June 19, 2008

Cardinal Rule

Stanford uses big hits to eliminate Miami

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

OMAHA, Neb. – Big hits mean big win.

In its second-round game against Georgia, Stanford had base-runners in six innings, but only scored in one frame. The Cardinal put three on the board in the third, but lost to the Bulldogs 4-3.

In its elimination game against Miami, the Cardinal had base-runners in each of the first seven innings and scored in four of those frames, including four in the fifth on its way to an 8-3 victory over the Hurricanes.

Six different Stanford players drove in runs, including Sean Ratliff’s two-run homer and Cord Phelps’ two-run triple in the fifth that gave the Cardinal a 7-1 lead.

Seven different Stanford hitters scored, including Brent Milleville twice.

Stanford got its leadoff hitter on and started scoring rallies in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

“The key for us was our offense,” said Stanford head coach Mark Marquess. “I thought we got some big hits. When you get here, everybody’s playing well. That means they’re winning the big spot with the pitch, getting the big hit at the right time. We weren’t able to do that the other night against Georgia and Georgia was able to do that and they won. Tonight we got the big hit, got a couple big hits with guys on base. Ratliff’s (two-run homer) was big.  Cord Phelps battled and got a big two-run triple. We won the big spots tonight against a very strong University of Miami team.”