The 2002 Stanford baseball season got off to an encouraging
start this evening as the top ranked Cardinal built an early lead
and then held on for a 7-4 victory over the Cal State Fullerton
Titans. Stanford pounded out 11 hits tonight led by Sam
Fuld's 3-for-4 (2 doubles) performance while Carlos Quentin hit
the only Cardinal homer of the evening, a three-run blast in the
bottom of the first inning. Jeremy Guthrie (1-0), who was
on a pitch count, threw six solid innings giving up four runs
(only two earned) and striking out nine while Ryan McCally shut
the door over the final three frames to record the save.
Stanford (1-0) jumped on the board early in the bottom of the
first inning. Chris O'Riordan and Fuld each singled to
start the inning and after Ryan Garko and Jason Cooper were
retired, Quentin smoked a 2-2 offering from Cal State Fullerton
starter Wes Littleton over the fence in left-center to give
Stanford the early 3-0 advantage. Meanwhile, Guthrie easily
retired the Fullerton hitters through the first three innings
recording four strikeouts in the process. In the bottom of
the third, Stanford put across another run when Garko doubled to
deep left and then scored on an error by CSF shortstop David
Munoz.
The Titans responded in the top of the fourth inning with two
unearned runs to cut Stanford's lead in half at 4-2. With a
runner on first and one out, Richie Burgos hit a ground ball
which would have likely resulted in an inning-ending double play,
but Chris O'Riordan could not handle it and the inning
continued. Jason Corapci was the next hitter and he
promptly singled to being home Fullerton's first run. Three
batters later, Nick Fitzgerald reached on an infield single
scoring Burgos making the score 4-2. After going down 1-2-3
in the bottom of the fourth, Stanford got back on the scoreboard
with a three spot in the fifth frame. With one out, Fuld
doubled down the left field line and then came across to score
when Garko singled to center. Three hitters later, Brian
Hall delivered a clutch two-strike, two-out single to bring home
Garko increasing the lead to 6-2. But the Cardinal weren't
done as Scott Dragicevich followed up Hall's base hit with a
double down the left field line scoring Jason Cooper making the
score 7-2.
Fullerton would hang around though as they touched up Guthrie
for two earned runs in the top of the sixth on a two-run home run
by Geoff Comfort to deep center field. But that would be
all the Titans would get as Guthrie finished the sixth and Ryan
McCally (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO) shut the door in the 7th,
8th, and 9th innings to preserve the win.
Game two of the series is tomorrow afternoon at 1pm. Tim
Cunningham (6-0, 3.62 in 2001) is scheduled to start on the hill
for the Cardinal while Jeff Housman is scheduled to go for the
Titans.
Game Notes:
* Guthrie and McCally combined to strike out 14 Titan hitters
while not allowing a walk.
* Quentin's home run came in his first at-bat of the
season. Last year, Quentin also homered in his first at-bat
in a game at Fresno State.
* No surprises in terms of who was in the starting lineup for
the Cardinal (same lineup from the championship game last year
with the exception of Cooper in place of Jonny Ash at DH), but in
a surprising move, Quentin got the start in left field.
Brian Hall moved over to right.
* Stanford improved to 13-2 versus Cal State Fullerton since
the beginning of the 1998 season.
Cal State Fullerton 0 0 0 2 0
2 0 0 0 - 4 10 2
Stanford 3
0 1 0 3 0 0 0 x - 7
11 2
The Bootleg Player of the Game : Sam Fuld (3-for-4, 2 doubles,
2 runs)