March 3, 2012
FRESNO, Calif.-- Brett Mooneyham (3-0) returned to the San Joaquin Valley, tying his career-high with 13 strikeouts, pitching seven shutout innings and evening the series with Fresno State following a 16-0 blowout on Saturday.
Mooneyham's no-hit bid was broken up with a two-out bunt single by Patrick Hutcheson in the sixth, one of two hits given up by the lefthander in the inning and the game.
Mooneyham at one point retired 10 in a row until his only two walks, both coming in the fifth inning. Mooneyham grew up in Atwater, an hour North of Fresno.
Stephen Piscotty fell a homer short of the cycle, going 4-for-5, while Kenny Diekroeger, Eric Smith and Austin Wilson also had multi-hit games as a part of the 18-hit attack. Smith and Wilson both homered, as Smith hit a solo homer and had a two-run double.
Stanford jumped out to a 7-0 lead after the first two innings and doubled it by the fifth to 14-0.
Diekroeger's RBI double was a part of the three-run first, before a Jake Stewart three-run homer and sacrifice fly in the second made it 7-0.
Starter Cody Kendall (1-1) faced just 14 batters, giving up seven hits and seven runs for the loss.
It got uglier against reliever Garrett Mundell, the third Bulldog pitcher, as Stanford scored six runs in the fifth to lead 14-0. Sending 10 men to the plate, Smith had a two-run double in the inning and Piscotty added an RBI triple. Wilson's solo homer in the sixth made it 15-0.
NOTES: It was Eric Smith's first home run outside the fences, as his first home run of the year was an inside the parker against Vanderbilt... Mooneyham's previous career-high for strikeouts came at Washington two years ago, 13... freshman catcher Wayne Taylor had his first career RBI with a double in the ninth... foul balls had eyes throughout the night, as one was caught bare handed in the stands and another rattled around the press box and nearly took out the Stanford KZSU booth and baseball SID... The series finale is on Sunday at 1 p.m., before the Cardinal travel to Saint Mary's for a game on Tuesday.