May 25, 2013
Box Score
STANFORD, Calif. - Logan James was dominant out of the bullpen and Stanford took advantage of a sixth-inning spurt for the second straight evening to post a 7-3 win over No. 8 UCLA Saturday night.
James gave the Cardinal (32-21 overall, 16-13 Pac-12) 4.2 innings of solid relief and at one point retired nine straight for Stanford's third straight series win over the Bruins (38-17, 20-9).
James (3-3) was called upon in relief for the second time in as many weeks to register a series-clinching victory. Three of Stanford's last five wins have been earned by the bullpen.
Stanford will give the ball to starting pitcher Dean McArdle on Sunday in hopes of earning its first sweep over the Bruins since 1998. The Senior Day contest begins at 3 p.m. (PT) at Sunken Diamond and will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks. The contest could possibly uncover Stanford's postseason plans.
The pitching corps will have a bit to live up to after permitting only seven hits through the first two games of the series.
After falling in a 3-1 hole, Stanford scored six runs in its last four trips to the plate. Friday night's 2-1 win featured two runs in the sixth, and tonight's win saw the Cardinal plate three in the sixth stanza.
John Hochstatter tossed the first 4.0 frames and gave up each of UCLA three runs. Hochstatter fanned three and walked two.
Shane Zeile launched a second-inning two-run homer, his second dinger on the season, to put UCLA ahead early.
In the home half of the third, Austin Slater scored from first on a sharp Brian Ragira two-out double down the leftfield line.
UCLA pushed across its third run in the fifth on Brian Carroll's RBI groundout.
The Bruins entered the series 30-0 when holding an opponent to three or fewer runs, a streak that was snapped Friday. UCLA was positioned to get back on track while limiting Stanford to one run through four complete.
For the third time in five innings, Stanford got its leadoff man on base safely with an Alex Blandino bloop single to right. Lonnie Kauppila poked a single to opposite field and Justin Ringo advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Blandino made it 3-2 when he scored on a wild pitch.
Both Blandino and Kauppila finished with three hits.
Nick Vander Tuig struck out Ragira and Austin Wilson to get out of the inning while leaving runners on the corners.
With Wayne Taylor on first, Stanford executed the hit-and-run to perfection. Whiting singled Taylor to third with a shot through the right side. Blandino looped a one-out RBI single to left. After four straight one-out singles, it was Austin Slater's two-out single through the right side that scored a pair to give Stanford its first lead on the night in the sixth, 5-3.
Stanford used seventh-inning triples by Danny Diekroeger and Blandino to tack on two more runs.
David Berg extended the nation's longest scoreless innings streak to 36.2 with a one-hit eighth. Vander Tuig (10-4) was charged with the loss after giving up five earned runs on nine of Stanford's 14 hits in 5.1 frames.
Brant Whiting caught two runners attempting to steal second.
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