April 19, 2011
SANTA CLARA, Calif.-- Kenny Diekroeger drove in four runs with a three-run homer and an RBI triple, and Lonnie Kauppila added three RBIs as No. 26-ranked Stanford (17-12) beat host Santa Clara (14-19) 10-3 on Tuesday evening.
Zach Jones had his first three-hit game of the season as Stanford pounded out 17 hits and won its eighth midweek game of the season.
The Cardinal broke open the game with four runs in the eighth after Scott Snodgress' inning ending strikeout the previous half inning, stranded the tying runs on base and kept it at 5-3.
Diekroeger jumped all over starter Joe Supple (0-3) in the first, hitting his first home run since February 22 to give the Cardinal a 3-0 lead. A two-run homer by Patrick Perry made it 3-2 in the first, before an RBI double by Kauppila in the second and an RBI single by Jake Stewart in the fourth brought the lead up to 5-2.
Drew Ozanne's RBI single off of reliever A.J. Vanegas cut the Cardinal lead to 5-3 in the fourth, before Vanegas pitched a scoreless fifth and Brian Busick, in his first appearance of the year, struck out two in a scoreless sixth.
Busick allowed a single and walk with two outs in the seventh, before Snodgress struck out Kyle DeMerritt to keep the two-run lead in tact. Stanford then scored its final five runs with two outs to lead 10-3.
In the four-run eighth, Kauppila's two-out single put the first run on the board, before an error and two-run triple by Tyler Gaffney, made it 8-3. Diekroeger followed with his own triple to make it 9-3. Kauppila's two-out single in the ninth then made it 10-3.
Dean McArdle (5-2) got the win following the first three innings of work. He retired the final six batters he faced after the Perry homer in the first.
NOTES: Stanford hosts No. 11-ranked UCLA starting on Thursday in a three-game series prior to Easter... it was Diekroeger's first home run since February 22 and second of the season... Danny Diekroeger, Kenny's younger brother by a year, had his first collegiate hit and run in the ninth inning... following a ball off the glove of SCU catcher Patrick Terry, home plate umpire Jeff Henrichs was evaluated by the SCU training staff, causing a 10 minute delay in the fourth... the 10 hits was the first time in double digits for the Cardinal in seven games... Stewart has now had multi-hit games in each of the last four games... Stanford swept the season series from the Broncos.