2003 College World Series Game 1
Complete CWS Index

by John Manuel
June 13, 2003

OMAHA--South Carolina has gotten into a bad habit in College World Series play.

For the second straight season, the Gamecocks played a stinker of a game in their first game at Rosenblatt Stadium. Stanford gave junior righthander John Hudgins an early lead on Friday, and the Pacific-10 Conference pitcher of the year cruised the rest of the way in an 8-0 Cardinal victory.

The only surprise of the game came when Stanford coach Mark Marquess, not a big believer in pitch counts, lifted Hudgins after eight scoreless innings and just 84 pitches. Freshman Kodiak Quick finished the shutout, but the CWS still hasn't had a complete-game shutout since Georgia Tech's Brad Rigby tossed a 2-0 victory in 1994.against Cal State Fullerton. However, it was Stanford's first-ever shutout in its 58-game CWS history. It's also the first two-hitter in CWS play since Long Beach State did it in 1993 against Kansas.

"The idea behind (coming out) is that it's not a one-game tournament," Hudgins said. "It's not about individual goals we set for ourselves. We're here to win games and go deep in the tournament.

"It's been frustrating that we've been here five years in a row, and we've gone deep every year, and we lose close games. We're hoping to go past that this year."

South Carolina was involved in last year's lone shutout here, when Kyle Bakker and Brian Burks combined to blank the Gamecocks in Georgia Tech's 11-0 victory. Then, coach Ray Tanner's charges rallied through the loser's bracket to reach the championship game, which it lost to Texas. Now they face the same uphill challenge.

"Hudgins was outstanding, obviously, and really didn't give us any opportunities to score," Tanner said. "But we didn't play well. We played very poorly early in the game pitching and defensively."

Marchbanks was not sharp early for the second straight start. Unlike his outings against North Carolina in the super-regional or Stetson in regional play, Marchbanks couldn't regroup after a slow start. Against the Tar Heels, he lasted into the seventh inning after giving up four runs in the first two innings. But the Cardinal knocked him out one out into the fourth, the shortest start of the season for the Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year, with two runs in each of the first two frames and three in the fourth.

The assault started early, as Sam Fuld singled to lead off and Brian Hall walked. After a popout and a double steal, senior catcher Ryan Garko drove in a pair with a single to right, becoming the second Stanford player ever to drive in 90 runs. Rick Lundblade had a school-record 92 in 1985, and Garko crept within one in the second inning with a sacrifice fly to cap a two-run second.

South Carolina had an error in the first but also had a misplay in the second, when Carlos Quentin hit a foul pop that Brian Buscher and Landon Powell lost in the sun. Neither came close to making the play, and Quentin walked on the next pitch. So instead of Garko's fly ball being the third out, it was a sac fly.

The Cardinal blew it open in the fourth inning. Marchbanks plunked Quentin with a pitch--no surprise, as the junior right fielder is Stanford's all-time HBP leader--and gave up another single to Garko. That brought Chris Hernandez out of the bullpen, but the senior righthander's postseason success didn't hold up. After pitching 12 scoreless innings in regional and super-regional play, Hernandez walked the first two hitters he faced to force in a run, then gave up run-scoring singles to Jed Lowrie and Jonny Ash. Only a strong throw home by Steven Tolleson, who threw out a runner at the plate, kept the inning from getting completely out of control.

Still, the lead was 7-0, and that was more than enough for Hudgins, who was wickedly efficient. He didn't give up a hit until the fourth frame, didn't go to a three-ball count until the seventh inning, when he issued his only walk to Landon Powell. Hudgins generally was in control from the first pitch, which John Coutlangus bounced to second base for the game's first out. Hudgins got 11 groundball outs and struck out three while throwing a first-pitch strike to 19 out of the 28 batters he faced.

"John had outstanding stuff; everything he threw looked the same out of his hand," Garko said. "That's tough to hit against, and when the guy can throw a 2-0 change for a strike that looks like a fastball out of his hand, then he's going to be effective.

"He got a lot of first-pitch strikes and then was able to mix it up with his change and curveball. You can't look for the fastball and drive it when he's able to do that."

Hudgins has completed more than a third of his 20 starts but didn't his eighth complete game. That's about all Stanford didn't get Friday.

ROSENBLASTS

• Fuld had three hits and now has 18 for his career in CWS play, tying him for fifth all-time. Texas' Keith Moreland set the mark with 23 hits from 1973-75.

• In Saturday's games, Miami will use lefty J.D. Cockroft (11-2, 2.65) while Texas will throw lefty J.P. Howell (9-2, 2.34). Southwest Missouri State plans to use righty Chad Mulholland (10-3, 2.73) to face Rice righty Jeff Niemann (16-0, 1.63).

• The annual Home Run Derby was not part of this year's opening ceremonies after losing its sponsorship. Smashmouth, which has had such hits as "All-Star" and "I'm A Believer", provided the musical entertainment.