STANFORD, Calif. – Senior Alex Williams tossed a three-hit shutout on Friday night, guiding Stanford (15-10, 7-6 Pac-12) to an 8-0 victory over Arizona State (14-17, 5-5 Pac-12) to open a three-game series from Sunken Diamond.
The complete game, the first in the Pac-12 this season, was the third of Williams' career - including the first since tossing a shutout at No. 8 Texas Tech to send Stanford to the 2021 College World Series.
Williams needed 101 pitches to navigate the nine innings, working around singles in the fifth, sixth and eighth, and a walk in the fourth for ASU's only baserunners. The right-hander struck out six batters to move to 3-1 on the year with the win.
Arizona State's Kyle Luckham was saddled with the loss and dropped to 4-2 after allowing five runs on three hits, including two homers, over 1 2/3 innings. Luckham was ejected after hitting Brett Barrera with a pitch in Stanford's six-run second inning.
Senior Vincent Martinez led off the second with a solo home run – his second of the year – to right field. Luckham retired the next two batters he faced, but an Adam Crampton single and a walk to Brock Jones extended the inning for Carter Graham. Graham made the most of the opportunity, launching a three-run homer to left-center field for his team-leading seventh round tripper. Following the hit-by-pitch and the ejection of Luckham and ASU head coach Willie Bloomquist, freshman Braden Montgomery deposited the third homer of the inning over the wall in center field to make it 6-0 Cardinal. The homer was Montgomery's fifth of the season.
With Williams cruising right along, Stanford's offense tacked on two more runs in the seventh as Montgomery delivered an RBI-single in front of a sacrifice fly from Kody Huff.
Montgomery finished the game 2 for 4 with a homer, a run scored and three RBIs. Martinez also managed multiple hits, going 2 for 4 with the home run while hitting sixth in the order.
Williams faced one over the minimum in the final four innings, using a double play ball in the eighth to erase a leadoff single.
The Cardinal has now posted six shutouts this season – tied for the 10th-most in Stanford history.
Stanford will look for the series win on Saturday as the two teams clash at 2:05 p.m.