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Pitching out Cardinal hurlers fall apart in championship game
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The pitching that got Stanford into the College World Series title game for the second straight year wasn't there for the Cardinal on Saturday. Miami battered six Cardinal pitchers for 13 hits in a 12-1 win to clinch its second national title in three years and sent Stanford home disappointed again. "This wasn't much of a game as far as the outcome is concerned. They jumped all over us," coach Mark Marquess said. Last year, the Cardinal were five outs from a third CWS title, but blew a three-run lead over the final two innings and lost to Louisiana State. There was no chance to let anything slip away this time after Miami pulled away with a four-run third inning and a five-run sixth. Stanford starter Mike Gosling (7-3), who was nearly flawless in his previous start, gave up seven runs, all earned, on seven hits. He struck out two and walked three. "They got the big hit when they needed it," Gosling said. "They got it to places where we weren't. That just happens sometimes. It's unfortunate that it happened against us today in the championship game." Gosling was pulled in the fifth for Jeff Bruksch, a starter who made an unexpected move to the bullpen last week when the Cardinal needed a reliever. He had a save in each of Stanford's three CWS wins, but lasted just one out against Miami and gave up a three-run homer to Kevin Brown. "It's obviously disappointing, but we just weren't in this one," Marquess said. The Cardinal, which had a .992 fielding percentage entering Saturday's game and just one error in three previous CWS games, had several defensive blunders. None were bigger than what appeared to be a harmless fly ball to right field in the third. Gosling got through the first two innings without allowing a run and opened the third by getting Charlton Jimerson to ground out to third, then Stanford's defense fell apart. Gosling hit Mike Rodriguez with a pitch, Javy Rodriguez followed with a bunt single, then Danny Matienzo hit a fly ball to right that Carlos Quentin lost in the sun. Quentin thought the hit was a shallow pop that would drop behind second baseman Chris O'Riordan. Quentin was wrong and nowhere near the ball when it landed. "I didn't expect it could go over my head but at the last minute Chris pointed back and I turned around and saw it land," Quetin said. Mike Rodriguez scored on the play. After Gosling walked Kevin Howard, Kevin Mannix followed with a three-run double down the right field line. "I never felt great -- even those first two innings when I had two zeros. I just never got into a rhythm. I didn't have very good stuff out there to be honest," Gosling said. "We got some bad breaks in that inning. That's baseball. That happens." Stanford had two errors in the game and never got any offense. No Cardinal runner got past first until the sixth inning, when Stanford got its only run. Tom Farmer (15-2) held the Cardinal to four hits over 5 2-3 innings. Stanford finished with just five hits, tying the team's lowest output of the season. "They did a good job. They didn't let us get anything going today," said catcher Ryan Garko, who was 2-for-3. "We got a few hits. We couldn't string anything together." Stanford avoided the shutout when Arik VanZandt walked to lead off the sixth and went to second on a wild pitch. He moved to third on a fielder's choice, then scored on Sam Fuld's bunt single. "I was a little surprised the score was what it was because they've got a great team," Miami coach Jim Morris said. The Cardinal could take solace in reaching the championship game. Only one position starter returned from last year's team and none of the team's starting pitching returned. Stanford also didn't have a senior on the team. "No one really thought we were going to do anything," Garko said. "If you go back and look to where everybody thought we would be at the beginning of the season I think we have a lot to be proud of."
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