The Stanford Cardinal were given a second life this
week and the team took full advantage. A tumultuous regular
season saw the Cardinal post a 30-25 record which included a sub-.500
mark in conference play. A two-game sweep at the hands of UC
Davis the final week of the regular season put any chances of the
postseason in serious doubt. Stanford though managed to sneak
into the NCAA Tournament as a #3 seed and the club managed to knock off
both Texas and N.C. State en route to a perfect 3-0 record to claim the
Austin Regional championship. The weekend was capped off by a
stunning 17-7 victory over the 2nd seeded Wolfpack on Sunday afternoon
at Disch-Falk Field.
The day started with N.C. State surprising the host Longhorns by a 6-3
score to end Texas' season. Ace right-hander Gib Hobson, who was
tagged for five runs in less than two innings by Stanford just two days
ago, was brilliant on the mound tossing a complete-game to defeat #3
national seed Texas. That gave the Wolfpack a full complement of
relievers for their matchup with the Cardinal. Unfortunately for
them, it wouldn't matter.
Stanford recorded season-high totals of 17 runs and 24 hits against
eight different N.C. State pitchers. Chris Minaker led the attack
with a perfect 5-for-5 performance at the plate while Michael Taylor
also chipped in four hits and a home run. The Cardinal finished
the afternoon with a whopping ten extra base hits while receiving solid
relief work from Austin Yount and Erik Davis in the second half of the
contest to seal the victory. With the win, Stanford advances to
the super regionals where they will meet Oregon State - very likely in
Corvallis. Game One of the best-of-three series will be played on
Friday or Saturday.
Stanford (the designated visiting team) jumped out to an early 4-0 lead
on Sunday through the first 2 1/2 innings only to see the Wolfpack come
storming back. Two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning off of
starter Jeremy Bleich knocked the freshman out of the game and tied the
score at five apiece.
Then the Stanford bats erupted. The Cardinal had plated five runs
on an impressive total of 11 hits in their first five at-bats this
afternoon. A couple of runners thrown out on the bases plus an
untimely double play though prevented any sort of a big inning.
N.C. State had all the momentum heading into the top of the sixth only
to see Stanford steal it right back.
Jim Rapoport started the rally with an astroturf, high-chopper infield
single. After Ryan Seawell singled sharply to center field, John Hester struck out. A four-pitch walk to Minaker loaded the bases
setting the table for Taylor. On an 0-1 pitch, Taylor grounded a
ball to deep shortstop that was gloved by Jonathan Diaz, but the
fielder had no play on any of the baserunners as Rapoport raced home
from the third with the go-ahead tally. Stanford would never give
up the lead.
A fielder's choice ground out off the bat of Chris Lewis scored the
second run of the frame before a wild pitch plated Minaker for an 8-5
advantage.
In the seventh, Grant Escue started things with a single, moved to
second on a ground out, and scored on Seawell's clutch two-out single
into right field.
Austin Yount relieved Bleich in the stressful bottom of the fifth and
although he walked a pair of batters to load the bases, the freshman
managed to get Diaz to fly out to Taylor in right field ending the
threat. Yount then fired a perfect sixth inning before Aaron
Bates' leadoff, solo homer in the seventh. The round-tripper cut
Stanford's lead down to 9-6, but Yount was able to rebound setting down
the next three hitters in order to keep the Cardinal in front.
Stanford tacked on two key insurance runs in the top of the eighth when
Minaker singled with one out before Taylor blasted a mammoth homer to
left. The slugging right fielder got a first-pitch fastball up in
the zone and crushed it well over the fence for his fifth home run of
the season. The moonshot gave the Cardinal an 11-6 lead and set
the stage for a dramatic bottom of the eighth.
