Feb. 26, 2013
MORAGA, Calif. - Stanford improved its winning streak to five games by rolling past St. Mary's, 7-2. Jonny Locher shined for the Cardinal on a sunny Tuesday afternoon at Louis Guisto Field, going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a run for the visiting Cardinal (6-2).
The 14th-ranked Cardinal will take a few days off before welcoming Texas to Sunken Diamond for a three-game series (March 1-3). Game one begins at 5:30 p.m. (PT) on Friday.
St. Mary's (4-4) scored early to set the stage for a third straight come-from-behind victory for Stanford. The Cardinal hinged its offensive production on a season-high 15 hits while the bullpen surrendered one run. Stanford has now recorded double-digit hits in each of its last three contests.
Locher was one of three Cardinal with three hits and was joined in that department by Danny Diekroeger and Brant Whiting. Whiting only saw four pitches.
Colin Ferguson homered off of Dean McArdle in the first while the Cardinal waited until the third to tie it at 1-1. Diekroeger followed Locher's double with a single to left to plate the freshman outfielder.
McArdle tossed the first 3.0 innings and held the Gaels to one earned run on three hits.
David Schmidt (2-0) tossed the next three frames, striking out four without a walk. The Gaels managed four hits and one earned run off of Schmidt.
The Cardinal took the lead on Drew Jackson's RBI groundout as part of a two-run fourth. Austin Slater started the inning with a walk and Dominic Jose's double down the leftfield line drew chalk to put two on base for Jackson's at-bat. Jackson brought home Slater, and Whiting singled through the right side to score a charging Jose, who never thought twice when rounding third.
Locher's second double on the day nearly scored Whiting, but the catcher was thrown out at the dish on a one-hopper by St. Mary's rightfielder Brenden Kalifus.
Trevor Ellison singled in the bottom half of the fourth to score Anthony Villa and bring the Gaels within one, 3-2.
Justin Ringo belted a two-out solo homer to right for Stanford's 10th hit which gave the visitors a 4-2 cushion in the seventh.
Sam Lindquist fanned three in the seventh while leaving a pair of Gaels stranded.
Two were away when Jackson singled up the middle in the eighth. Whiting followed with a standup triple to the wall in center to put Stanford ahead, 5-2.
Whiting went 3-for-4 with a team-high two RBI.
Brian Ragira's second hit followed a Diekroeger leadoff single in the final stanza. Ringo drew a walk and Slater slammed a sacrifice fly to center to score Diekroeger from third. Lonnie Kauppila drove in Stanford's seventh run with an RBI single to right-center.
--#farmBall--