May 27, 2011
BERKELEY, Calif.-- Mark Appel (5-6) pitched into the eighth and Chris Reed shut the door on the final five outs as No. 24-ranked Stanford (31-20, 13-12 Pac-10) won the series opener with No. 23-ranked Cal (31-19, 13-12 Pac-10) 3-2 on Friday afternoon.
Tyler Gaffney had two of the five hits, extending his hit streak to 16 games, going 2-for-4 with an RBI single, in what proved to be the difference, the two-run sixth.
Reed picked up his seventh save by stranding the tying run on first following Appel's 7.1 innings. Appel gave up two runs on eight hits with three strikeouts. Reed finished off the opener by giving up a bloops two-out single before getting a game-ending fly out.
Erik Johnson (6-3) went the first seven innings, tying his career-high with 11 strikeouts, but allowing two of his four walks to score, leaving with a 3-2 deficit.
Stanford pushed across two runs in the sixth to lead 3-1. Gaffney's two-out single to right field gave Stanford its second lead, after Johnson retired 13 in a row until a lead off walk to Jake Stewart. Stewart then stole second, before Gaffney drove him in to break the 1-1 tie. It was the second lead off walk to score against the Cal righthander. Brian Ragira, the Cardinal's leading RBI man, then made it 3-1 with his 41st RBI to score Gaffney.
Gaffney's single in the first, extended his hit streak to 16 games, putting runners on first and third, before Stephen Piscotty's fielder's choice gave Stanford an early 1-0 lead, to score Zach Jones from third. An unearned run in the bottom of the first tied it at 1-1.
Devon Rodriguez' solo shot in the sixth cut the Stanford lead to 3-2.
NOTES: Lonnie Kauppila went deep on the first base side, to dive, tumble and toss a 4-3 putout to first in the second to rob Cal of a base hit... Stephen Piscotty bare handed a bunt attempt by Chadd Krist in the eighth to throw out the Cal catcher... Stanford had won the two previous midweek positions earlier this year ... the regular season ends on Saturday with a doubleheader at Cal starting at noon.... regional site announcements for the 16 sites will be announced on ESPN on Sunday at 12:30 p.m and the full 64-team field will be announced at 9:30 a.m in a half hour show.