Jun 22, 2008

Crash landing for Stanford in CWS

Ninth-inning comes up short against Georgia

By John Reid / Daily News Staff Writer

OMAHA, Neb. - The bottom of the ninth inning was typical of a Stanford club that didn't know the meaning of the word "quit" this season.

Stanford, down six runs to No. 8 seed Georgia in a College World Series game Saturday at Rosenblatt Stadium, rallied for four runs before falling 10-8. The loss eliminated the Cardinal (41-23-2) and sent Georgia (44-23-1) to the best-of-three championship series on Monday against either Fresno State or North Carolina.

Stanford, which didn't make even an NCAA regional last year, went 8-3 in the postseason this year. The Cardinal went 2-2 in Omaha, both losses coming at the hands of the Bulldogs.

"I'm proud of my team," Marquess said. "We did things we didn't think we could do, including myself. Georgia beat us twice. They were better than us. We couldn't stop them."

Added catcher Jason Castro, who went 1-for-5 with a run scored in undoubtedly his last game as a Cardinal: "We knew we had a good team before the season started. We had a great group of guys, and that made the season even more special."

After Cord Phelps flied out to Bulldogs center fielder Matt Cerione to end the game, it wasn't long before Marquess was shaking the hands of the Bulldogs' staff, led by head coach Dave Perno.

"Stanford is a great team and is a class act," Perno said. "Mark Marquess is one of the best coaches in the game."

The Bulldogs sent out All-America closer Joshua Fields to begin the ninth inning to get some work after a four-day layoff. After striking out the first batter he faced, Fields encountered a spate of wildness. He walked Randy Molina before yielding a single to Sean Ratliff. Fields gathered himself to strike out Joey August, but pinch-hitter Colin Walsh singled to right to score Molina. Marquess sent up freshman Ben Clowe to pinch-hit for Jake Schlander. Clowe worked the count 3-2 before blasting one into the left-field stands for a three-run homer, his third of the season.

"Walsh and Clowe are two freshmen," Marquess said. "They really came up big with those hits in the ninth. We battled back, just like we battled all season."

Stanford started Jeremy Bleich (3-3), but after a 1-2-3 first inning, he struggled with his location when he got ahead in the count, and it cost him dearly. Georgia's Rich Poythress led off the second with a double down the third-base line on an 0-2 count. Poythress would go on to have a big day, tying a CWS record for doubles in a game with three, adding a single and knocking in four runs. Joey Lewis, who singled in Poythress in that second frame, had a two-run single in the third as the Bulldogs went up 4-0. Bleich, who had pitched so well for the Cardinal in the postseason, surrendered six runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings. The six runs were the most allowed by Bleich since March 21, when he allowed seven as the Cardinal lost to Pacific 10-6.

"It was a mixture of problems," Bleich said. "I lost guys on 0-2 pitches. Once I came in with an inside fastball and the guy made a good swing on it. Georgia is a good-hitting ball club."

The Cardinal, which stranded 11 batters in the game, threatened a big inning in the third, but managed to score only one run. Brent Milleville's sac fly scored Schlander, leaving runners at first and second. Molina hit a sharp grounder that was ticketed for center field for an RBI single, but Georgia second baseman Miles Starr dove to his right to knock the ball down. Starr's star-like play saved a run when Ratliff flied out to center for the final out of the inning.

Trailing 6-1, the Cardinal tallied two runs with two outs in the fourth to get back in it. Schlander singled to right, then Phelps ripped a triple into the gap in right-center field. Phelps scored on a wild pitch, his 76th run scored this season. That moves Phelps into sixth place in the Stanford record books, one run behind Ruben Amaro Jr. Georgia, though, answered with a three-run homer by Ryan Peisel in the top of the fifth off Cardinal reliever Drew Storen to surge ahead 9-3.

"Georgia kept getting the big hits and winning the counts," Marquess said. "And after we came back on them, they needed those big hits."

A few sequences proved the old adage that baseball is a game of inches.

Stanford's Zach Jones hit a potential home run in the second inning that was just foul, missing the left-field pole by a few feet. Had it stayed fair, Jones would have had a three-run home run and the score would have been 3-1 Stanford. In the third, Poythress sent a high drive to right that Cardinal right fielder Jeff Whitlow might have had, but Whitlow stopped a couple yards short of the fence before he made his leap, the ball caroming off the wall for an RBI double. And August was robbed by Bulldogs left fielder Lyle Allen in the seventh when Allen raced back to haul in a deep drive from August, preventing two runs from scoring.

Stanford got good relief pitching from Austin Yount, who pitched 3 2/3 innings, giving up a run on two hits. Palo Alto High product David Stringer, playing in his final game, pitched to two batters in the ninth, walking one and getting Matt Olson to fly out to Toby Gerhart in right field.

Stanford last won an NCAA title in 1988.



E-mail John Reid at

jreid@dailynewsgroup.com.