March 8, 2013
STANFORD, Calif. - Aiming for its first 10-game winning streak since 2003, No. 9 Stanford was upended by UNLV Friday evening at Sunken Diamond, 3-2. Senior All-American Mark Appel fanned a career-high 15 and walked one in 7.0 innings, leaving the game after allowing only four hits and one earned run while shouldering the tough loss.
Appel (2-2) has struck out double-digit batters in each of his last three outings, a feat he also accomplished in 2012.
Astoundingly, three of Appel's strikeouts came in the second inning when UNLV (11-3) scored its first two runs. The Cardinal (10-3) committed three errors in the frame which led to the unearned tallies to snap Appel's streak of 18.2 innings without yielding a run.
Alex Blandino provided his share of offense with a 3-for-4 effort including a solo home run in the second to cut into UNLV's lead, 2-1.
Lonnie Kauppila added a pair of singles on the evening as the Cardinal out-hit the Rebels, 7-5.
The teams traded scores in the fifth though the Rebels' lead would hold.
Joey Armstrong had an infield single in the fifth and went to second on a wild pitch. Joey Swanner doubled down the leftfield line for the pivotal run.
Armstrong led the Rebels with two hits.
Trailing 3-1, Stanford answered in its half of the fifth when a Drew Jackson leadoff walk was followed by Austin Slater's RBI double off the top of the wall in center.
Stanford left nine runners on base, including a pair in scoring position in the seventh.
Erick Fedde (3-0) threw 6.0 innings and gave up two earned runs on six hits. The save went to Brady Zuniga, who kept the Cardinal off balance with four strikeouts in the final 3.0 innings. Zuniga gave up one hit.
Sam Lindquist struck out one and surrendered one hit in 2.0 innings of relief for Appel.
The two teams continue the three-game series at 1 p.m. (PT) on Saturday. Live coverage will be available at GoStanford.com.
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