| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Arizona State (20-15) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 2 | |
| Stanford (14-16) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 0 | |
| Stanford, Calif.| Klein Field at Sunken Diamond | |||||||||||||
| Pitching | |||||||||||||
| Win: A.J. Vanegas (1-1) | |||||||||||||
| Loss: Hever Bueno (0-1) | |||||||||||||
| Batting | |||||||||||||
| Danny Diekroeger - 2-5, RBI, Walk-Off Single | |||||||||||||
| Dominic Jose - 1-1, 2B, 2 RBI | |||||||||||||
| Tommy Edman - 1-1, RBI | |||||||||||||
STANFORD, Calif. – Danny Diekroeger came up in a familiar position Thursday night against Arizona State at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond. With two outs and a runner on second base in a tie game, Diekroeger delivered his second walk-off single in as many games to give the Cardinal a 4-3 win over the Sun Devils.
“It’s coming from everyone,” said Diekroeger. “That was a whole team win. It was a lot of fun.”
Diekroeger knocked a 2-0 pitch into right field to plate Austin Slater, as the Cardinal came from behind to produce its first three-game winning streak of the season.
The Woodside, Calif., native was granted the opportunity thanks to three runs in the eighth inning. “I was lucky enough to get up there in a situation when you can’t lose,” noted Diekroeger.
Dominic Jose doubled home the first two runs and Tommy Edman singled him home to tie the score, 3-3. Both players entered in the eighth as pinch hitters.
“Dominic Jose probably had the biggest hit of the game with that two-run double and Tommy Edman came up right behind him the huge hit,” Diekroeger said.
Diekroeger stepped to the plate in nearly an identical situation just two days ago against visiting Saint Mary’s. His two-out, ninth inning single scored Zach Hoffpauir to give Stanford a 7-6 comeback win Tuesday on a similar swing with the same outcome.
Brant Whiting joined Diekroeger in the box score with two hits, while the Cardinal put together half of its eight hits in the eighth and ninth innings. Three hits came in the eighth, before Diekroeger hit in the ninth with Hoffpauir and Slater on base after each had walked.
Arizona State (20-15, 9-7 Pac-12) starter Brett Lilek shut down the offense through the first 6.1 innings. The lefty allowed only four hits, walked four and struck out six to keep Stanford off the board, as ASU pulled ahead 3-0.
Nathan Causey hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Drew Stankiewicz provided a two-out RBI single in the fourth. 16 of the final 18 Arizona State batters were retired after Stankiewicz's hit.
Stanford (14-16, 5-8 Pac-12) threatened often, reaching base in six of seven innings against Lilek, but could not come up with a timely hit, an all-too-familiar setting for the Cardinal that was snapped in the late innings.
Cardinal starter Brett Hanewich was touched up for three runs in 3.2 innings. He allowed six hits, walked three and fanned two before Logan James was called upon from the bullpen.
While Stanford’s bats were being silenced, James kept the Cardinal in the game by throwing 4.1 innings of shutout baseball up until the ninth. He struck out four in his longest outing of the season. Not only was it James' longest outing, as he threw 57 pitches, but his most effective as well.
A.J. Vanegas (1-1) needed only eight pitches to get through the ninth inning and get Stanford’s hot bats back in the dugout. Vanegas has gone 17.0 innings this season without allowing an earned run.
Stanford looks to keep its momentum rolling tomorrow against Arizona State at 6 p.m. at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond. Cal Quantrill (3-3, 3.20) will face former Canadian junior national squad teammate Ryan Kellogg (4-2, 4.07) in a battle of pitchers from north of the border.