Feb. 4, 2001

Box Score

Fullerton, Calif. - Stanford's Jason VanMeetren and Jason Cooper hit back-to-back home runs with two outs in the top of the sixth inning to break up a scoreless pitching dual and lead Stanford to a 3-0 victory over Cal State Fullerton in an NCAA baseball game on Sunday at Goodwin Field. Tim Cunningham (2-0) picked up the victory, shutting out the Titans on just three hits over the first 6.2 innings. Mike Wodnicki earned his first collegiate save by preserving Stanford's first shutout of the season with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief work. Stanford improves to 4-3 on the season, while Cal State Fullerton drops to 1-3. Stanford, which lost the series opener on Friday night, has now won eight consecutive regular season series dating back to last season. Stanford head coach Mark Marquess picked up his 999th career victory, all at Stanford.

"These were three pretty good games and a pretty well played series for this early in the year," said Marquess. "This series shows you were you need to be. When you win games against Cal State Fullerton you have earned the wins."

"Tim Cunningham did an excellent job for us today," added Marquess. "He had good command of everything today."

Stanford's Arik VanZandt tied a career-high for hits with a 3-for-4 (2B, SB) performance and was the only player for either team with more than one hit.

Cunningham and Cal State Fullerton preseason All-American Kirk Saarloos were entangled in a classic scoreless pitching dual until two outs in the top of the sixth inning when VanMeetren blasted a 2-1 pitch over the left field wall for the first score of the game. Cooper followed two pitches later with a mammoth home run to center field. Saarloos (0-2) was tagged with his second consecutive defeat of the season after taking the loss in the Titans' season-opener at Pepperdine last Tuesday.

"My fastball was working well for me today," said Cunningham about his performance. "I didn't really have to go to my breaking ball that much."

The Cardinal added an insurance run in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by Carlos Quentin that drove home VanZandt, who had singled to lead off the inning.

Cal State Fullerton put only one runner in scoring position during the contest as Kyle Boyer walked with two outs and eventually reached second base in the seventh inning before Wodnicki retired the final out of the inning on Shawn Norris' soft line drive to Chris O'Riordan at second base.

Stanford will next be in action when the Cardinal hosts #7 Florida State in a three-game series at the newly remodeled Sunken Diamond February 9-11 (6 pm, 1 pm, 1 pm). The series will serve as the Stanford's 2001 home opener.