April 30, 2008
Davis, Calif. - The third-ranked Cardinal baseball team was six outs away at Dobbins stadium on Wednesday afternoon, but couldn't hold off the resilient Aggies in a 10-8 loss that dropped the team to 25-15-2 on the year. The loss was their third in a row, which is the first team all season-long that the team has had a three-game losing streak. The Cardinal scored eight runs in the first five innings, but was shutout the last four in the loss.
The Cardinal will look to rebound on Saturday when they host the Spartans of San Jose State in a home game at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond at 1:00 p.m.
Freshman Jake Schlander (2-3, 3 RBI) and freshman Colin Walsh (3-3, 1 RBI) got another start at third base to led the way for the Cardinal from the bottom of the order.
Drew Storen (1-3, 3.51 ERA) took the loss and Aggie lefthander Andy Suiter picked up the win in the game that featured 18 runs and 26 hits.
The Cardinal got on the board first in the second inning when senior Randy Molina began the inning with a walk. After consecutive outs, freshman Colin Walsh lined a single to the right side and when Aggie sophomore right fielder Kyle Mihaylo bobbled the ball, Molina was able to take third base on the play. That brought freshman Jake Schlander, who gave Stanford their first breakthrough when he lined an opposite drive past diving Aggie first baseman Evan Hudson to take the early lead at 2-0.
UC Davis quickly responded in the bottom of the second when they scored four runs keyed by a single by Kevin James. After Brendan Domaracki made a diving catch in right, UC Davis first baseman Scott Heylman lined a single to center which was mishandled by Stanford junior Sean Ratliff. This allowed two more runs to score and Heylman ended at third on the error. After UC Davis added another run in the third they held a 5-2 lead through three innings.
Stanford then broke out again in the fourth inning and was able to score four runs to regain the lead. Junior Joey August led off the inning with a triple to right center field and was driven in by freshman Colin Walsh. Schlander and junior Cord Phelps each drew walks to score Walsh and Schlander was driven in by junior Jason Castro help Stanford regain the lead at 6-5.
The Cardinal continued to push their lead in the fifth inning when sophomore Toby Gerhart led the inning of with a base hit and moved to second on a wild pitch. August walked after Gerhart and Walsh hit into a fielders choice, which left runners at 1st and 3rd for Schlander. The Aggie pitcher Marco Grifantini threw another wild pitch to score Gerhart and Schlander followed up with an RBI single to score Walsh. Stanford led 8-5 after the Aggies were held scoreless in the fifth.
Things were going strong until the Aggies got some lucky bounces and hit other balls hard in their four-run eighth inning. Before the inning, Ryan Royster of UC Davis hit a solo home run, his eighth of the season to draw the Aggies to a two-run deficit at 8-6.
In the eighth inning, Cardinal closer Drew Storen came in, but struggled with his command after falling behind the count to many of the hitters that he faced. All told, Storen gave up four runs in the eighth inning (two earned) and UC Davis regained the lead at 10-8. The key hit in the Aggie rally was Jake Jeffries, who knocked a 2-RBI single to score Royster and Evan Hudson.
With the Cardinal trailing 10-8 going into the top of the ninth, Suiter got the first out of the inning when he got Walsh to ground out to second base. UC Davis closer Justin Fitzgerald came in to get the final two outs and record his eighth save of the season.