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NewsvineStanford baseball opened its 2008 season in similar fashion to how it closed out the 2007 season, taking two out of three games from Nebraska. While the results eventually came out in Stanford’s favor, it looked for a time as though Mother Nature might have other plans.
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Cord Phelps scored the first run of the Cardinal’s 2008 campaign with a solo home run on Friday afternoon. The junior second baseman had two homers and four RBI in Stanford’s season-opening 17-7 win over Nebraska.
Despite occasional light showers, the Cardinal (2-1, 0-0 Pac-10) and Cornhuskers (1-2, 0-0 Big 12) were able to complete their season-opening doubleheader on Friday. Heavy rains on Saturday, however, forced game three of the series to be postponed until the next day, midway through the third inning. Fear of further inclement weather eventually prompted the cancellation of the series’ fourth game.
Nevertheless, under consistently gray skies, the rain held off just enough to allow the Cardinal to scrape together a winning series on opening weekend for the first time since 2006.
Stanford’s bats came alive in game one of Friday’s doubleheader. The team was led by two home runs and four RBI from junior second baseman Cord Phelps, who led off the season for the Cardinal with a shot over the left field fence.
“I just put a good swing on it and got it in the air,” Phelps said of his first home run. “The wind was blowing a little bit so maybe that helped me.”
Phelps was not alone in his offensive heroics, as 10 Stanford players collected hits in the series’ first game. Among them was freshman catcher and infielder Zach Jones, who hit Stanford’s third home run of the game in his first collegiate at-bat.
Coupled with a strong start from junior lefty Jeremy Bleich, who pitched six scoreless innings against the ‘Huskers, Stanford romped to a 17-0 lead through the first six frames and held on for a 17-7 win.
“Everybody was hitting the ball really well,” Phelps told GoStanford.com. “Their pitchers made some mistakes, and we made them pay for it.”
The evening’s second game, however, seemed to be the exact opposite of the first, as Stanford’s bats went dead and senior starter Erik Davis’s pitches were all too hittable. He allowed seven runs in 2.2 innings pitched.
On the other side of the equation, Nebraska’s Johnny Dorn was dominant for the Cornhuskers, allowing one run through six innings and striking out seven. Despite strong relief work from the Stanford bullpen, which allowed just two runs in what was left of the game, Nebraska triumphed, 9-2.
“[Dorn] was getting the curve ball over pretty well and kind of mixing in his fastball to complement the curve ball,” Phelps said. “For some reason we couldn’t adjust, but we’ll be fine.”
“We didn’t do anything,” Stanford head coach Mark Marquess said of his team’s ineffective offense in the loss. “We really didn’t get anything going. We got a few base-runners late but their starting pitcher really kind of dominated us.”
In what turned out to be the rubber match of the series, the Cardinal rode a strong pitching effort and a four-run seventh-inning rally to a 4-2 victory. The game began Saturday with a strong showing from junior Max Fearnow, who pitched three hitless innings for the Cardinal before the game was postponed until Sunday due to rain. Sophomore Jeffrey Inman picked up where Fearnow left off, with a solid four innings, allowing one run and picking up the win, while senior David Stringer collected his first save of the season.
The Cardinal’s strong pitching, however, looked like it might not be enough before the Stanford offense put together an impressive two-out rally in the seventh. Phelps walked and was driven in by Jones’ subsequent double. Junior center fielder Sean Ratliff reached base thanks to a throwing error by Nebraska second baseman Jake Opitz, and advanced to second while Jones scored on a second throwing error by pitcher Zach Herr. Junior Jason Castro capped the rally with a two-run homer to right, and the Cardinal held on for the win.
Stanford will return to action today against St. Mary’s in a game added to the schedule to make up for the game missed against Nebraska. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Sunken Diamond’s Klein Field.