April 30, 2011
TEMPE, Ariz.-- Senior righthander Danny Sandbrink (3-0) had his longest career outing since his freshman year, pitching a complete game five hitter with a career-best eight strikeouts as No. 21-ranked Stanford (21-15, 6-8 Pac-10) evened its series in the desert, following a 6-4 win over No. 7-ranked Arizona State (30-10, 12-5 Pac-10).
Making his second-straight weekend start of 2011, Sandbrink twice worked out of jams late, keeping Stanford in front in the seventh and eighth. He pitched a perfect ninth to close out his night, having not thrown past six innings since an NCAA Regional win and complete game in 2008
Sandbrink allowed just one earned run, in a game that saw five errors by both sides. At one point he retired eight in a row into the sixth, before ASU closed to within 4-3 with its third unearned run of the game.
Stanford gave its righthander some breaking room in the eighth, making it 6-3. Lonnie Kauppila's sacrifice fly made it 5-3 and closed the book on Kramer Champlin (6-3), who gave up five runs on five hits over seven-plus innings. Brian Ragira added an RBI single to make it 6-3.
In the seventh and eighth, Sandbrink shut down potential rallies. Following a leadoff walk in the seventh, Stephen Piscotty made a diving catch on a failed bunt, before Sandbrink produced a strikeout and groundout to keep it at 4-3. Following the Cardinal rally, Sandbrink gave one back following a lead off double, but got an inning ending strikeout to keep it at 6-4.
Both team's third basemen allowed two runs to score early. Piscotty's error allowed ASU to score twice and take a 2-0 lead in the first, while Riccio Torrez' error in the fourth gave Stanford a 4-2 lead.
A two-run single by Piscotty tied the game at 2-2 in the third. Piscotty finished with two hits.
NOTES The series concludes on Sunday at 12:30 p.m... Jordan Pries' start was backed up a day after pitching on Tuesday against Saint Mary's... it was the most strikeouts for Sandbrink since his NCAA Regional win in 2008, when he had a complete game with six strikeouts. He had five strikeouts in his first 2011 weekend start against UCLA last weekend.. it was the second longest career outing for Sandbrink and longest since that regional game. He had thrown at least five innings four previously times, including 5.1 innings last week against UCLA.. Second baseman Lonnie Kauppila spun and turned a double play ball on a nice play in the third. Diekroeger grabbed a ball headed up the middle and ended the inning on another defensive gem... Zack MacPhee lost his bat on a missed pitch in the first, sailing over the far end of the Stanford first base dugout and into the stands, a good 150 foot toss.