May 3, 2008
STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 3 Stanford baseball team emphatically ended its three-game slide Saturday afternoon, bashing out 15 hits in a 9-1 victory over San Jose State at Klein Field. The Cardinal (26-15-2) scored nine consecutive runs in the fourth through sixth innings after spotting the Spartans (25-19) an early 1-0 lead.
The two teams meet once more Sunday afternoon, concluding the home-and-home series with a 1 p.m. contest at San Jose Municipal Stadium.
Boosted by a five-run sixth inning, Stanford coasted to the win as Jason Castro extended his season-long hitting streak to 12 games with a double and also drove in four runs on the day. Brent Milleville went 4-for-5 with his fifth home run of the season and a pair of RBI, and Toby Gerhart, Randy Molina, and Cord Phelps each had a pair of hits and drove in a run in the win.
Austin Yount collected his third win of the season and second in a row by limiting the Spartans to just one run on four hits over seven innings of work.
San Jose State got that lone run in the second inning, as Danny Stienstra led off the frame with a double, advanced to third on a ground ball to the right side, and came across on Alex Sofranac's sacrifice fly to center for the 1-0 lead.
The contest continued to speed by until the Stanford half of the fourth, when the Cardinal put three runs on the board to take a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the way. Phelps started the inning off with a walk, followed by Gerhart's double down the left-field line that put runners on second and third with none out. This set things up for Castro's two-RBI double down the right-field line for the 2-1 Cardinal lead.
Milleville added yet another hit with a single that put runners on the corners, and Molina capped the inning's scoring with an RBI single to right that plated Castro.
San Jose State starter David Berner's day was done one batter later, as Milleville singled, and he ended the day by taking his sixth loss of the year after allowing four runs on seven hits over 4.2 innings of work.
Stanford manufactured its fourth run of the game an inning later, as Phelps doubled, went to third on a Gerhart groundout to the right side, and scored on Castro's sacrifice fly to right.
After Yount set San Jose State down in order in the top of the sixth, the Cardinal delivered the knockout blow, dropping five runs on the Spartans to take a commanding 9-1 lead.
Things started with Zach Jones' one-out single, followed by his stealing second. Jake Schlander drew a walk, prompting SJSU's Spencer Snodgrass to relieve Anthony Vega. Snodgrass was promptly welcomed to the game by an RBI single through the right side from Phelps, then a Gerhart double to left that plated Schlander and moved Phelps to second. Castro's groundout to second plated Phelps for the 7-1 lead, which set up Milleville crushing a long ball to left-center to cap off the inning.
Alex Pracher and Michael De Groot finished the contest by combining to toss perfect eighth and ninth innings, respectively, as the duo and Yount combined to set down the final 13 Spartan batters in order.