April 4, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - No. 1 Arizona State (28-1, 4-0 Pac-10) scored a pair of runs in the top of the 10th inning to take a 6-4 victory in the opener of a three-game Pac-10 series over No. 13 Stanford (13-9, 2-2 Pac-10) at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond on Friday. Jason Kipnis scored the game-winning run when Stanford left fielder Joey August had the ball roll by him after a Petey Paramore single that would have loaded the bases with one out in the 10th inning.
Ike Davis pitched 2.2 scoreless innings of relief and struck out four over two relief stints to earn the win. Davis (2-3, HR, 2 RBI) was also the Arizona State star at the plate, hitting a two-run homer in the top of the first inning to give Arizona State an early 2-0 lead, reaching in five of his six plate appearances and scoring three runs. Davis first came into the game in the seventh inning and got the final out of the inning before recording a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth to keep the scored tied at 4-4. Reyes Dorado got two outs in the ninth but walked Stanford's ninth hitter Jake Schlander before a stolen base and a wild pitch on the same play moved him over to third and brought Davis back to the mound to retire Cord Phelps on a grounder to ASU shortstop Marcel Champagnie.
Kipnis (2-3) also had a pair of hits and scored three runs for the Sun Devils.
Stanford reliever Drew Storen took the loss, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks in his 2.1 innings of work.
Kipnis started Arizona State's winning rally when he singled up the middle off Storen with one out. Storen then walked Davis to bring Paramore to the plate with runners on first and second and one out. Paramore hit a sharp single into left field that August tried to field and come up throwing on expecting Kipnis to try to score on the play. But August never got the chance when the ball rolled by him, allowing Kipnis to score and putting runners on second and third with the run already in and still just one out. Storen intentionally walked Wallace to load the bases before the Sun Devils added an insurance run on a sacrifice fly from Matt Newman.
Davis retired the Cardinal with little drama in a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th, getting Brendan Domaracki on a fly out before striking out Brent Milleville and Randy Molina back-to-back to end the game.
Sean Ratliff extended his season-high hit streak to 12 games with a sixth inning solo homer for Stanford that tied the game at 4-4. Molina also extended his career-high hit streak to eight games with a fourth inning double, while Phelps had his career-high-tying eight-game hit streak snapped. Stanford did not have a player with multiple hits or multiple RBI in the contest.
Fans barely had a chance to settle in before Arizona State took its 2-0 first inning lead. Kipnis singled to start the game before Davis connected for his two-run shot on only the third pitch of the contest thrown by Stanford starter Max Fearnow (0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO), who lasted just five batters. Fearnow would strike out Paramore before walking Wallace and Kiel Roling back-to-back and being removed in favor of David Stringer, who got the Cardinal out of the first inning without any more damage by retiring the next two hitters he faced.
Stringer allowed just two runs on four hits and four walks with four strikeouts over his 6.1 innings to keep the Cardinal in the game with the longest relief stint by a Stanford pitcher in 2008.
Stanford got one run back in the bottom of the third when a throwing error by Arizona State starter Mike Leake (6.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) on a pickoff attempt at first base allowed Zach Jones to score from third. Jones had been hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and moved to third after an infield single from Schlander and a Phelps fielder's choice.
Arizona State scored its only two runs against Stringer in the top of the fourth to go in front, 4-1. Kipnis walked with one out and Davis followed with a single before the two scored on an RBI groundout from Paramore and a clutch two-out single by Wallace.
Stanford came right back and matched the Sun Devils' tally with two runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth. Molina led off with his double and scored when August doubled two batters later. Austin Yount then singled up the middle to plate August.
Ratliff's team-high seventh homer in the sixth inning that was his fourth in six games landed just to the right of the scoreboard and would be the only time either team would score again until Arizona State's game-winning rally in the top of the 10th frame.
Stanford was able to work out of several jams in the contest as the Sun Devils left 15 runners on base compared to just six for the Cardinal. Arizona State had at least one runner on base in all 10 innings, while the Cardinal went down in order four times.
The game featured a pair of outstanding plays by each club's rightfielder in the seventh inning that saved runs and ended rallies. With two outs in the Arizona State seventh, Cardinal rightfielder Brendan Domaracki raced to the right field line and made a diving catch on a blooper hit by Rocky Laguna that would have scored at least one run. Laguna retuned the favor in the bottom of the seventh when he snagged a two-out Jason Castro line drive running full speed into the rightcenter field gap with a pair of Cardinal runners on base.
Stanford and Arizona State are scheduled to continue the series on Saturday and Sunday with start times scheduled each day for 1 pm, PT. Arizona State is scheduled to pitch LHP Josh Satow (3-0, 3.86) on Saturday, while the Cardinal is slated to counter with RHP Erik Davis (3-1, 5.22). The Sun Devils have not announced a probable starter for Sunday, while Stanford is scheduled to go with RHP Jeffrey Inman (3-0, 1.44).