April 5, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - No. 13 Stanford (14-9, 3-2 Pac-10) pounded out a season-high 17 hits and Erik Davis tossed his second straight complete game to lead the Cardinal to a 12-2 victory over No. 1 Arizona State (28-2, 4-1 Pac-10) at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond on Saturday. The victory snapped Arizona State's nine-game overall win streak and its four-game run against the Cardinal dating back to last season.
"We combined offense with good pitching today," said Davis. "We think we're a good team and have been looking forward to playing good teams like Arizona State. We have definitely shown these last two games that we belong on the same field as them."
Davis (4-1) earned his third consecutive win by holding the high-powered Sun Devils offense to just two runs on four hits, while walking six and striking out five. He allowed only one hit after the third inning.
"It was a great pitching performance by Erik Davis today even though there couldn't have been better conditions for hitting," said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess, who won his 1299th career game to move within one victory of 1300 and the No. 10 spot on the all-time list for NCAA Division I coaches. "It was a super effort against the No. 1 team in the country. He won the big spots."
"It ends up coming down to whoever pitches well and gets the timely hitting, and today we did that," added Marquess.
Jason Castro (4-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI), Sean Ratliff (2-4, 2B, HR, 4 RBI) and Randy Molina all homered as the Cardinal tied a season-high with its three long balls. Ratliff and Molina also extended their career-high-tying and career-high hit streaks to 13 and nine games, respectively. Castro's four hits and three runs scored both tied career-bests, while Ratliff also scored three times. Zach Jones (3-5, 2 RBI) and Jake Schlander (2-4, 2 RBI) tied career-highs in hits as well, while Brendan Domaracki (2-4, HR, RBI) and Cord Phelps (2-6) also had a pair of hits each.
"This win was really big for us," said Ratliff. "We came out today and played very well. We played well last night also and had that one just get away from us. I think that gave us more confidence than anything."
Stanford jumped on the Sun Devils right out of the gate Saturday with three runs in the bottom of the first inning in a game the Cardinal never trailed in. A clutch two-out double by Ratliff scored Phelps and Castro after the two had singled earlier in the frame. After a walk to Ben Clowe kept the inning alive, Domaracki singled home Ratliff.
Arizona State got one run back in the top of the third when Raoul Torrez led off with a single and eventually scored on an RBI groundout by Petey Paramore after he had moved to second on a wild pitch and third on Ike Davis' sacrifice bunt.
Stanford extended its lead to 8-1 by scoring the game's next five runs.Three singles by Schlander, Phelps and Castro plated the Cardinal a fourth inning run.
Ratliff was hit by a pitch to start Stanford's two-run fifth as Arizona State starter Josh Satow (4.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) was removed from the contest at that point. Reliever Tommy Rafferty (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB) got pinch-hitter Austin Yount to ground out before walking Domaracki and giving up an RBI single to Jones for the first Cardinal run of the frame and a sacrifice fly to Schlander that plated Domaracki for the second.
Stanford came up with two more runs in the sixth when Castro doubled and Ratliff followed two batters later with a mammoth two-run shot just to the right of the centerfield batters' eye for his fifth homer in the last seven games and his team-leading eighth of the year.
The eighth inning was a home run fest.
Paramore went deep with a long solo shot to right field off Davis with one out in the top of the eighth but Stanford answered with back-to-back solo homers by Castro and Molina for the first two of four Cardinal runs in the frame. Yount restarted the rally with a two-out walk before Domaracki hit a hard single off Davis' glove at first base to put runners on first and third. Jones and Schlander followed with back-to-back RBI singles.
Paramore drove in two of Arizona State's four runs and had one of the Sun Devils' four hits.
The teams will play the rubber game of the series on Sunday at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond (1 pm, PT). Stanford is scheduled to start RHP Jeffrey Inman (3-0, 1.44) on the mound, while Arizona State has not announced a probable starter.
"We need to swing the bat like we did today and then have Jeffrey Inman come out and see what he can do on the mound," said Castro about Sunday's series finale.