Yount continued to mow down the N.C. State hitters when a fly out and a
strike out started the home half of the eighth. But a lapse in
control then did in the freshman when a pair of hit by pitches followed
by a walk loaded the bases. With Bates due up and the potential
tying run in the on-deck circle, Coach Marquess went to the bullpen
summoning Erik Davis into pitch. Davis worked 2 1/3 hitless
innings to finish the Texas game just a day earlier which seems to have
made him the go-to pitcher in late inning situations.
Davis promptly allowed a sharp single to right field off the bat of
Bates to bring home N.C. State's seventh run of the day. The
bases remained loaded after the hit as clean-up man Jon Still stepped
to the plate. Still blasted a home run off of Bleich earlier in
today's game after a key longball in the victory over Texas many hours
earlier. Representing the tying run, Still quickly fell behind in
the count 0-2 before Davis missed with his third pitch. The next
offering saw Still ground a ball sharply up the middle that was
deflected by the reaching Davis over to Lewis near second base.
The deflection allowed Lewis to easily make a play on the ball as he
gloved it cleanly and stepped on the bag for the force out and the end
of the rally. That would be the closest N.C. State would come in
the late innings.
Stanford broke open the contest in the top of the ninth when they sent
ten men to the plate with six of them coming across to score.
With runners on first and second and none out, Seawell delivered the
first big hit of the inning when he smacked a triple into the right
field corner plating both runners. Seawell recorded hits in each
of his last four at-bats to finish the day 4-for-6.
Stanford though was hardly done. A Hester double followed the
Seawell hit to score another run. Then Minaker doubled down the
left field line scoring Hester for a 15-7 lead. A groundout from
Taylor followed by a sacrifice fly from Lewis scored Minaker with the
fifth run of the inning. Then a Jason Castro triple restarted the
rally before pinch-hitter Brendan Domaracki brought him home with a
double into left. The Domaracki hit ended the scoring for
Stanford on this day with the final tally registering an amazing 17
runs.
Davis worked a scoreless bottom of the ninth inning to seal the victory
for the Cardinal. The sophomore right-hander was officially
credited with his second save of the Austin Regional and fourth of the
season.
Bleich went the first 4 1/3 innings on the mound yielding five runs
(all earned) on eight hits. The lefty didn't allow a run in the
first two innings before Still struck with a three-run homer in the
bottom of the third. After a perfect fourth, Bleich was unable to
get out of the fifth surrendering hits to three of the first four
batters he faced. Two of them scored with the bases eventually
left loaded thanks to the relief work of Yount.
It was a banner afternoon for Minaker as the senior shortstop reached
base safely in all six of his plate appearances. He ended the day
a home run shy of the cycle while also scoring runs in all six of his
times reached base. Taylor and Lewis, batting fourth and fifth in
the order respectively, combined for eight RBI.
Stanford scored at least one run in every inning except the top of the
fourth. The leadoff hitter also reached base in seven of their
nine at-bats.
Stanford 1
1 2 0 1 3 1 2 6 - 17
24 0
N.C. State 0 0 3 0 2 0 1 1 0
- 7 12 2
Stanford
POS AB R H
RBI BB SO
Ryan Seawell
CF 6 2 4
3 0 1
John Hester
C 6 2 2
1 0 1
Chris Minaker SS
5 6 5
2 1 0
Michael Taylor RF
6 1 4
4 0 0
Chris Lewis
2B 5 0 2
