Feb. 19, 2010
STANFORD, Calif.-- Jordan Pries (1-0) struck out five and pitched into the eighth while Jonathan Kaskow drove in two as No. 25-ranked Stanford (1-0) defeated No. 5-ranked Rice (0-1) 6-4 on opening night around college baseball. Freshman Stephen Piscotty added three hits.
UPDATE: With rain in the forecast, a doubleheader has been scheduled for Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
Pries' night looked like a short one early, as he gave up a leadoff homer to Michael Raterree and five hits to the first eight Rice batters. But the sophomore righthander settled down, allowing just four hits the rest of his night and nine overall, giving up four runs (one earned) over 7.2 innings.
Shortstop Jake Schlander made two errors, leading to three unearned runs, as Rice closed to within 6-4 in the eighth and 3-2 in the sixth.
Rice's last chance came in the eighth, as Michael Fuda's two-run homer in made it 6-4 as a Schlander error allowed the inning to continue. Alex Pracher then relieved Pries and retired the final four batters of the game for his first save.
Schlander's first error in the third, led to Rice pulling to within one. The error put runners on the corners, as the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year then redeemed himself, grabbing a ball headed up the middle and turning a nice double play, with Rice scoring from third to make it 3-2. Pries then got Craig Manuel to pop up to Schlander to end the threat.
Stanford then opened up the flood gates in the seventh, as Jones hit a one-out homer, followed by a balk and RBI double by Kaskow to make it 6-2.
Stanford scratched together three runs early on, as a fielder's choice and RBI single by Kaskow in the second and RBI single by Schlander in the third made it 3-1..