May 7, 2010
LONG BEACH, Calif.-- Brett Mooneyham (2-5) struck out nine and Stanford (24-17) won the opener at Long Beach State (20-22) 3-2 on Friday evening
Stephen Piscotty went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Colin Walsh added two hits. Kenny Diekroeger extended his hit streak to 15 games with an infield single in the first.
Mooneyham, who won for the first time since April 10, went the first six innings, giving up two runs on five hits. Mooneyham twice struck out three in a row over a span of two innings in the third and fourth and fifth and sixth. Brian Busick followed with three shutout innings for the save, striking out three in the process.
Jonathan Kaskow pushed across the go-ahead run in the fifth with an RBI single to make it 3-2. Andrew Gagnon (5-5) went the first six innings, allowing three runs on eight hits for the loss.
The Dirtbags had trouble throwing the ball around the infield, committing two errors in the first as Stanford took an early 2-0 lead.
The three-game series continues on Saturday at 2 p.m and Sunday at 1 p.m. Saturday's starters will be RHP Jordan Pries (3-2, 3.58) versus RHP Jake Thompson (5-2, 5.22). Both of Sunday's projected starters threw in relief.
NOTES: Mooneyham has now struck out 32 batters over his last three starts... Busick the Sunday starter for the last five weeks came out of the bullpen for the first time since March 27... this was the first ever three-game regular season series between the two programs... starting shortstop Devin Lohman for Long Beach State left the game in the bottom of the first after diving for a ball in the top of the inning... about a dozen Stanford players played in the high school area code games at Blair Field, an all-star series for top prep players each summer.