@ Stanford 7 – Saint Mary’s 4
ASU 10 – @ Cal State Fullerton 8
@ Arizona 10 – New Mexico 4
@ OSU – Portland (rained out)
Media Releases
(Stanford, CA) – Comeback victories and big hits from Brent Milleville appear to be the theme for No. 5 Stanford (23-12-2) so far this week. The junior first baseman lined a bases-clearing, two-out double to right-center in the bottom of the eighth to complete Stanford’s comeback from a three-run deficit en route to a 7-4 win over Saint Mary’s (20-17-1) Wednesday night at Klein Field.
Milleville drove in four runs for the second consecutive game, going 2-for-5 from the plate with the game-winning double. Jason Castro reached base in all five plate appearances, singling three times, walking, and being hit by a pitch. Brendan Domaracki and Zach Jones each singled to account for the remaining Cardinal hits Wednesday night.
Alex Pracher (1-1) was dominant in five scoreless innings in relief of starter Max Fearnow, picking up his first victory of the season while also striking out five and walking none.
Fearnow struck out four batters in four innings of work, while receiving a no-decision after giving up four runs on seven hits.
For the second time in two games this week, Stanford fell behind early on, as Saint Mary’s got out to a quick 3-0 lead over the first two innings. With one out in the first, SMC’s Ryan Mulligan bunted on, followed by a Randy Wells single to center. Fearnow regrouped briefly to strike out Gael cleanup batter Kyle Jensen, but then issued a walk to Kenny Fuglerud that loaded the bases. Gael starter Anthony Aliotti took the opportunity to help himself, singling to left-center to plate Mulligan and Wells for the game’s first two runs.
The Gaels added another run with a two-out rally in the second. Fearnow made quick work of the inning’s first two batters thanks to a pair of strikeouts, but got in trouble after walking Cory Miller then getting touched for a single by Mulligan, who led the Gaels Wednesday with a 4-for-5 effort from the dish.
Fearnow, while battling Wells, had one get away from him in the at-bat, allowing Miller to score from third to put the Gaels up by three.
The Cardinal bats showed some life in the bottom of the third, as Phelps led things off with a walk, followed two batters later by consecutive singles from Castro and Milleville, the second plating Phelps with Stanford’s first run. Castro then advanced to third on Randy Molina’s deep flyout to center, and accepted the return of a favor from the Gaels as Aliotti’s wild pitch allowed Molina to score and cut the deficit to one at 3-2.
The Gaels got that run back their next time up, using another two-out rally to increase the lead to 4-2. After Fearnow again retired the inning’s first two batters, Saint Mary’s scratched out a run after Miller singled, advanced a bag on another wild pitch, and scored on Mulligan’s looping line drive that just cleared Cardinal shortstop Jake Schlander’s outstretched glove for an RBI single to left-center.
Stanford needed only two innings, though, the knot things up. Castro welcomed Saint Mary’s reliever Taylor Reid to the contest in the bottom half of the fifth with his second single of the game, and two batters later, Molina drew a walk to put two on with one out. After Sean Ratliff’s flyout to center moved Castro to third, the Cardinal caught another break as Joey August’s swinging third strike, which should have ended the inning, was in the dirt and unable to be corralled by Mulligan, allowing August to reach base safely, Molina to advance to third, and Castro to score. Jones followed up with an RBI single to left-center to plate Molina with the equalizer.
Neither team could manage any runs over the next two innings, until Stanford used a two-out rally of its own to go ahead for good in the eighth. Schlander’s base on balls was sandwiched by Jones’ groundout to third to open the inning, and Phelps’ flyout to right. Yet Domaracki kept things alive with a walk of his own, and the Gaels elected to then intentionally walk Castro to load the bags for Milleville. On a 1-0 pitch, Milleville drove a line drive into the right-centerfield gap for the game’s only extra-base hit, clearing the bases in the process.
Reid, who allowed five runs on four hits and four walks over four innings, took the loss, his first of the season. Aliotti worked the first four innings of the game, giving up two runs on three hits, but not factoring into the decision.
Pracher’s excellent work on the mound preserved the victory, culminating with two on and two out in the ninth, and the Gaels’ best hitter, Kyle Jensen, at the plate representing the tying run. But Pracher got Jensen to fly harmlessly to right to end the game and wrap up another come-from-behind effort by the Cardinal.
Stanford closes out the four-game homestand this weekend, resuming Pac-10 play against the USC Trojans in a three-game series. First pitch for Friday night’s opener is set for 7 p.m., followed by 1 p.m. starts to Saturday and Sunday’s contests.
(Fullerton, CA) – A night after a walk-off loss to #15 Cal State Fullerton, #4 Arizona State turned the tables on the Titans, rallying with two outs in the top of the tenth to score a 10-8 victory at Goodwin Field. Raoul Torrez’s two-run single gave the Devils the lead, and Tommy Rafferty’s perfect tenth sealed win. ASU improves to 32-7 on the season.
For the second straight night Arizona State jumped ahead in the first only to surrender the lead. Tonight however the Devils were able to rally back from a four run deficit to score the victory.
Brett Wallace put ASU up 2-0 in the first, homering over the batter’s eye in center field with Petey Paramore aboard. It was the 11th homer of the season for Wallace. Kiel Roling made it 3-0 with a solo bomb to center, his sixth of the year. The Titans got all three back in the bottom of the inning of starter Seth Blair. He allowed back-to-back hits and an RBI groundout that made it 3-1. With two outs and one on, Blair induced a pop up to second base, but Raoul Torrez lost it in the sun allowing the inning to continue. The next batter tripled to tie the game.
