| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| USC (11-9) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 1 | |
| Stanford (7-9) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 2 | |
| Stanford, Calif. | Klein Field at Sunken Diamond | |||||||||||||
| Pitching | |||||||||||||
| Win: Wyatt Strahan (2-2) | |||||||||||||
| Loss: Marcus Brakeman (0-3) | |||||||||||||
| Save: Kyle Davis (2) | |||||||||||||
| Batting | |||||||||||||
| Danny Diekroeger -2-5, 2B, R, RBI | |||||||||||||
| Austin Slater - 2-4, 3B, R | |||||||||||||
| Zach Hoffpauir - 2-3, R | |||||||||||||
STANFORD, Calif. – Brett Hanewich’s near-flawless start went for naught Friday evening as Stanford dropped its Pac-12 Conference opener to USC, 4-3. The freshman pitcher dusted off a first inning in which the Trojans scored an unearned run without registering a hit, settling in to fan a pair without permitting another score in 6.0 frames of work at Sunken Diamond.
Hanewich extended the Stanford starting pitching corps’ streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run to 30.0, spanning back five games to a March 4 win at Cal.
Cal Quantrill looks to keep that streak alive as the Saturday starter will deliver the first pitch of game two at 3 p.m. (PT).
Three of nine USC (11-9 overall, 2-2 Pac-12) hits came off Hanewich, who gave way for Marcus Brakeman in the seventh. Brakeman (0-3) was tagged for three earned runs on three hits in 1.2 innings, including a three-run outburst in the eighth that proved to be the difference.
USC found itself in the 3-1 hole after the Cardinal (7-9) plated one run in each of the first three innings. In fact, seven of Stanford’s 10 hits came during its early offensive spurt that included an RBI double by Danny Diekroeger and an RBI single by Alex Dunlap.
Diekroeger’s poke was one of his two in five at-bats, in turn making him one of four Cardinal with multi-hit efforts. Brett Michael Doran, Austin Slater and Zach Hoffpauir chipped in two apiece during Stanford’s first contest since a 12-day hiatus for its winter quarter final exams.
Slater notched his second hit in the third – a triple to right-center – and trotted home on Dunlap’s single to close the scoring for the Cardinal.
USC starter Wyatt Strahan composed himself after the third, firing off 8.0 innings of nine-hit ball which yielded two earned runs. Strahan punched out five without issuing a walk to balance his ledger at 2-2.
Kyle Davis stepped in for the save and only allowed a Hoffpauir single in the ninth. Hoffpauir was joined on base by Wayne Taylor, who drew a six-pitch walk to put two on the pond for Diekroeger. Diekroeger hooked a lineout to left and Doran popped up to first to extinguish the scoring threat.
Omar Cotto had two hits and scored twice for the Trojans. A.J. Ramirez and Garrett Stubbs also contributed two hits as the visitors snapped a three-game skid.