Complete Game

This was the game the Stanford Cardinal were waiting for. Everything was clicking Friday night as the home team knocked around the 16th ranked Arizona State Sun Devils en route to a 7-1 victory. Greg Reynolds went the distance on the mound, while at the plate, Stanford rapped out 13 hits including four from Chris Lewis. Add it all up and it was Stanford's most complete effort of the season.

Stanford's Greg Reynolds has often received very little run support in his starts this season.  That hasn't been the case the last two Friday's and the result has been a pair of wins.  And while Reynolds himself struggled a bit last weekend in Tucson, the ace right-hander more than held his own this evening versus the Arizona State Sun Devils.

In a 7-1 series-opening win, Reynolds went the distance on the mound recording Stanford's first complete game victory of the season.  His 118-pitch performance included just three hits allowed, one walk, and eight strike outs.  Reynolds didn't allow a hit past the fifth inning and went on to retire 11 of the final 12 batters he faced.  This coming against an exclusively left-handed hitting lineup and an offense that ranks among the best in the country.

Offensively, the Cardinal also had a fantastic effort as they rapped out 13 hits in picking up seven runs.  They wasted little time getting to ASU starter Josh Satow as four consecutive hits in the bottom of the first inning produced a pair of runs to knock him out of the game.  Ryan Seawell got things started with a line drive single before Chris Lewis stepped to the plate and belted a double high off the fence in deep left center field. 

With runners on second and third, Chris Minaker lined a single into right field scoring Seawell with the first tally of the game.  Then Michael Taylor grounded a single through the left side plating Lewis for a 2-0 lead.  That would be all that ASU head coach Pat Murphy needed to see from Satow as he made the quick change to the bullpen summoning Pat Bresnehan into pitch.  Bresnehan was able to work out of a bases loaded, two-out jam in that first inning to keep Stanford's lead at two runs.

The relentless Cardinal offensive attack though continued their push in the bottom of the second.  With two outs, Lewis started a rally with a single.  Then Minaker stepped to the plate and lined a triple into the right field corner to score his classmate.

The bottom of the order then produced two runs of their own in the third inning.  Again it was a two-out rally as DH Randy Molina drew a four-pitch walk from Bresnehan.  After Jim Rapoport lined a single into right field, both runners moved up an extra 90 feet on a wild pitch.  Struggling #9 hitter Cord Phelps (.184) was up next and the freshman second baseman delivered possibly his biggest hit of the season when he singled sharply up the middle to score both Molina and Rapoport.

It was again the middle of the order striking in the bottom of the fourth as with Minaker on first base and one out, Stanford executed a hit-and-run to perfection when Taylor lined a 2-0 pitch from Bresnehan into the right field corner for an RBI triple.  Through four innings, the Cardinal offense had exploded for ten hits and a total of six runs.

Reynolds was on his game from the very start as the Pacifica native worked a perfect first inning recording a pair of strike outs in the process.  The only hits he allowed on the night were an Ike Davis second-inning single, a Frank Mesa third-inning single, and a Preston Paramore solo home run in the top of the fifth.  Reynolds, in fact, didn't throw his first three-ball count until he faced Colin Curtis to leadoff the top of the seventh.

The lone walk of the night from Reynolds came when facing Andrew Romine to start the top of the ninth.  His breaking ball was as strong as ever and his performance was all the more impressive considering he faced just one right-handed batter (pinch-hitter Willy Fox in the ninth) all night.

Stanford's final run of the contest came in the bottom of the sixth when Seawell led off with a walk and scored two batters later on another hit-and-run extra base hit.  On a 2-1 offering, Minaker smacked a double down the left field line to easily score Seawell from first base.

Lewis and Minaker both finished a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.  The senior duo, batting second and third in the order respectively, combined for seven hits in ten at-bats.  Taylor also contributed two hits including a triple.

Arizona State    0 0 0  0 1 0  0 0 0   -   1   3   0
Stanford         2 1 2  1 0 1  0 0 X   -   7  13   1

Arizona State         POS   AB   R   H  RBI    BB  SO
Andrew Romine          SS    3   0   0   0      1   2
Seth Dhaenens          3B    3   0   0   0      0   2
 Willy Fox             PH    1   0   0   0      0   1
Eric Sogard           2B/RF  4   0   0   0      0   0
Colin Curtis          RF/CF  4   0   0   0      0   0
Ike Davis              1B    3   0   1   0      0   0
Brett Wallace          LF    3   0   0   0      0   0
 Rocky Laguna          LF    0   0   0   0      0   0
Preston Paramore        C    3   1   1   1      0   1
 Austin Stockfisch      C    0   0   0   0      0   0
Frank Mesa            DH/3B  3   0   1   0      0   1
Ryan Sontag            CF    2   0   0   0      0   1
 Joe Persichina        2B    0   0   0   0      0   0

HR: Paramore (3rd)
SB: Romine

                         IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO
Josh Satow (L)          0.0   4   2   2   0   0
Pat Bresnehan           3.1   6   4   4   2   3
Brett Bruneel           0.2   0   0   0   0   0
Matt Trink              4.0   3   1   1   1   3



Stanford              POS   AB   R   H  RBI    BB  SO
Ryan Seawell           CF    4   2   1   0      1   1
Chris Lewis            3B    5   2   4   0      0   0
Chris Minaker          SS    5   1   3   3      0   0
Michael Taylor         RF    4   0   2   2      0   2
John Hester             C    3   0   0   0      0   1
Brent Milleville       1B    1   0   0   0      0   1
 Jason Castro         PH/1B  3   0   0   0      0   0
Matt Leva              DH    0   0   0   0      0   0
 Randy Molina         PH/DH  2   1   1   0      2   1
Jim Rapoport           LF    4   1   1   0      0   0
Cord Phelps            2B    4   0   1   2      0   0

2B Lewis, Minaker
3B: Lewis, Minaker, Taylor

                         IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO
Greg Reynolds (W)       9.0   3   1   1   1   8



Win: Greg Reynolds (4-3)
Loss: Josh Satow (3-1)

Records: Stanford (18-18, 4-9), #16 Arizona State (28-15, 7-6)



Notes:
* The complete game from Reynolds was the first of his career.

* Reynolds notched his team-leading fourth victory of the year.  He also lowered his season ERA to 3.66.

* Coach Marquess recorded career victory #1,242 tonight which ties him for 13th with former Illinois coach Richard Jones on the all-time win list.  Next up at #12 is former Georgia Southern head man Jack Stallings (1,255).  Marquess is seventh among active coaches (Texas' Augie Garrido is the all-time leader at 1,569 victories).

* The 2-3-4 trio of Lewis, Minaker, and Taylor combined for nine of Stanford's 13 hits.

* Stanford's lone error of the night was a fielding miscue from Reynolds in the sixth inning.  A ground ball was knocked down by the towering right-hander, but he stumbled on the mound and by the time he picked up the baseball and threw to first, it was not in time to get the runner.  Not an easily play for the pitcher in what was a very clean game defensively for the Cardinal.

* Stanford recorded three triples tonight.  The Cardinal had notched just seven three-baggers in their first 35 games of the season.

* The Cardinal snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory.  The Stanford pitching staff had allowed 32 runs in the three losses.

* The game was televised live nationally on CSTV. 

* The second game of this series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Sunken Diamond.  First pitch is slated for 1:00 P.M.  Jeremy Bleich (2-3, 3.23 ERA) will make the start on the mound for Stanford while Arizona State is expected to counter with Jeff Urlaub (5-1, 3.26).  Both hurlers are freshman left-handers.