March 1, 2011
STANFORD, Calif.-- The top of the Stanford order drove in five runs and No. 9-ranked Stanford (5-3) beat Santa Clara (4-4) 8-4 on a cool Tuesday evening.
Leadoff hitter Jake Stewart went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, Tyler Gaffney drove in two as part of a two-hit night and Kenny Diekroeger had three hits and an RBI single to give freshman A.J. Vanegas (1-0) his first career win.
Vanegas (1-0) went the first 4.0 pre-determined innings, giving up one run on three hits, striking out four and walking none in his first career start.
Vanegas retired nine in a row after giving up a run in the first, prior to an infield single in the fourth. After an error and wild pitch moved Matt Ozanne to third, Vanegas got a line out and strikeout to keep it at 3-1.
Stanford broke open the game in the fourth with back-to-back RBI doubles from Stewart and Gaffney and an RBI single from Diekroeger to make it 7-1. Stewart's two-run double off of Jason Westerberg made it 5-1, before Gaffney's own shot to left made it 6-1. Diekroeger followed with his third hit of the day to make it 7-1. A line drive sacrifice fly by Stewart in the sixth made it 8-1.
After SCU scored a run in the top of the first on an RBI single by Kyle DeMerritt, Stanford responded with three hits and three runs to lead 3-1. Gaffney drove in the first run with a single to center, as a run-scoring wild pitch scored Gaffney, followed by a Diekroeger sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.
Joe Supple (0-1) gave up the first three runs for the loss, twirling the first 2.1 innings for SCU.
Reliever Scott Snodgress worked out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth with a Bronco strikeout and fly out to keep it at 8-4. The Stanford bullpen, which came in with a 2.65 ERA, allowed three runs over the final five innings.
NOTES: The Cardinal head back to the Central Time Zone this weekend for a three-game series at No. 6-ranked Texas starting on Friday. Taylor Jungmann for Texas and Mark Appel for Stanford are slated to start the opener... with a single in the first Jake Stewart has now hit safely in seven of the first eight games... Zach Jones who came with a 2-for-26 to start, got a single, triple and two runs.