Bats Deliver Win

SANTA CLARA, Calif. –  Stanford’s bats broke out for its most runs in over a month as the Cardinal got past Santa Clara, 10-9, Tuesday night at Schott Stadium.

“It was a good win for us midweek,” said Mark Marquess, the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball. “We scored a lot of runs. We gave them a lot of opportunities and walked a lot of people, which we don’t like.”

Each team held three-run leads before Santa Clara had batted in the bottom of the second, as early runs were easy to come by. The Cardinal used six pitchers, while Santa Clara sent four different pitchers to the mound in the game that continued for nearly four hours.

Jack Klein scattered the ball around the field for three hits, including the first of his career, to be one of four Cardinal with multiple knocks. Klein, who scored three runs, singled through the left side in the second, smashed a liner past second base in the fifth and laid a blooper in front of the right fielder in the eighth. Brett Michael Doran, Alex Blandino and Austin Slater each had two hits for Stanford.

Blandino also doubled and scored three times. Slater hit his fourth triple of the season and drove in two.

Both pitching staffs struggled to find the zone throughout the night. The two teams combined for 13 walks, six hit batters and 13 wild pitches.

The Broncos jumped ahead 3-0 on a long three-run homer off the bat of Stevie Berman. The catcher’s shot came off of starter Tyler Thorne, who went on to pitch 1.1 innings while allowing four runs on five hits.

Stanford answered with six runs on four hits in the next half inning. The Cardinal sent 10 batters to the plate, eight produced productive at-bats and another reached on a Santa Clara error.

A hit batter, Klein’s first hit of the day and a walk loaded the bases with no outs in the second. After Wayne Taylor’s grounder was bobbled by the shortstop, four of the next five Cardinal hitters drove in runs. Tommy Edman and Danny Diekroeger sprayed sac flies to the outfield, before Brett Michael Doran singled to set up two more RBI chances. Alex Blandino blasted a double off the wall and Austin Slater singled up the middle to score the sixth run of the hit parade.

After Santa Clara plated one in the second and Stanford added another in the fourth on a triple from Austin Slater, the Broncos stormed back to tie the game at 7-7 in the fourth inning. Santa Clara used just one hit to score the three fourth-inning runs, all of which were charged to Logan James.

Stanford went on to score another in the fifth, on a Doran double, and two more in the sixth, to take the lead for good while Chris Viall (2-3) settled down the Broncos’ bats. Stanford’s third reliever worked 2.2 innings, while allowing one run on four hits, and left with a 10-8 lead to earn the win.

Sam Lindquist allowed a run in the eighth, as Santa Clara pulled within one, but Chris Castellanos and A.J. Vanegas shut down the Broncos for the final nine outs.

Vanegas earned his fifth save of the year by getting two outs in the eighth and fighting through the ninth after hitting the first batter of the inning.

The Cardinal travels to Saint Mary’s tomorrow for a 3 p.m. game. Brett Hanewich will get the start on the mound.

Notes
Stanford tied its season-high for runs in an inning (Rice, Feb. 16) … Slater is the first player to record four triples in back-to-back years since Sean Ratliff (2007, ’08) … The Cardinal scored its most runs since winning 11-1 at California March 4 … Tomorrow will mark Stanford’s first back-to-back road games at different sites in 2014 … Stanford is 134-76-1 against Santa Clara since 1959 … A win tomorrow would put the Cardinal at .500 for the first time since starting 4-4.