May 21, 2010
TUCSON, Ariz.-- Colin Walsh drove in three runs and Brett Mooneyham (3-5) pitched into the eighth as Stanford (29-20, 12-10 Pac-10) won the series opener at No. 26-ranked Arizona (31-19, 10-12 Pac-10) 3-1 on Friday evening.
Walsh went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and two-run homer (6) while Mooneyham tossed 7.2 innings, giving up one run on eight hits. Closer Alex Pracher stranded two runners on in the eighth before pitching a scoreless ninth for his fourth save.
Walsh's opposite field homer to left center erased an early Wildcat 1-0 lead and gave Stanford a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Walsh's two-out double in the fifth then made it 3-1.
Mooneyham had three battles with Wildcat leadoff hitter Joey Rickard, winning the final two, both with two-run leads and both with two outs.
With runners on the corners in the seventh, he got Rickard to fly out to center to end the inning. After Mooneyham loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, he got Rickard to pop up behind home plate, also stranding the tying run on base.
Rickard won the first battle, taking Mooneyham's first pitch of the game for a home run to give Arizona an early 1-0 lead. Mooneyham pitched to one over the minimum until loading the bases in the fifth.
Kurt Heyer (6-3) went the first seven innings for the Wildcats, giving up three runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts.
Saturday's contest will be at 6 p.m with RHP Jordan Pries (3-3, 3.53) tossing for the Cardinal.
NOTES: Kenny Diekroeger continued his hit streak, now at 23 games, with a seeing-eye single that hugged the third base line in the second for an infield single... shortstop Jake Schlander made a diving stop and throw to rob Jett Bandy of a single in the fourth. Schlander also stayed with a ball in the seventh, flipping to Walsh at second and starting a double play ball... Dave Giuliani also tracked down a long fly ball in the eighth which would have gone for extra innings... as well as the flagships for both universities, the game was also broadcast in Spanish by 990 AM-Tucson by Abe Oquita and Carlos Castro. Niall Adler provided officials stats for 990 AM.