The new The new (April 21, 2004)ace in the deck

Gilmore emerges to solidify pitching for No. 2 Cardinal

by Rick Eymer

Jeff Gilmore committed himself to avoid another season like the one he experienced as a freshman pitcher on the Stanford baseball team last year.

The result is a couple of new pitches, a new-found confidence and a permanent spot in the starting rotation.

Gilmore reached new heights when he threw a complete-game 9-2 victory over visiting California on Saturday as the second-ranked Cardinal (7-2, 29-5) swept a three-game series from the Bears to take a two-game lead in the Pac-10 race over USC (5-4, 19-18), Washington (5-4, 21-13-1) and Arizona (5-4, 21-15-1) with 15 games left to play.

Mark Romanczuk pitched Stanford to a 7-4 victory in Friday night's series opener, and David O'Hagan threw 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball on Sunday in an 8-3 win.

Brian Hall hit safely in all three games to extend his career-high hitting streak to 19 games, while Donny Lucy extended his streak to 11 games and Sam Fuld pushed his streak to 10 as Stanford beat Cal for the 15th straight time.

Fuld, who took over the career lead in runs scored (247) over the weekend, is three hits shy of Paul Carey (331) for second place on the all-time hits list. John Gall tops the list with 368 hits.

Including Tuesday night's game against visiting Santa Clara, Stanford plays four nonconference games before resuming Pac-10 play with a home series against Washington State (4-5, 22-13) on Friday, April 30.

The Cardinal host Sacramento State on Friday at 6 p.m.

"You go after it just as you would if it were a big Pac-10 game," said Gilmore. "There is no halfway button. College hitters are just too good and too strong. You go as hard as you can until the coach tells you that's enough."

Gilmore's performance on Saturday was made all the more impressive after Stanford's sub-par effort against Oregon State the previous weekend, in which Cardinal starters lasted a combined 13 1/3 innings over the three games.

"The starting pitching in Oregon was awful at best," Gilmore said. "The three starters left Oregon feeling real sheepish. We got together after that and had a gut check meeting. We had to put together a couple of good performances."

After Romanczuk's Friday night effort, in which he allowed four runs on five hits over seven innings with three walks and two strikeouts, Gilmore came back with a five-hitter, allowing two runs. He struck out four and walked one. It was Stanford's first complete game of the season.

The one-two punch of Romanczuk (7-1, 4.16) and Gilmore (6-1, 4.57) gives Stanford another effective combination as the Cardinal once again set their sights on a trip to Omaha, site of the College World Series. O'Hagan (5-0, 2.20) is another key contributor, both as a closer (he has a team-high four saves) and in long relief.

Gilmore was an afterthought last season. He didn't allow an earned run in three appearances but that was because he only pitched 2 1/3 innings.

"It wasn't easy last year at all," Gilmore said. "I finished games with a clean uniform and put it in the laundry over and over again."

The lack of work motivated Gilmore, who played in the Alaska Baseball League over the summer and began working on a cut fastball and a spike curve taught to him and the rest of the Stanford staff by Mike Mussina, a Stanford product now with the New York Yankees. Mussina stopped by last season's series with Cal and offered up some pitching tips.

"I worked hard every single day to try and find my spot," said Gilmore. "I didn't want to go through that painful process again."

He followed an impressive summer season with a solid fall. His new pitches were working and the Stanford hitters noticed.

"I slowly gained respect from the hitters," said Gilmore. "They started coming up to me and saying things like 'hey, you've got something, you've improved, stay after it.' The difference was the cut fastball. I didn't have that pitch last year."

Gilmore figured if he could get out Stanford hitters, who are a combined .326 this season, he could find success against the rest of the college baseball world. So far, he has.

Freshman Jeff Stimpson has also found successful early in his career. After 11 appearances, all in relief, he has a win, a save and a Pac-10 Player of the Week award under his belt. He's only allowed two runs in 19 2/3 innings (0.91 ERA) and started his college career with 12 scoreless innings.

"I stay to watch the hitters and see how they do," said Stimpson of his game day preparation. "It's good to have looks at the hitters. And I always go over game plans with coach (Tom) Kunis."

Stimpson's first career save came on Friday, in relief of Romanczuk. He pitched two scoreless innings with a walk and two strikeouts. He also pitched the final two innings to preserve O'Hagan's win on Sunday.

"To have success early on is helpful," said Stimpson. "I have confidence in my ability. The seniors have also helped, leading by example. Dave is a great leader. He's more competitive than anyone I've seen. I try to pick up stuff from him."

In the fall, Stimpson tried to measure himself against the rest of the pitching staff to see if he would fit in.

"This is not what I imagined," he said. "I didn't think I would see that much playing time."

Stimpson and Gilmore are two of the seven freshmen or sophomores who have made at least seven appearances this year. Underclassmen have accounted for 76 percent of the 306 innings thrown by Stanford pitchers, who have produced a staff ERA of 3.88.

Gilmore was supported in his win by Danny Putnam and Lucy, who each hit a pair of homers and combined to drive in seven runs. Jed Lowrie and Chris Minaker each had three hits.

Hall was 4-for-4 in Friday's win and Minaker drove in two runs.

Lowrie had two hits, including his team-leading 11th home run, and drove in two runs on Sunday.

O'Hagan replaced starter Blake Holler with two outs in the second and proceeded to retire 16 of the 19 batters he faced.

"He's one of our best pitchers, if not the best, and he hadn't pitched all weekend," said Stanford coach Mark Marquess. "My feeling was if there was any stumbling at all, I would go right to him. We got him in there at the right time."

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