March 23, 2013
STANFORD, Calif. - Utah was held to one hit through the first seven innings of Saturday's Pac-12 Conference baseball contest against Stanford but forced a decisive 10th frame to pull out a 3-2 victory over the 17th-ranked Cardinal. The Utes managed five hits in the final three innings, including three in the one-run 10th, to even the series at Sunken Diamond.
Stanford (11-6 overall, 1-1 Pac-12) dropped its third game in four outings and now looks to take the series at 1 p.m. (PT) on Sunday. Live video, audio and stats will be available at GoStanford.com.
The Cardinal was held scoreless until tallying a pair of runs in the seventh. Brett Michael Doran drew a leadoff walk and trotted to second on an Austin Slater single. Danny Diekroeger singled home Doran and Slater hustled to third before scoring on a wild pitch to tie it at 2-2.
Slater had three hits for the second straight game with Justin Ringo and Diekroeger chipping in a pair apiece.
After a scoreless eighth and ninth inning, Utah received a Dallas Carroll single and Trey Nielsen RBI double in the final frame for the go-ahead run. The Utes (10-10, 1-4) managed to put three more runners on base which were stranded by Stanford reliever Garrett Hughes (2-1). Hughes suffered his first loss on the season after stepping in for David Schmidt in the ninth and gave up one earned run on three hits in the final 2.0 innings.
Bobby Zarubin started for the Cardinal and did not get out of the second. Zarubin walked four and gave up two earned runs in 1.1 innings. Utah scored a pair in the second without recording a hit.
Marcus Brakeman was excellent in his relief effort and allowed three hits in 6.1 scoreless innings. Brakeman hit a batter in the second but went on to strand three Utes in the frame and did not permit another runner to reach base until the fifth. The fifth-inning single by Braden Anderson was Utah's first hit on the day.
The Stanford bullpen combined to walk eight.
Ringo followed Slater's leadoff single in the first by drawing a walk from Utah starter Joe Pond. Both were left stranded when Pond retired the next three Cardinal.
Pond tossed the first 6.1 frames, scattering six hits for two earned runs and was on the mound for eight of Utah's 10 strikeouts.
Slater was good for a one-out single and booked it to third when Ringo ripped a single past a diving Trey Nielsen at first base in the third. Again, both were left stranded. All said and done, Stanford left nine runners on base.
Brant Whiting added a double for Stanford in the eighth.
Luke West (1-0) earned his first win after throwing the final 3.1 innings for Utah. West fanned two and allowed two hits in shutout relief and induced a game-ending double play in the 10th.
Six different Utes accounted for the team's six hits.
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