Without a returning starting pitcher on the roster, the baseball team wasn't supposed to make it to the College World Series. Earlier in the season, coach Mark Marquess said he'd be happy with a .500 record in the Pac-10. But the Cardinal ended Pac-10 play in second place, with a 17-7 record and 3.06 team earned run average. Junior second baseman Chris O'Riordan secured his place atop Stanford's career batting average list with .362 and made the All-America first team. And Carlos Quentin was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.
The Cardinal triumphed over Marist and Texas in the ncaa regional, then outpitched and outplayed a veteran South Carolina lineup to win the Super Regional. Suddenly, the team with the all-freshman outfield found itself on a red-eye to Chicago-O'Hare and, after a cancelled flight, an eight-hour bus ride to Omaha--taking finals en route. When the players arrived, they were more than ready to take the field in Rosenblatt Stadium, "where dreams come true" and local fans wait 10 years for Series tickets.
On the opening day of the cws June 8, the Cardinal came back from an 8-0 deficit to beat Tulane 13-11. Sophomore Ryan Garko, who would rack up seven hits-- including two homers--in the series, caught the ceremonial first pitch from President George W. Bush and posed for team photos with national security adviser, former Stanford provost and major sports fan Condoleezza Rice. "This is a lot of fun!" he chirped to ESPN broadcasters.
The next matchup, against Cal State- Fullerton, featured a pitchers' duel--scoreless until the fifth inning and 1-1 in the ninth--between junior Mike Gosling and Fullerton's Kirk Saarloos. Stanford finally pulled ahead in the 10th, winning 5-2. "This was as good as you're going to get as far as a college baseball game goes," said Marquess, '69. "We surprised ourselves. We surprised me."
A second game against Fullerton saw Marquess pacing in the dugout and signaling players with a white towel as a thunderstorm approached and batters strained to make out the spin on breaking balls. The Cardinal chipped away at the plate, scoring four runs on three hits. Sophomore Jeremy Guthrie allowed one Titans run in seven innings, and junior Jeff Bruksch garnered a record-tying fourth cws save.
Stanford had reached the final match, and for a minute, it looked like the Cardinal might shake off the specter of last year's heartbreaking ninth-inning loss to Louisiana State. But the nation's best defense crumbled against a Miami squad that included 13 players from its 1999 championship team. In the third inning, a fly ball sailed into right field and over Quentin's head for a one-run double that launched the Hurricanes' 12-1 win. Stanford's five-hit, two-error outing was its worst of the year. Nevertheless, Marquess called it "a heck of a season" from a "very special team"--one that will keep coming back.
