May 2, 1998

STANFORD, Calif. --- Junior Josh Hochgesang's (Fullerton, CA/Sunny Hills HS) RBI single with the bases loaded and a full count in the bottom of the ninth gave host Stanford University (38-8-1 overall, 19-6 in the Six-Pac) a 5-4 win over Arizona State (33-18, 18-9) on Friday night at Sunken Diamond. The win helped the Cardinal increase its Pac-10 Southern Division lead to a game over idle USC (19-8) and two games over the Sun Devils.

The Cardinal led 4-3 entering the ninth, but the Sun Devils tied the game on a two-out double by Jeff Phelps (Yuma, AZ/Kofa HS) and an RBI single by Michael Collins (Phoenix, AZ/Mountain Pointe HS).

In the bottom half of the ninth, Stanford's Nick Day (Las Vegas, NV/Green Valley HS) led off with a single and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout. After one-out and two-out intentional walks loaded the bases, Hochgesang stroked the 3-2 pitch into left field to score Day with the winning run.

The game hasd been a pitchers duel through 8.0, with both Stanford's Jeff Austin (Kingwood, TX/Kingwood HS) and ASU's Ryan Mills (Scottsdale, AZ/Horizon HS) shutting down the opposition. Austin threw his seventh complete game of the year to improve to 11-2, while allowing eight hits and four runs to go along with a walk and seven strikeouts. Mills earned a no-decision after allowing five hits and four runs over 8.0 innings, while walking two and striking out seven.

Offensively for Stanford, Edmund Muth (Long Beach, CA/St. John Bosco HS) had a two-run single to extend his hitting streak to 13 games and Tony Schrager (Omaha, NE/Yale Univ.) belted his 11th home run. Phelps led the Sun Devils with two hits and two runs scored.

Game two of the series is on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Sunken Diamond.

Linescore                       R   H   E
Arizona State   100 020 001 --- 4   8   1
Stanford        001 021 001 --- 5   7   1

Mills, Crumpton (9) and Jones; Austin and Salter. WP - Austin (11-2). LP - Crumpton (3-6). 2B - Beinbrink (ASU), Phelps (ASU), Borchard (STAN). HR - Schrager (STAN) 3rd inning, none on. Records - Arizona State 33-18 overall (18-9 in the Six-Pac), Stanford 38-8-1 (19-6).