Behind the arm of Jeremy Guthrie and the bat of Carlos Quentin
the top ranked Stanford Cardinal baseball team defeated the
Fresno State Bulldogs 6-2 this evening at Beiden Field.
Guthrie tossed seven quality innings yielding only two runs to
win his eighth consecutive decision dating back to last season
while Quentin led a 13-hit offensive attack by going
4-for-4. The Cardinal improve to 6-2 on the season while
the Bulldogs fell to 3-5.
Stanford scored first in the top of the second inning with a
single run. With one out, Quentin singled and moved to
second when the next hitter, Donny Lucy, also singled.
After Brian Hall grounded into a fielder's choice, Scott
Dragicevich delivered a clutch two-out single scoring Quentin and
giving Stanford the early 1-0 advantage. The Cardinal added
two more runs in the third inning with the help of some sloppy
Bulldog fielding. With two out, Ryan Garko singled and then
consecutive walks to Jason Cooper and Quentin loaded the bases
for Lucy. But FSU starter Bob Runyon uncorked a wild pitch
scoring Garko increasing the lead to 2-0 and moving Cooper and
Quentin up to 3rd and 2nd base respectively. Lucy then
grounded a ball to third that went under the glove of FSU third
baseman Casey McGehee for an error. Cooper easily scored
from third making the score 3-0, but Quentin was thrown out at
home ending the rally.
Meanwhile, Guthrie rolled through the first three innings
without being scored upon. Finally in the fourth FSU got on
the scoreboard as McGehee made up for his error with a home run
to deep left field cutting the Cardinal lead to 3-1.
Stanford added another tally in the fifth frame as Sam Fuld led
things off with a double and advanced to third on Garko's fly out
to right. But the relay throw into the infield was wild and
Fuld took advantage of it taking the extra 90 feet and scoring
Stanford's fourth run of the game. FSU had a golden
opportunity to score in the bottom of the fifth inning as they
put runners on first and second with one out for their #3 and #4
hitters. But Guthrie settled down getting Ben Fritz, the #3
hitter, to pop out. And then he struck out FSU's clean-up
hitter, Tobey Riday-White, ending the threat and keeping the
score 4-1 Cardinal.
Stanford added some insurance in the seventh inning as Chris
O'Riordan led off with a double and after Fuld popped out, he
scored on Garko's single up the middle. Garko would later
come across to score on a two-out base hit from Lucy.
Fresno State scored their final run of the night in the seventh
on a solo homer off the bat of Chris Patrick, but Guthrie was
able to get out of the inning and then turned the ball over to
Ryan McCally. McCally had no trouble setting down the
Bulldog hitters over the final two innings, striking out three in
the process.
Along with Quentin, other top offensive games for the Cardinal
hitters came from Ryan Garko (2-for-5, RBI), Donny Lucy (2-for-4,
RBI), and Scott Dragicevich (2-for-4, RBI). Guthrie
scattered nine hits over his seven innings of work, walking one
and striking out four.
Game Notes :
* Guthrie and McCally have now combined their efforts for the
third consecutive Friday. Guthrie threw the first six
innings while McCally came on for the final three frames in the
previous two Friday's, while tonight Guthrie went seven and
McCally two. McCally has been the most effective reliever
of the early season for the Cardinal as the junior righthander
has thrown eight shutout innings out of the bullpen.
* Stanford has scored at least six runs and recorded
double-digit hit totals in seven of eight games this season.
* The Cardinal have also been a doubles machine this early
season. They clubbed four more tonight, giving them a
whopping 25 in eight games this year.
* With his 2-for-4 performance, Scott Dragicevich now has
seven multi-hit games already this season.
Stanford 0
1 2 0 1 0 2 0 0 - 6
13 0
Fresno State 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
0 - 2 10 3
The Cardinal and Bulldogs resume their three-game series
tomorrow afternoon at 1pm (internet only radio broadcast).
Freshman Mark Jecmen (0-2, 10.20) is the likely starter on the
hill for Stanford.