a long fly ball to left field that just stayed in the ballpark. Storen would wild pitch the runners to second and third but got out of the jam without any damage before recording a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.
The teams will take Sunday off for Easter before concluding the series on Monday in Stockton (6 pm, PT). Stanford is scheduled to start RHP Jeffrey Inman (1-0, 3.09) on the mound. Pacific will counter with RHP Casey Neimeyer, a basketball player who will be making his first outing of the season after joining the team late following the basketball season.