March 22, 2009

Box Score

BERKELEY, CALIF. - Stanford's Kellen Kiilsgaard walked with the bases loaded in the top of the 12th inning to force in a run, and Cal wasn't able to score after Dwight Tanaka led-off the bottom of the 12th with a single as the Golden Bears (11-8, 1-1) fell to the Cardinal (4-9, 1-1), 6-5 in 12 innings Sunday at Evans Diamond. The two teams will now play the Pac-10 rubber match on Monday, March 23 at 2:30 p.m. at Evans Diamond. Kiilsgaard had a big day for Stanford, hitting lead-off home runs in the ninth and 11th innings, while Cal freshman Marcus Semien hit his first collegiate home run and sophomore right fielder Mark Canha hit a three-run homer and had a clutch sacrifice fly in the 11th inning. Cal had defeated Stanford, 7-6, on Saturday.

The Cardinal owned a 3-0 lead and had control of the game early behind the strong pitching of freshman right-hander Jordan Pries (5.1 innings, one hit, three runs, two walks, five strikeouts), who had no-hit the Bears until pinch hitter Semien knocked his first college homer to lead-off the bottom of the sixth inning. Later in the sixth, Canha hit a three-run homer off of Stanford reliever Drew Storen to give Cal a 4-3 lead.

The Bears held the 4-3 lead until the top of the ninth when Kiilsgaard hit a high fly ball off of reliever Kevin Miller that carried over the left field fence to send the game into extra innings, 4-4. In the top of the 11th inning, Kiilsgaard hit a homer to right field to give the Cardinal a 5-4 lead. But, Cal was able to come back in the bottom of the 11th when sophomore shortstop Brian Guinn led-off with a single and advanced to third on junior first baseman Blake Smith's single to right field. Canha then followed with his game-tying sacrifice fly to make the score, 5-5.

In the 12th, the Bear's freshman right-hander Erik Johnson (1-2, 2.0 innings, one hit, two runs, three walks, three strikeouts) walked the bases loaded. Junior left-hander Chris Petrini then walked Kiilsgaard on a full count to give Stanford its 6-5 lead. Cal threatened in the bottom of the 12th when pinch hitter Tanaka led-off with a single and was sacrificed to second base by Semien. Junior center fielder Brett Jackson lined out to right field (ending his 18-game hitting streak) for the second out. Guinn followed with a walk off Stanford's Scott Snodgress, but Snodgress was able to get Smith to ground out to first base to end the game.

The winning pitcher for the Cardinal was reliever Carey Scwartz (1-0, 1.1 innings, one hit, one walk, one strikeout). The Bears had received a solid 6.0 innings from sophomore right-hander Brian Diemer (five hits, two earned runs, four walks, career-high nine strikeouts).

Home Runs:

Stanford: Kellen Kiilsgaard, solo home run in the ninth inning. Kellen Kiilsgaard, solo home run in the 11th inning.

Cal: Marcus Semien, solo home run in the sixth inning. Mark Canha, three-run homer in the sixth inning.