May 12, 2008

Slam just clears pole as Cardinal win

Cal takes weekend series, but Stanford wins on senior day

By Vytas Mazeika / Daily News Staff Writer

Stanford cleanup hitter Brent Milleville just stood there at Sunken Diamond, next to home plate, and watched his majestic gland slam sail way over the foul pole in left field Sunday afternoon.

Milleville wasn't showing up the pitcher. He simply thought the home run was destined to be a loud strike.

"I'd say it started off 10 feet foul," Milleville said. "I didn't really think there was a chance it would come back. Me standing there was just me hoping, I guess, it would go fair. And right at the last second it went fair. It was awesome."

Guaranteed of its first losing weekend in Pac-10 action this season, the Cardinal avoided a sweep on senior day with an 8-5 win over Bay Area rival Cal in front of 2,401 fans who got to see the grand slam that nearly wasn't - especially considering the right-handed Milleville pulled the ball, which should've hooked and not sliced on the windy afternoon.

"It was weird," Stanford coach Mark Marquess said. "Usually it's supposed to go the other way."

Stanford (29-18-2, 11-7 Pac-10) was in danger of falling out of second place in a tight race for the conference title. The Golden Bears (32-16-2, 11-10), who left disappointed despite achieving their original goal of winning the series, haven't swept the Cardinal since 1992.

"If we had split the first two and won today, we'd be ecstatic," said Cal coach David Esquer, who knows a little bit about senior day at Sunken Diamond seeing as he played shortstop for the Cardinal from 1984-87. "But when you win the first two, you get greedy."

Early on, the greedy Golden Bears led 3-0, scoring all the runs in the second inning. But on senior day, it was a sophomore who showed off his maturity, as right-hander Jeffrey Inman found his groove.

"We had to fight to keep them from sweeping, and it really came down to pitching," Marquess said.

Inman went 6 2/3 innings, surrendering six hits and one walk while striking out four. Freshman Drew Storen came out of the bullpen to get the last seven outs. He was unlucky when a grounder to second took a bad hop, allowing Cal to get within 7-5 in the top of the seventh as both inherited runners scored.

No worries, because Storen came back to strike out slugger Josh Satin. Stanford immediately got one of the runs back when catcher Jason Castro hit a triple that trickled away from the diving right fielder, later scoring on a two-out error from Cal's third baseman.

The tying run never came to the plate again, as a double play in the eighth wiped the bases clean and Cal's David Cooper, he of the team-high 19 home runs, was left on deck when the final out was recorded.
"We gave them a gift run, and that made a little bit of difference because it changes the complexion of every inning," Esquer said. "They had another runner to play with, which made it a little easier than we would've liked."

Stanford's offense got a while to get going, as Cal starter Chris Petrini recorded 10 consecutive outs after allowing a leadoff walk. The southpaw never made it out of the fourth inning, though, as he walked Castro and Milleville before giving up back-to-back RBI singles to senior Randy Molina and Sean Ratliff.

The quick hook brought Kevin Miller to the mound, and his first pitch tied the game when Cord Phelps lifted it to right field for a sacrifice fly.

The roof caved in the next inning, as Stanford took a 7-3 lead on three consecutive singles quickly followed by Milleville's second career grand slam, a 2-1 fastball lofted down the left field line - and a sight to see.

"I don't really look where they land, usually," Milleville said. "That was one of the longest that I've watched, but I don't really know how far it went. I hit it far enough to go out, and that's what really counts."

The Cardinal have one home game left, tonight at 6 as Stanford hosts Santa Clara. It will be the last regular-season game at Sunken Diamond for five seniors: RHP Erik Davis (Mountain View) OF Brendan Domaracki, 1B/DH Molina, RHP Rex Petrill (St. Francis) and RHP David Stringer (Palo Alto).

The seniors were honored Sunday before the game. No doubt they'd be honored to win again tonight.

"Senior day is always special because the guys mean so much," Marquess said. "I haven't had five better seniors that have really contributed to the program. And it's nice to win on senior day, you don't always do that."



E-mail Vytas Mazeika at vmazeika@dailynewsgroup.com.