The Titans would take the lead in the second on a Josh Fellhauer two-run homer to right field. They added an unearned run in the third to up their lead to 6-3. An RBI single by Jason Kipnis in the fourth cut the lead to 6-4.
Cal State Fullerton scored two more in the fourth off Matt Newman, thanks to two Sun Devil errors. That put the Titans up 8-4. Kiel Roling made it 8-5 with an RBI double that brought home Wallace, then Ryan Sontag’s single up the middle scored two more to cut the lead to 8-7. Roling tied the game in the sixth with a blooper to center that scored Greg Bordes from third.
The Devils threatened in the eighth, loading the bases with one out, but were unable to score. Last night, ASU loaded the bases twice but were unable to get a run across. They loaded the bases again in the tenth with two away, only this time they were able to capitalize. Raoul Torrez, who had struck out four times in the game, laced the first pitch he saw from Titan reliever Ryan Ackland into center, scoring Jake Elmore and Rocky Laguna to put the Devils up 10-8.
Rafferty earned the win, improving him to 7-0. He went 2.2 innings, allowing only one man to reach base. Reyes Dorado was also stellar out of the bullpen, throwing 3.1 innings of scoreless ball, allowing the ASU offense to rally back.
The Devils pounded out 14 hits, led by Kiel Roling’s four. He added three RBI to go with the four hits. Wallace, Marcel Champagnie and Torrez each had two hits, while Ryan Sontag, Wallace and Torrez also knocked in two.
The Devils return home on Friday night to host the California Golden Bears in a three-game Pac-10 series. First pitch Friday is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.
(Tucson, AZ) – Arizona’s Brad Glenn went 4 for 4 with three RBI and a pair of runs scored, as the Wildcats swept a two-game midweek series against New Mexico with a 10-4 win at Kindall Field on Wednesday.
Glenn, who entered the midweek series against UNM batting just .241, tore apart the Lobo pitching staff by going a combined 7 for 8 with a double, his eighth homer of the year, six RBI and three runs scored. The two-game effort improved his season batting average 41 points to its current .282 level.
Wednesday’s victory was UA’s season-high-tying 12th in a row and improved the Wildcats to 27-11 overall. New Mexico, which has lost seven straight games to Arizona including four this season, dropped to 27-16 for the year with the loss.
Trailing 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third, Arizona bounced back with four runs on six hits to take the lead at 5-3.
Freshman Bryce Ortega led off the frame with a double and was driven home on T.J. Steele’s ninth home run of the season one batter later to tie the game at 3-3.
After C.J. Ziegler reached on a one-out double later in the inning, Glenn drove him home with a single to center to make it 4-3 UA. The hot-hitting third baseman was in turn rewarded with a trip home on an infield single by Dillon Baird to push the UA advantage to two.
Former Wildcat Drew McDonald cut into the Arizona lead with a solo homer in the top of the fourth, but Steele and Bobby Coyle answered right back in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff double and a RBI single, respectively.
The Cats tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the sixth on back-to-back RBI doubles by Ziegler and Glenn and another run-scoring base hit by Baird.
Jon Gaston capped off the scoring for the Wildcats with a solo homer to left in the seventh to snap an 0 for 9 skid.
New Mexico jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage in the first on a pair of triples by Mike Brownstein and Kevin Atkinson, and a run-scoring ground out by Brian Cavazos-Galvez, and then answered Glenn’s RBI single in the bottom of the first with a single run in the second on a Brownstein double for the ill-fated 3-1 lead.
Arizona reliever Cory Burns (2-0) picked up his second win of the season with three scoreless innings out of the bullpen. The right-hander allowed just one hit and finished with four strikeouts and no walks.
UNM starter Will Kerr (2-3) was charged with the loss after allowing five runs on eight hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Arizona will head out to Corvallis, Ore., on Thursday for a weekend conference series against defending national champs Oregon State this Friday-Sunday. First pitch for the series opener on Friday is set for 6 p.m. Saturday’s 2 p.m. contest will be shown live nationally on Fox Sports Net. All three games of the series will be broadcast live on the radio in Tucson on 1290 AM.
Notes
Arizona improved to 24-4 this season when hitting at least one home run in a game and to 11-2 when swatting two or more …
(Corvallis, OR) – The Oregon State baseball team’s game with Portland Wednesday has been postponed due to inclement weather in the Corvallis area. No makeup date for the game has been announced.
The Beavers next play Friday when opening a three-game series against Arizona at Goss Stadium. First pitch Friday is scheduled for 5 p.m. On Saturday, the teams will play in front of a national audience on FSN in a game that begins at 2 p.m. That game can also be heard live nationwide on XM Radio, channel 193, as the Pac-10 Game of the Week.
Sunday’s game will start at 1 p.m.
Fans can also catch the games live by tuning into the Beaver Sports Network, Beaver Nation Online (www.osubeavers.com) or Yahoo! Sports. Mike Parker will be behind the mic for the weekend. Please note that because of the FSN telecast on Saturday, a webcast of that day’s game will not be available on Beaver Nation Online.
Tickets to Friday’s and Sunday’s game are available by calling 1-800-GOBEAVS, visiting www.osubeavers.com or the legendary Gill Coliseum ticket office. Tickets can also be picked up by visiting the Goss Stadium ticket booth on the day of the game; it opens two-and-a-half hours before first pitch. Saturday’s game is sold out.
