April 25, 2009
Complete Release and Box Score in PDF Format 
STANFORD, Calif. - Behind the pitching of freshman Brett Mooneyham and sophomore Drew Storen, along with the clutch hitting of seniors Brent Milleville and Joey August, host Stanford (18-17, 8-9 Pac-10) defeated Arizona (18-20, 4-13) this afternoon at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond. The Cardinal victory evened this weekend Pac-10 series at a game apiece and set the stage for tomorrow afternoon's rubber game.
Mooneyham improved to 4-2 overall by winning his third straight home start. The freshman left-hander worked into the seventh inning for the fourth time in his last five trips to the hill, while yielding just one run on four hits with four walks and six strikeouts. While going 3-0 in his last three starts on The Farm, Mooneyham has posted a 1.37 ERA (3er, 19.2ip).
Combining with Mooneyham on each of those wins has been Storen, who recorded the final seven outs for his sixth save of the season. The save was also the 14th of Storen's career, moving him into sole possession of seventh place in Stanford history. Today, the sophomore right-hander inherited a two-on, two-out jam in the seventh, but got Arizona leadoff batter Bryce Ortega to pop out. Storen allowed a pair of singles in the eighth and a leadoff double in the ninth, but ended both rallies by getting Wildcat hitters looking at a called third strike.
With the game tied 1-1 in the fourth, Milleville put Stanford ahead to stay. The senior first baseman batted with one out and nobody on, and hammered a 1-2 offering from Arizona starter Kyle Simon (1-2) over the wall in left-center field for a tie-breaking, solo home run. Milleville now has eight homers on the season, of which a Pac-10 best six have come in conference play.
Stanford added an insurance run off Simon in the fifth. Jake Schlander drilled a one-out double, but was still at third with two outs when August stepped to the plate. The senior center fielder, who is batting .386 (17-for-44) over his last 11 games, scorched a clutch, RBI-single back up the middle to plate Schlander and give the Cardinal a 3-1 lead.
Leadoff batter Colin Walsh helped Stanford take a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Although the sophomore's career-best hitting streak ended at 12 games after going 0-for-3, he reached base safely for the 18th consecutive contest when he drew a leadoff walk. The first three Cardinal batters, in fact, drew walks, and Walsh scored when Kellen Kiilsgaard beat out a fielder's choice grounder for his team-high 36th RBI of the year.
Arizona's lone run scored in the fourth on an RBI-single by Dillon Baird. The Wildcats threatened to score more in the fifth, but were turned back by a great defensive play that served as a defining moment of the game. With Stanford leading 2-1, Brad Glenn opened the inning with a single, was sacrificed to second and advanced to third on a wild pitch with only one out. Kyle Stiner then tapped a slow roller out in front of the plate. Mooneyham charged off the mound, fielded the ball and in one motion - without hesitation - fired a throw to the plate, where catcher Zach Jones held his ground and calmly applied the tag on Glenn for the second out. Mooneyham then retired Ortega on a fly ball to end the inning with a one-run lead, and August delivered his RBI-single in the bottom of the frame.
Stanford and Arizona will meet in the rubber game of this Pac-10 weekend series tomorrow afternoon, with Cardinal right-hander Jeffrey Inman (1-5, 6.12) squaring off with Wildcats' right-hander Daniel Workman (1-1, 2.08). First pitch from Klein Field at Sunken Diamond is set for 1:00 p.m. PT.