May 15, 2012
STANFORD, Calif.-- No. 12-ranked Stanford (33-14) batted around in the bottom of the eighth, scoring four times to come back and defeat visiting San Francisco (27-29) 6-3 on Tuesday evening.
The Dons had a 3-2 lead for its closer Elliott Waterman (4-2), but instead the lefthander walked three, and gave up three runs on two hits.
After Haden Hinkle hit the first batter of the inning, Waterman came on for the five-out save. Waterman walked his first batter and then Eric Smith delivered a double that found the right field corner to tie the game at 3-3.
A bases loaded walk to Tyler Gaffney-- his third walk of the game, followed by a sacrifice fly by Stephen Piscotty made it 5-3. Brian Ragira then chased Waterman from the game following a two-out RBI double.
David Schmidt (3-1) pitched two scoreless innings, before A.J. Vanegas came on in the ninth, loaded the bases and also struck out the side to earn his fourth save.
Jordan Remer (2.0 innings) and Andrew Pulido (3.0 innings) combined to limit the Cardinal to just one unearned run on three hits over the first five innings.
Stanford twice loaded the bases over the first five innings, leading them in the first, before Remer got the next three in succession. After Remer put two on in the third, Pulido struck out two and got a popup in a 2-1 game. In the fifth, with the bases loaded and two outs, Pulido got the strike out of Alex Blandino to keep it at 3-1. Stanford left eight base runners through five innings.
Jason Mahood gave USF a 2-1 lead in the third with a two-run homer to left. Cardinal starter Garrett Hughes tied his career-high with four strikeouts, going the first 2.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits. Tom Barry added a solo homer off of Sahil Bloom in the fourth to lead 3-1.
Stanford inched back in the sixth, after Dominic Jose's triple was trapped by center fielder Justin Maffei. Jose scored on a Brett Michael Doran RBI single to make it 3-2 against reliever Sheldon Lee.
NOTES: Freshman third baseman Alex Blandino made his second career start at second tonight, as Stephen Piscotty moved back to third... Stanford travels to Utah for a three-game series, before traveling to Santa Clara next Tuesday.