Cardinal Use Extras To Defeat Bears

His error in the bottom of the ninth inning scored the tying run for California on Saturday afternoon. But shortstop Chris Minaker was given a chance to redeem himself and the red-hot senior came through with an RBI single in the top of the 11th inning sending Stanford to a dramatic 6-5 victory over their rivals. With the win, the Cardinal even the series at a game apiece with the rubber contest scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

It was another drama filled contest at Evans Diamond as the Stanford Cardinal edged the California Golden Bears 6-5 in 11 innings on Saturday afternoon.  After a costly error in the bottom of the ninth allowing the Bears to tie the game, shortstop Chris Minaker bounced back with the game-winning hit - an RBI single in the top of the 11th - to send the Cardinal to victory.  It was part of a three-hit, four-RBI day for Minaker as Stanford responded from their heartbreaking 7-6 loss on Friday to return the favor to their cross-bay rivals.  With the victory, the Cardinal improved their overall record to 10-5.

Stanford led for the overwhelming majority of the game after scoring a single run in the first inning and then erupting for four scores in the top of the second.  In the first, leadoff hitter Joey August singled to get things started.  After Jim Rapoport moved him into scoring position with a bunt, Minaker singled through the middle to score August with the game's first run.

The Cardinal knocked out California starting pitcher Michael Cooper with four runs in the second frame to take a commanding 5-0 lead.  A single from Brent Milleville started the rally before third baseman Cord Phelps singled to put a pair of runners on.  August, the third freshman to contribute in the inning, then delivered a single into right field plating Milleville for a 2-0 advantage.  That was followed by a Rapoport single to left scoring Phelps for the second run of the inning.  Minaker capped the scoring when he doubled down the left field scoring both August and Rapoport for a five-run cushion.

The two-inning outburst saw the Cardinal score five runs on seven hits to take the early lead.  Unfortunately, the bats would go quiet against a trio of California relievers as Stanford wouldn't score again until the top of the 11th.

Matt Manship had his third consecutive effective start firing six quality innings on Saturday.  The senior right-hander scattered five hits with just one unearned run allowed, two walks, and three strike outs.  Manship didn't have a single 1-2-3 frame this afternoon, but never put more than two batters on base in an inning thus limiting any damage.  The lone tally against Manship came in the bottom of the fifth when Josh Satin reached base safely on a Chris Lewis error and eventually scored when Brennan Boesch flied out to left field.

The struggles in the field continued for Lewis as the senior second baseman committed two more throwing errors today - a miscue in the first inning in addition to his fifth-inning error.  In the first two games of the series, Lewis has been charged with four errors from his second base position (all throwing).  He was pulled from the contest this afternoon for freshman J.J. Jelmini in the bottom of the sixth.

Manship left the game at the start of the bottom of the seventh inning with the Cardinal in front by a 5-1 margin.  Freshman Sean Ratliff took over for the senior, but did not enjoy any of the same success.  The Golden Bears rallied for a pair of runs in the seventh against the southpaw when Boesch drove a double into right field scoring a pair of runners.  Ratliff was helped out tremendously in the inning when Boesch tried to move up to third base on a wild throw back to the infield.  He was instead gunned down by catcher John Hester.

Ratliff remained in the game in the eighth and promptly surrendered yet another run as Garrett Bussiere singled with one out and scored two batters later on Ryan Hanlon's clutch two-out single.  After Hanlon, the potential tying run, took second base on the throw, Coach Marquess made another pitching change summoning veteran lefty Blake Holler from the bullpen.  Holler pitched carefully to the dangerous Allen Craig as he walked the senior to put the go-ahead run on base.  But a fly out off the bat of Brett Munster kept the Cardinal in front by a 5-4 score.

After Stanford left the bases loaded in the top of the ninth when Hester lined out sharply to third base to end the threat, California went back to work.  Still facing Holler, the Bears did their ninth-inning damage with two outs.  Chris Errecart started the rally with a two-out single before a walk to pinch-hitter Jason Corder moved the tying run into scoring position.  Holler settled down though as the next man up, Bussiere, hit a routine ground ball to shortstop.  But the ball rolled under Minaker's glove for an error as Errecart raced around third base with the tying run.  The error was Stanford's third of the afternoon resulting in yet another unearned run. 

Holler bounced back retiring Charlie Cutler on a ground out to Jelmini at second base, but the damage had already been done as the game moved into extra innings.

Stanford went down quickly and quietly in the top of the tenth before the Bears mounted a serious rally in the bottom of the frame.  Back-to-back one-out singles from Craig and Munster again put the potential winning run in scoring position (second base).  A pitching change brought Austin Yount into the game and fortunately for the freshman, he would enjoy much more success today as opposed to Friday when his ninth-inning throwing error led to a Stanford loss.

Yount retired Satin and Boesch, the 3-4 hitters in the Cal lineup, with a fly out and a line out respectively to Michael Taylor in right field.

