STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford’s offense scored two runs in the first inning and the duo of Nick Dugan and Sam Garewal made the runs stand up as the Cardinal (22-19) defeated Sacramento State (26-18) 2-1 on Monday night from Sunken Diamond.
With the win, Stanford improved to 15-2 in nonconference play this year, including 5-0 in midweek contests.
Dugan pitched seven innings, allowing one run on six hits with no walks while striking out six to earn the victory and improve to 5-0 on the year. Monday night marked the third consecutive strong start for Dugan in midweek play after tossing five shutout innings vs. UC Davis on April 7 and allowing just one run over seven innings against the Aggies on April 21.
Staked to a 2-0 lead after one inning, Dugan allowed a run on three hits in the second inning as Sacramento State cut the deficit in half. After allowing the first two to reach in the fourth, Dugan dug his heels in and escaped the jam unscathed to keep the 2-1 lead intact. Dugan once again worked out of trouble in the sixth, allowing a leadoff double to JP Smith and then committing a balk to put the runner at third with nobody out. Dugan induced a weak popup for the first out before utilizing a changeup to strike out Ryan Christiansen and an elevated fastball to punch out Jameson Mullin and strand the tying run at third.
Garewal took over in the eighth and worked the final two shutout frames. The left-hander retired all six batters faced, including striking out three, to record his first career save.
Stanford got all the run support Dugan and Garewal would need in the first inning as Trevor Haskins and Cort MacDonald led off the bottom of the first with doubles. An infield single from Tatum Marsh moved runners to the corners before Jimmy Nati laced a one-hopper to third that was fired around the infield for a double play, but coming at the expense of what proved to be the game-winning run.
Freshman Rintaro Sasaki accounted for two of Stanford’s six hits on the night, while Ethan Hott managed a one-out triple in the seventh.
Stanford will look to build on the midweek momentum as it travels to Boston College for a three-game ACC series beginning Friday at 3 p.m. PT.