SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Stanford (24-21) used the long ball to jump out to an early 5-0 lead through its first two innings on Tuesday as Rintaro Sasaki launched a three-run shot in the first inning followed by solo homers from Charlie Bates and Luke Lavin in the second, but Santa Clara (19-25) rallied to erase the early deficit and earn a 13-6 victory.
The round-tripper was the sixth of Sasaki’s season, while Lavin connected for his second.
Bates’ home run was memorable for several reasons, as it was his first collegiate homer and came on the first pitch he’d seen since leaving a game against California on March 22.
The native of Palo Alto, Calif. finished the contest 3-for-3 as Stanford’s designated hitter in his return.
Down 5-0, Santa Clara started chipping away at the deficit, scoring twice in the second and once in the third and fourth, to trim the lead to 5-4.
The bottom of the fifth began with an error that proved extremely costly as Sasaki delivered a good throw to Ryan Speshyock covering first on a ground ball to the right side, but the throw skipped off Speshyock’s glove and trickled into the Santa Clara dugout. The inning snowballed from there, as the Broncos plated six unearned runs on four hits, two walks and two hit-by-pitches. The offensive outburst was highlighted by a bases-clearing three-run triple from Mateo Garcia, as Santa Clara took a 10-5 lead after five.
Speshyock was ultimately saddled with the loss and dropped to 1-2 on the year after allowing the six unearned runs over 1 1/3 inning.
Including the four free passes issued in the fifth, Stanford handed out eight walks and three hit batters in the setback.
The Broncos would add three more runs in the sixth inning to run the tally to 13-5, with Garcia once again providing the big hit – a two-RBI double to finish his night with six driven in.
Stanford, which plated its final run on an Ethan Hott sacrifice fly in the eighth, will wrap up the home slate this weekend when it welcomes Grand Canyon for a three-game nonconference series beginning Friday at 6:05 p.m.