Stanford finally broke through against the Bears bullpen in the 11th inning as Phelps started things off with a single, moved to second on a bunt, and to third on a passed ball.  A walk to Rapoport put runners on the corners before Minaker made up for his error when he smoked a single into left field to easily score Phelps with the go-ahead run.

Leading 6-5, Yount quickly set down the Golden Bears 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 11th to preserve the Stanford victory.

Stanford    1 4 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 1   -   6  12   3
California  0 0 0  0 1 0  2 1 1  0 0   -   5  13   1

Stanford           POS   AB   R   H  RBI    BB  SO
Joey August         LF    4   2   3   1      1   0
 Ryan Seawell      PR/LF  0   0   0   0      0   0
Jim Rapoport        CF    4   1   1   1      1   0
Chris Minaker       SS    5   0   3   4      1   0
Michael Taylor      RF    3   0   0   0      2   1
John Hester          C    5   0   0   0      0   0
Greg Reynolds       DH    0   0   0   0      0   0
 Brendan Domaracki PH/DH  5   0   0   0      0   2
Tom Stilson         1B    0   0   0   0      0   0
 Brent Milleville   1B    3   1   1   0      0   1
 Jason Castro      PH/1B  2   0   0   0      0   1
Chris Lewis         2B    3   0   1   0      0   0
 J.J. Jelmini       2B    2   0   0   0      0   0
Cord Phelps         3B    5   2   3   0      0   0

2B: Minaker
CS: Rapoport, Castro
E: Lewis 2, Minaker

                    IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO
Matt Manship       6.0   5   1   0   2   3
Sean Ratliff       1.2   5   3   3   0   2
Blake Holler       1.2   3   1   0   2   0
Austin Yount (W)   1.2   0   0   0   0   1



California         POS   AB   R   H  RBI    BB  SO
Allen Craig         SS    5   0   2   0      1   1
Brett Munster       2B    5   1   2   0      0   0
Josh Satin          3B    6   2   2   0      0   0
Brennan Boesch      CF    5   0   1   3      0   1
Chris Errecart     LF/1B  6   1   1   0      0   0
Mike Van Winden     1B    3   0   0   0      1   1
 Jason Corder      PH/LF  1   0   0   0      1   1
Garrett Bussiere     C    6   1   2   0      0   1
Charlie Cutler      RF    5   0   2   0      0   1
Rob Nesbitt         DH    2   0   0   0      1   0
 Ryan Hanlon       PH/DH  2   0   1   1      0   0

2B: Satin, Boesch, Bussiere
E: Craig

                    IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO
Michael Cooper     1.1   7   5   5   1   0
Chris Petrini      4.2   2   0   0   2   2
Alec Harris        2.0   0   0   0   0   1
Jeremy Burchett    2.0   1   0   0   1   1
Matt Gorgen (L)    1.0   2   1   1   1   1



WP: Austin Yount (2-0)
LP: Matt Gorgen (1-1)

Records: #19 Stanford (10-5), California (7-6)


Notes:
* Minaker again led the Cardinal offense as he finished 3-for-5 with a double and four RBI.  The senior shortstop has seven hits in the series, an eight-game hitting streak, and a team-leading .381 batting average.  Minaker also paces the club in home runs (3) and RBI (19).

 * After reaching base safely in four plate appearances on Friday, leadoff hitter Joey August duplicated the feat this afternoon.  The freshman rapped out three singles (in four at-bats) while also drawing a walk.  August is now hitting .345 to go with a team-best .525 on-base percentage.

* Marquess used pitchers in two of his lineup spots on Saturday.  In addition to his usual pitcher in the DH position, freshman hurler Tom Stilson (who is recovering from a wrist injury) got the nod at first base.  Marquess inserted frosh Brent Milleville into the first base position when the Cardinal took the field in the bottom of the first inning.

* Phelps provided three hits out of the #9 spot in the batting order.

* Taylor's eight-game hitting streak came to an end after he finished 0-for-3.  The right fielder did walk twice and he was also hit by a pitch.

* Manship remained winless on the year despite another solid outing.  Manship has left his last two starts with the lead only to see the Cardinal infield falter defensively allowing the opposing team to comeback (last Saturday, Chris Lewis committed two errors on one play to set up a game-winning Fresno State rally).  Over his last three starts, Manship has a 1.65 ERA (3 ER/16.1 IP).

* Yount retired all five batters he faced to record the victory on the mound.  The freshman right-hander has now made four relief appearances this season without allowing a run (7 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 SO).

* Stanford has committed six errors in the first two games of the series - all by the infield.  Lewis has committed four throwing errors at second base while Yount (throwing) and Minaker (fielding) also have miscues over the last two games.

* California left 14 runners on base.

* The rubber game of this non-conference series is scheduled for 1:00 P.M. on Sunday afternoon at Evans Diamond.  Freshman right-hander Tyson Ross (2-1, 3.38 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for the Golden Bears while Stanford has yet to announce a starting pitcher.