STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford and Rice took a scoreless game into the seventh inning Saturday, but the Owls put up a run in the seventh and four more in the eighth to knock off the Cardinal, 5-1. Stanford managed four hits as Rice won for the second time in as many days.
The pitching duel started with freshman Brett Hanewich (0-1) on Stanford’s side. The Bradenton, Fla., native worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the first and stranded two more base runners in the second on his way to a three-inning outing.
After throwing 67 pitches, Hanewich was relieved with a final line of no runs on five hits in his debut.
For Rice (2-0), Blake Fox (1-0) limited Stanford (0-2) to two hits and no runs through six innings to pick up the win. The sophomore is now 7-0 in his career thanks to a home run into the trees in left from junior Skyler Ewing to start the seventh.
The Owls would tally four more in the eighth to give themselves a cushion, after leaving 11 runners on during the first six innings. Cardinal pitchers retired the first 10 batters to come to the plate with runners on base.
Junior John Hochstatter surrendered the home run and allowed two more to cross the plate in his four innings of relief to take the loss.
Sophomore Daniel Starwalt was next in line after Hochstatter and gave up two runs without retiring a batter, before Sam Lindquist and junior David Schmidt finished the day with a pair of hitless innings.
Stanford rallied in the ninth, but a pair of flyouts and a strikeout ended it. The first out was a sacrifice fly off the bat of Alex Blandino with the bases loaded. It was the only thing the Cardinal could muster off of Zech Lemond, who was awarded a three-inning save (1).
Sophomore shortstop Drew Jackson was the lone Stanford player to register two hits with one coming on a well-placed bunt. Blandino and senior Danny Diekroeger each singled, as well.
The Cardinal and Owls are back for the final game of the three-game series tomorrow at noon.
Notes
Today’s attendance was 1,592 … Alex Blandino is the only Stanford player to hit safely in both games … Stanford used the same players and positions, but moved the players within the batting order … The Cardinal started a freshman on the mound for the second straight day (Quantrill, Hanewich) … Eight different freshmen have appeared in at least one of the first two games … Sam Lindquist is the lone pitcher to appear in both games.