STANFORD, Calif. – Junior Cort MacDonald capped a 3-for-4 night at the plate with a walk-off RBI-single in the bottom of the 12th inning to hand Stanford (21-17, 7-15 ACC) a 7-6 victory over Wake Forest (27-16, 10-12 ACC) on Friday night from Sunken Diamond in the first game of a three-game conference series.
The walk-off win was Stanford’s third of the season, and also marked the Cardinal’s fourth win in its final at bat this year.
MacDonald’s single came with one out and plated Saborn Campbell from second base. Rintaro Sasaki opened the bottom of the 12th with a single, was replaced on the bases by Brett Blair, and Campbell drew a walk to put runners at first and second. After an attempted sacrifice bunt was fielded by Wake Forest pitcher Luke Schmolke and fired to third to force out Blair, MacDonald shot an 0-1 pitch through the right side to send the Cardinal faithful home happy.
Stanford, which led 1-0 after one inning and 2-1 on a solo homer from Trevor Haskins after three, found itself trailing 5-2 headed to the bottom of the eighth. The Cardinal allowed single runs in the fourth and fifth, and two more on a home run from Jack Winnay in the seventh, to face the three-run deficit.
The home run was Haskins’ 12th of the year, while Winnay went deep for the 11th time.
Wake Forest reliever Griffin Green, who worked four scoreless frames while allowing two hits, handed the ball to Joe Ariola to start the eighth. The left-hander walked Brady Reynolds to open the frame before Sasaki laced a one-hopper into the shift that was handled by second baseman Dalton Wentz. Wentz’ throw to second pulled Marek Houston off the bag and left runners at first and second with nobody out. A hit-by-pitch loaded the bases before the Demon Deacons went back to their bullpen and summoned Haiden Leffew. Leffew allowed an RBI-single to Luke Lavin to cut the deficit to 5-3 before MacDonald lofted a sacrifice fly to right-center field to make it a one-run game and push runners to the corners. Haskins followed with a double into left-center field to tie the game at 5-5, and Temo Becerra put the Cardinal back on top with a sac fly of his own to chase home Lavin.
Needing three outs to close out the series opener, Stanford was unable to lock up the win in the ninth. Wake Forest scored the game-tying run without the benefit of a hit, drawing a leadoff walk and two more with two outs to load the bases. Entering the game with the bags full and two down, Toran O’Harran fell behind 3-1 to Cam Nelson and was charged with a final ball to force in the run after twice coming set before the Nelson was ready in the batter’s box.
Stanford issued 14 walks and two hit-by-pitches in the game, but drew seven walks and five hit batters of its own. The two teams combined to strand 31 baserunners, with Wake Forest leaving 18 and Stanford 13.
Junior Sam Garewal was ultimately credited with the victory after registering the final four outs for the Cardinal – including striking out three. The left-hander improved to 1-1 on the season, while Schmolke was saddled with the loss and dropped to 3-1.
The Cardinal will look to clinch the series over Wake Forest on Saturday when the two teams clash at 2:05 p.m. Right-hander Matt Scott will take the ball for Stanford opposite righty Blake Morningstar for the Demon Deacons.