March 22, 2013
STANFORD, Calif. - Three Stanford players had three hits apiece as the 17th-ranked Cardinal held on for a 6-4 Pac-12 Conference win over Utah Friday at Sunken Diamond. Stanford (11-5 overall, 1-0 Pac-12) out-hit the Utes, 14-9, and benefitted from Mark Appel's 11 strikeouts in 8.0 innings of work.
Appel (3-2) fanned double-digit batters for the fourth straight outing and walked only one Utah (9-10, 4-4) batter on the evening. The senior All-American gave up six hits and allowed a single earned run.
Utah made it a game by scoring a pair in the top of the ninth before Garrett Hughes recorded the final out for his second save. Sam Lindquist gave up two earned runs in the final inning to prompt Hughes to the mound to secure the win.
Austin Slater, Justin Ringo and Dominic Jose each had three hits for the Cardinal, who earned its first win since dropping its last three outings two weeks ago against UNLV. Slater and Jose each scored two runs and Ringo chipped in a game-high three RBI.
Slater added a standup triple in the eighth and scored on Ringo's sac fly to give Stanford a 6-2 lead.
Stanford fell behind when Utah received a solo homer from AJ Young in the top of the second.
The lead was short-lived as Jose struck an RBI single to right to plate Lonnie Kauppila, who started the frame with a single to center. Ringo drove in two more with a single through the left side as the Cardinal took over, 3-1.
Three hits led to two runs in the sixth to give the Cardinal a comfortable 5-2 cushion. Jose scored on a wild pitch and Danny Diekroeger plated Slater on a fielder's choice to shortstop.
Mitch Watrous (1-1) was tagged for the loss after scattering three earned runs on nine hits.
Four Utes had multi-hit outings.
The series resumes at 2 p.m. (PT) on Saturday. Live video, audio and stats will be available at GoStanford.com.
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