4 0 0
Jason Castro
1B 5 1 2
0 1 1
Nolan Gallagher DH
0 0 0
0 0 0
Brent Milleville PH 1
1 1 0
0 0
Grant Escue PH/DH
3 1 1
0 1 0
Brendan Domaracki PH 1
0 1 1
0 0
Cord Phelps
3B 2 0 1
0 0 0
Randy Molina
3B 2 1 0
0 0 0
Jim Rapoport
LF 4 2 1
1 0 0
2B: Minaker 2, Hester, Taylor, Milleville, Domaracki
3B: Seawell, Minaker, Castro
HR: Taylor (5th)
SB: Hester
IP H R ER BB SO
Jeremy Bleich
4.1 8 5 5 1
1
Austin Yount (W) 3.1 1
2 2 3 2
Erik Davis (S) 1.1
3 0 0 1 1
N.C. State
POS AB R H
RBI BB SO
Matt
Camp
CF 5 1 1
0 0 0
Ramon Corona
2B 4 1 1
0 1 0
Aaron Bates
1B 4 3 4
3 1 0
Jon
Still
DH 5 1 2
3 0 0
Ryan Pond
LF 3 0 1
1 0 1
Aaron Cone
PH 1 0 0
0 0 1
Brian Aragon
RF 4 0 1
0 1 1
Caleb Mangum
C 4 0 1
0 1 0
Jonathan Diaz
SS 4 0 0
0 1 1
Drew Martin
3B 2 0 0
0 0 0
Matt Mangini PH/3B
2 1 1
0 0 0
2B: Still, Pond, Mangum
HR: Bates (10th), Still (8th)
SB: Aragon
E: Martin, Mangini
IP H R ER BB SO
Eric
Surkamp
2.0 5 4 3 0
1
Joey Cutler
1.0 1 0 0 1
0
Matt Payne
1.0 5 1 1 0
0
Chris Engle (L) 1.1
2 2 2 1 1
Kyle Rutter
0.0 0 1 1 1
0
Joel Brookens
2.1 5 3 3 0
1
Branden Knapp
0.1 1 2 1 0
0
Travis High
1.0 5 4 2 0
0
WP: Austin Yount (4-0)
LP: Chris Engle (1-1)
S: Erik Davis (4)
Records: Stanford (33-25), N.C. State (40-23)
Notes:
* Minaker was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Austin
Regional. He finished 9-for-14 (.643) with seven runs scored,
three doubles, one triple, and four RBI.
* Reynolds (9 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO), Hester (6-for-15, .400, grand
slam, 2B, 6 RBI), Lewis (5-for-14, .357, 4 RBI), Molina (4-for-10,
.400, RBI), and Taylor (8-for-14, .571, 2B, HR, 6 RBI) joined Minaker
on the All-Tournament Team.
* Stanford scored 36 runs on 54 hits in the three games this
weekend. Their batting average has climbed to a season-high .289.
* The 17 runs and 24 hits in this afternoon's contest were both
season-highs. The Cardinal hit .522 (24-for-46) as a team.
* The 24 hits were the most in a game since a 26-hit output at Arizona
in April, 2002 (W 19-1).
* Minaker scored a career-high six runs while the five hits matched the
most he's ever had in a Stanford uniform.
* Seawell set a career-high with four hits.
* The Cardinal have now played six straight games without committing an
error. Prior to the streak, Stanford had gone consecutive games
without an error just once this year (first two games of the season
versus CS Fullerton).
* Yount earned the victory on the mound after allowing just one hit in
his 3 1/3 innings. He was officially charged with two runs.
* Stanford advances to the super regionals for the sixth time in the
last eight years but its first since 2003.
On Deck:
The Cardinal will face a familiar opponent in the super
regionals when they match-up with Pac-10 champion Oregon State (42-14)
in a best-of-three game set. The Beavers are expected to host the
super regional with that announcement to be made official (along with
the dates and game times) on Monday evening. Oregon State swept
through their sub-regional having defeated Wright State (5-3), Kansas
(11-3), and Hawaii (12-3). The super regional versus the Beavers
will begin either on Friday or Saturday with the winner advancing to
the College World Series.
Super Regional Matchups:
Regional play concludes on Monday
Stanford vs. Oregon State
Mississippi vs. Miami
South Carolina/Evansville vs. #7 Georgia/Florida State
#2 Rice/Baylor vs. Oklahoma/Wichita State
#1 Clemson vs. Oral Roberts
#8 Georgia Tech vs. College of Charleston
#5 CS Fullerton/Fresno State vs. Pepperdine/Missouri
#4 Alabama vs. North Carolina
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