April 12, 2008
Corvallis, Ore. - No. 10 Stanford (16-11-1, 5-3 Pac-10) scored twice in the top of the ninth inning and Erik Davis pitched his third straight complete game in a 6-4 victory Saturday over Oregon State (16-11, 4-4 Pac-10). The Stanford victory evened up a three-game Pac-10 set between the teams at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. Cord Phelps (3-5, HR, 3 RBI) was the offensive star for the Cardinal, driving in a run in each of his final three at bats including a ninth inning RBI single to score Jeff Whitlow with the game-winning run. The victory moved Stanford into a tie for first place with Arizona State as both teams have 5-3 conference marks after the Sun Devils lost at Washington State on Saturday.
"I guess you focus a little bit more with runners on base," offered Phelps, who has driven in an amazing 14 runs from his leadoff spot over the last five contests. "But lots of times especially with two outs, you know the pitcher wants to throw strikes and is going to attack you. You try to take advantage of that opportunity."
"Cord Phelps has been great all year for us," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess, who moved into sole possession of 10th place on the all-time win list for NCAA Division I coaches with his 1301st career victory. "He came up with another huge hit for us today in the ninth inning and a couple of big ones earlier as well. I really think he is one of the best second basemen in the country."
Davis (9.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO) struggled early as he gave up runs in each of the first two innings to spot Oregon State a 2-0 lead.
"I battled every inning early in the game and then found it in the middle of the game," said Davis. "At some points, things were clicking on all cylinders.
"That was a great pitching effort by Erik Davis once again today," added Marquess. "I've been at Stanford a long time, and I don't know if I've ever had anybody pitch three consecutive complete games in their first three league starts. He really battled well today and came up big in big spots."
Chris Hopkins walked to lead off the game before moving to third on a Joey Wong single. Stanford just missed a double play on Jason Ogata's RBI fielder's choice before turning one on a ground ball by Ryan Ortiz to get out of the inning with just one run scored.
John Wallace singled to start the second, stole second base and moved to third on a Drew George ground out before scoring when Jordan Lennerton singled.
Davis started to find his groove in the third and fourth frames with a pair of hitless innings before Stanford tied the score at 2-2 with a two-run fifth. The Cardinal took advantage of a wild spell by Tanner Robles (6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) when the Oregon State starter walked Ben Clowe and hit Whitlow to begin the inning after allowing only two harmless singles to Jason Castro through the first four frames. Zach Jones sacrificed the runners to second and third before Jake Schlander and Phelps brought them home with a sacrifice fly and two-out RBI single, respectively.
Oregon State went back in front, 3-2, in the bottom of the fifth. Wong singled to lead off the inning before moving to second when Ogata was hit by a pitch, third on Ortiz' sacrifice and home on an RBI ground out by Wallace.
Stanford came right back and tied the game at 3-3 with a run in the top of the sixth when Ratliff doubled off the left field with two outs and scored on an RBI single by Clowe up the middle.
The Cardinal took its first lead in the contest on a two-out solo homer by Phelps in the seventh.
Oregon State tied the game at 4-4 with a run in the bottom of the eighth in an inning that could have turned out much better or much worse for the Cardinal. The Beavers loaded the bases with just one out on three consecutive singles by George, Lennerton and Daniel Robertson. Davis stayed in the game and struck out pinch-hitter Koa Kahalehoe before uncorking a wild pitch that brought George trotting home from third to tie the contest. With the go-ahead run just 90 feet away on third base, Davis was able to come back and strike out Hopkins to get out of the situation without any further damage.
"That was a big spot to win there in the eighth inning after the wild pitch to keep the game tied," commented Davis.
Whitlow started Stanford's ninth with an infield single as replacement second baseman Lonnie Lechelt's throw fell short at first base after he had ranged up the middle to snare Whitlow's grounder. Kevin Rhoderick (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) replaced losing pitcher Josh Osich (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB) and Jones laid down his second sacrifice bunt of the contest to move Whitlow into scoring position at second base with only one out. Pinch-hitter Randy Molina drew a walk to set the stage for Phelps, who lined a single to right field to score Whitlow on a close play at the plate. Phelps and Molina advanced to second and third on the throw home and then pinch-hitter Brendan Domaracki gave the Cardinal an insurance run on his sacrifice fly to right field that scored Colin Walsh, who had pinch-run for Molina after he reached third.
Oregon State had one final chance in the bottom of the ninth. Ogata started a rally when he singled with one out and the Beavers looked to be in business when Ortiz hit a long ball into the rightcenter field gap that. But Whitlow sprinted over to make a spectacular running catch and threw into shortstop Adam Gaylord, who flipped over to first baseman Brent Milleville to easily double off Ogata, who had rounded second before trying to head back to where he started from on the play.
Castro (2-5) was the only Stanford player other than Phelps with more than one hit, while Lennerton (2-4, RBI) and Won (2-5) had two hits each for the Beavers.
The Stanford win set up a rubber game on Sunday (1 pm, PT) to decide the series. Stanford is 5-0 in rubber games in 2008 and has also posted a perfect record with a 6-0 mark in three-game set finales. Neither team has announced a probable starting pitcher for the contest.
"This was a really important win for us today, because we still have a chance to win the series," said Phelps. "Good teams have to be able to bounce back like we were able to do today from last night's loss."