March 6, 2010
STANFORD, Calif.-- Jake Schlander took the first pitch of the 11th inning over the left field wall as No. 24-ranked Stanford (7-3) took the series with visiting UC Santa Barbara (3-4), 5-4, on Saturday afternoon.
Alex Pracher (2-0) got the win in relief, striking out three over 1.2 innings, after a career-high six innings from reliever Brian Busick. David Meals (0-3) took his second loss of the series, pitching the final two-plus innings.
The win was set up by Pracher and Busick, who allowed just two hits after the fourth inning, following a 4-1 UCSB lead.
Busick faced the minimum against the 18 Gaucho batters he faced, as a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 was the start of 12 in a row retired by the sophomore righthander. Busick, who had never thrown more than two innings in his career, pitched six scoreless innings, allowing a single hit, while striking out six.
The Cardinal tied the game at 4-4 off reliever Kevin Gelinas in the eighth on a pinch hit RBI single from Adam Gaylord . UCSB starter Nick Loredo had given it over to the bullpen with a 4-3 lead after seven strong innings of seven-hit baseball.
After UCSB scored two runs a piece in the first and fourth innings, Stanford chipped away at the lead with two unearned runs in the fifth off a costly two-out error by first baseman Trevor Wyte to make it 4-3.
Cardinal starter Scott Snodgress struggled, going just 2.1 innings, giving up the first two runs, while Dean McArdle gave up two more in the fourth prior to Busick shutting the door when he arrived with the bases loaded.
The series concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m with LHP Brett Mooneyham (0-1, 6.97 ERA) going for Stanford.