USC announced a few hours before the game tonight that they
would be starting their #2 pitcher, Bobby Paschal (1-2, 3.46),
instead of their ace, Ian Kennedy (2-0, 1.00). The reasoning:
Kennedy threw an inning of relief to close out their win over UC
Irvine last Tuesday and the coaching staff wants to give him an
extra day of rest.
Early on, it seemed Paschal responded well as he held the
Cardinal without scoring through the first three frames. He was
spotting his fastball well, but a nice change-up and a dazzling
curve ball were fooling the Cardinal hitters. He allowed just two
singles over the first three innings while recording three
K’s.
Meanwhile, Stanford starter Mark Romanczuk breezed through the
first three innings with relative ease as well. The Trojans put
two on with two outs in the bottom of the first, but Romanczuk
got #5 hitter Blake Sharpe to fly out to right to end the threat.
He then allowed harmless singles in each of the second and third
innings.
Stanford broke through against Paschal in the fourth inning
with four runs to take a 4-0 lead. Consecutive singles to start
the inning by Danny Putnam and Donny Lucy put two runners on.
After a Brian Hall sacrifice bunt, Chris Minaker came up in what
would turn out to be one of the biggest at-bats of the game. With
runners on second and third and one out, USC elected to play the
infield back and would give up a run for an out. Minaker rolled a
ground ball to the shortstop Sharpe in what looked to be an easy
6-3 putout with a run scoring. The run easily came home to score,
but Sharpe elected to throw to third base to try to nab Lucy who
was attempting to advance on the play. Lucy easily beat the throw
and Minaker was safe at first on the fielder’s choice.
That bad decision would hurt USC as after a walk to Chris Lewis to load the bases, Sam Fuld singled through the hole on the
left side to score two runs. Jonny Ash followed with a walk to
again load the bases and set the table for the hot hitting Jed Lowrie. Paschal went to a full count to Lowrie, before the
Stanford shortstop crushed a ball to deep right field. However,
right fielder Cyle Hankerd made the catch with his back up
against the wall. A run scored on the play to make it 4-0 and
that would end Paschal’s evening.
USC had their best chance to score off Romanczuk in the fourth
inning, but still couldn’t push across any runs. Sharpe led
off by reaching on a fielding error by John Mayberry, Jr. –
his first miscue of the season. Baron Frost then singled to put
two runners on. But Romanczuk bore down as he induced two fly
outs from the next two batters and then struck out Kyle Degener
to end the inning.
Stanford added an unearned run in the fifth inning to make it
a 5-0 game. With one out, Lucy was hit by a pitch. Then with Hall
at the plate, Lucy stole second. The throw from the catcher
bounced past the covering middle infielder and into center field
so Lucy broke for third. Then SC center fielder Daniel Perales
air mailed the throw into third base and Lucy was able to easily
score.
Stanford manufactured two more runs in the sixth and was again
aided by some poor USC defense. Ben Summerhays led off with a
pinch-hit single. After Fuld walked, Ash sacrificed the runners
over with a bunt. Lowrie then grounded out to first, but a run
scored on the play. Then Mayberry, Jr. hit a hard grounder to
third that was bobbled by Trojan third baseman Michael Moon for
an error. A run scored on the play and Stanford took a 7-0 lead.
Romanczuk was in cruise control by this point in the game. He
continued to get the leadoff batter out in every inning as the
Trojans were never able to mount a serious threat. He was pulled
after seven full innings of work with Stanford in front by a 7-0
score. The Cardinal pushed across a single run in the eighth
inning on a Mayberry, Jr. deep sacrifice fly to center with the
bases loaded. The fly ball scored Ryan Seawell, who had singled
to lead off the inning as a pinch-hitter.
Stanford capped their scoring in the ninth on a two-run home
run off the bat of Brian Hall.
Jonny Dyer relieved Romanczuk to start the eighth and
surrendered two runs in that eighth inning. The first two batters
both reached on singles – neither hit very hard at all. Then
a balk and two ground outs produced the two runs. Dyer easily set
down the Trojans in the ninth to seal the victory.
Game Notes:
* Romanczuk fired seven shutout innings tonight. He scattered
seven hits – all singles – while walking two and
striking out seven.
* Romanczuk improved his season record to 4-1 and his career
record to 16-3 with the victory tonight.
* Lucy was the only player tonight with a multi-hit game. The
Cardinal catcher finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a
stolen base.
* Ash extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in
the third inning. Lowrie, however, saw hit 11-game hitting streak
come to an end with an 0-for-2 performance this evening. It was
still a productive game for the sophomore infielder though as he
walked twice and picked up two RBI.
* The pinch-hit single in the sixth inning by Summerhays was
the first hit of his collegiate career.
* Stanford has now won five consecutive games overall, six
straight games over USC dating back to last season, and 20 of
their last 21 on the road.
Stanford 0 0 0 4 1 2 0 1
2 - 10 9 1
USC 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 2 0 - 2
9 3
WP: Mark Romanczuk (4-1)
LP: Bobby Paschal (1-3)
HR: Stanford – Brian Hall (3)
Records: #1 Stanford (14-2), USC (4-8)
* These two teams will continue this three-game series
tomorrow afternoon at 1:00pm at Dedeaux Field. Jeff Gilmore (3-1,
4.40) is scheduled to start on the mound for Stanford while USC
is expected to counter with freshman Ian Kennedy (2-0, 1.00). In
18 innings pitched this season, Kennedy has allowed just eight
hits, walked four, and struck out a whopping 32.
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