March 30, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - No. 17 Stanford (12-7, 2-1 Pac-10) took the rubber game of its first Pac-10 series of the season with a 4-1 victory over Washington State (16-9, 2-4 Pac-10) on Sunday at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond. Jeffrey Inman (7.1 IP, 8 H, 1 BB, 5 SO) picked up the victory with his longest outing of the season before Drew Storen (1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 SO) recorded the final five outs to secure the win. Cord Phelps (3-4, 2 RBI) led the Cardinal offense and had a key two-out, two-RBI single to cap Stanford's four-run fourth inning.
Washington State was led offensively by Michael Weber (2-3) and Scott Suttmeier (2-4). Pinch-hitter John Desmarais ended Stanford's shutout bid with a one-out RBI triple in the top of the ninth off Storen.
The victory extended Stanford's streak of regular season three-game series victories to eight dating back to the final three series of the 2007 campaign. The Cardinal also broke Washington State's two-series win streak over the Cardinal with the victory.
"It was important to come back and win these two games, especially after that tough loss on Friday night," summarized Phelps.
"We pitched well, and we played good defense," explained Stanford head coach Mark Marquess, who won his 1297th career game to move within three victories of 1300 in his career and the No. 10 position on the all-time win list for NCAA Division I head coaches.
Stanford scored all of its runs Sunday in the fourth inning. Jason Castro started the rally with a leadoff single before Randy Molina lined a shot off the leg of Washington State starter and losing pitcher Jared Prince (3.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO). Prince stayed in the game for the time being but could only record one more out in the fourth after having looked sharp in the first three innings by retiring nine of the 11 batters he faced. Ratliff doubled to left to bring in Castro with the first run. Price retired Austin Yount on a groundout for the first out but was removed in favor of Michael Ratigan (0.1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO), who walked Zach Jones to load the bases with just one out. Ratigan struck out Jeff Whitlow for the second out before walking Jake Schlander to force in a run. Matt Way (4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 SO) came into the game and allowed two of the runners he inherited to score on Phelps' clutch hit before shutting the Cardinal out the rest of the way.
"He threw me a lot of fastballs in that at bat," said Phelps, who battled through a long at bat before delivering the big hit. "I was able to foul a few off and then finally straightened one out."
Washington State was able to outhit Stanford, 10-8, but did not score until the ninth on Desmarais' RBI triple after Suttmeier had singled with one out. Storen regained his composure by striking out Michael Weber and pinch-hitter Ryan Peterson to end the game.
Stanford will continue its current eight-game homestand by hosting Long Beach State in a non-conference game at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond on Monday (4 pm, PT).