April 8, 2000

Box Score

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Starting pitcher Jason Young struck out 15 and allowed only three runs in eight innings to lead the No. 7 Stanford Cardinal to a 11-3 win over the Washington State Cougars in a Pac-10 Conference game Saturday afternoon at Bailey-Brayton Field.

The win improved the nationally ranked Cardinal to 24-9 on the year and are now 5-3 in league play. The Cougars dropped their fourth straight game to fall to 14-21 on the year and are 2-6 in the Pac-10.

Young, a consensus preseason All-American, struck out a Stanford season high 15 and fell one short of matching his career high in strikeouts of 16. The junior right-hander scattered seven hits and walked four to improve his season record to a perfect mark of 4-0. Relief pitcher Jason Luker finished the Cougs off in the ninth with a scoreless inning of work.

Cougar starter Matt O'Brien gave a valiant effort in his second career start and kept the potent Stanford bats in control through much of his outing. The senior left-hander was touched for four runs in six innings while striking out four.

The Cardinal nearly got all the runs they needed to pick up the victory in the first inning. Two-sport star and preseason All-American Joe Borchard staked Stanford to an early 3-0 lead with a tape-measure home run over the left field fence for his eighth home run of the year.

WSU answered with a run in the bottom of the first when Jason Grove plated Ray Hattenburg with a sharp single up the middle. The Cougars pulled to within two in the third when Jordan Nilsen walked with the bases loaded to push home Shawn Stevenson. Stevenson led off the inning with his fourth double of the year.

After a Cardinal run in the sixth, WSU brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh before Young struck out pinch hitter Zach Bode to end the rally.

Stanford tacked on four more runs in the eighth behind five hits to extend its lead to 10-3. Four consecutive singles contributed two of the four runs. A solo home run from Edmund Muth in the ninth inning capped the scoring on the afternoon for the Cardinal.

The Cougars were led at the plate by Stevenson (2x5) and Hattenburg (2x4) who each contributed two hits. Redshirt freshman Stefan Bailie added a run-scoring double raise his batting average to .339.

Muth led the Cardinal at the plate with a 3-for-5 game, falling just a triple short of the cycle. Leadoff hitter Craig Thompson was 2-for-6 and third baseman John Gall was 2-for-5 with a RBI. Catcher Damien Alvarado and second baseman Chris O'Riordan both added three hits. Moses Lake product and former second-round draft choice Jason Coooper was 2-for-2 and is now 3-for-3 in the series.

The Cardinal and Cougars will square off in the final game of the three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will also decide who leads the all-time series between the two teams, which is currently tied at 13-13. Tyson Thompson will go to the hill for WSU against Stanford's Tim Cunningham. The game will be telecast live on radio in the Palouse region on KCLX 1450 and over the internet at www.wsucougars.com.

STAN   310  001  141 -  11  19  0
WSU    101  000  100 -   3   8  2
Jason Young, Jason Luker (9), and Damien Alvarado.
Matt O'Brien, Lanakila Niles (7), Zach Fisher (8), Reggie Rivard (9), and Jon Baeder.
W - Young (4-0),L - O'Brien (6-2), S - None, HR - Borchard (8), Muth (10).
T - 3:14,  A - 999.
STAN Hits - Thompson 2, Bruntlett, Muth 3, Gall 2, Borchard, O'Riordan 3, Cooper 2, VanMeetren 2, Alvarado 3.
WSU Hits - Stevenson 2, Hattenburg 2, Bailie, Grove, Gates, Baeder.
E - Stevenson (9), Knight (4).
2B - Bruntlett (14), Muth (10), VanMeetren (3), Stevenson (4), Bailie (9), Baeder (1).