June 4, 2011
FULLERTON, Calif.-- Jordan Pries (6-5) and Chris Reed combined on a two-hitter and Stephen Piscotty hit a solo home run in the sixth to lead No. 21-ranked Stanford (34-20) to a 1-0 victory over No. 8-ranked CS Fullerton (41-16) on Saturday evening.
In a brisk two hours and 13 minutes, the second-seeded Cardinal needs one win to move onto the Super Regional and will play at 8:04 p.m. The Titans, or fourth-seeded Illinois, will need to win three more times.
It what proved to be the only run of the game, Piscotty hit his third home run of the season, with one out in the sixth. Piscotty and Tyler Gaffney each had two of the four hits off of Noe Ramirez (8-4), with Gaffney extending his hit streak to 19 games.
Pries meanwhile pitched three perfect innings to start and retired 10 in a row until Carlos Lopez hit a one-out single in the eighth. Pinch runner Austin Kingsolver then stole second and took third on an error by Zach Jones. Following Pries' sixth strikeout, Reed came on to face Anthony Trajano and got an inning ending ground out.
Reed then walked the leadoff hitter in the ninth, got a popup and then caught Casey Watkins stealing. Reed finished off his ninth save with a comebacker to the mound.
Pries went the first 7.2 scoreless innings, allowing singles in the fifth and eighth innings. He struck out six and walked none.
Nick Ramirez broke up the perfect game with a single to lead off the fifth. Left fielder, Gaffney, then saved a run with two outs in the inning, diving and robbing Greg Velazquez of a base hit to end the fifth and keep it scoreless.
NOTES: It was Piscotty's first home run since April 21 versus UCLA and third of the season... Tyler Gaffney's single in the first extended his hit streak to 19 games, the seventh longest streak since 1988... the elimination game is at 4:04 p.m with Illinois while the winner's bracket game between tonight's winner will be at 8:04 p.m. All games will be on ESPNU and espn3.com. Illinois eliminated Kansas State 5-3 earlier on Saturday.
STANFORD HEAD COACH
Mark Marquess
Opening statement: “It was obviously a great college baseball game. Both teams pitched phenomenally. Jordan Pries had a great performance. We had some opportunities early, but left four or five guys on base. We hit balls hard but right at people. Noe (Ramirez) pitched a whale of a game himself. Fortunately we got one big swing from (Stephen) Piscotty.”
On beating a No. 1 seed: “I think throughout the country you see a lot of No. 1 seeds being upset. There’s too much parity in college baseball now, so you got to play well to win.”
On the rivalry with Cal State Fullerton: “We’ve had a lot of great games in regionals. Fullerton is a great program. They are tough to beat; they don’t beat themselves and play a brand of baseball where they put a lot of pressure on you. When you can beat a team like that, it’s a feather in your cap. They are especially tough to beat here (at Goodwin Field).”
JUNIOR PITCHER
Jordan Pries
On his pitching performance: “You want to get out on the right foot. Luckily for me I was able to get a couple of ground balls and my defense played real well behind me. It was all about filling up the zone and keeping the ball down. But I can’t say enough about the guys behind me.”
SOPHOMORE LEFT FIELDER
Tyler Gaffney
On whether he caught fifth inning fly ball by Fullerton’s Greg Velazquez: “I did my best to get out there. I came in at full speed and jumped out there. I wished for the best and that was the end of the inning.”
SOPHOMORE THIRD BASEMAN
Stephen Piscotty
On sixth inning home run: “I put my best swing on it. In previous at bats, I was making unaggressive mistakes.”
On Cal State Fullerton’s Noe Ramirez: “His stuff is pretty electric. He had his changeup and slider working early. He struggled early with his command, but he’s a good pitcher.”
On the intensity between the two teams: “I think it was a very competitive environment. That’s what you want to see – two teams fighting hard for a ‘W.’”