Freshman Frenzy

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Freshman Cal Quantrill threw a complete game and classmate Jack Klein hit a three-run home run to lead Stanford to an 8-1 win over Indiana State in the first game of the Bloomington Regional.

“It was a great game, great pitched game by both their left‑hander and Cal (Quantrill),” said Mark Marquess, the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball. “I thought Cal had one of his better games.  He was sharp.”

Quantrill (6-5) allowed just four hits and two walks, while striking out six in his second complete game of the season. The righty, who threw 104 pitches and 75 strikes, moved his consecutive innings pitched streak to 17 straight innings by blanking Indiana State through the first 5.1 innings, before the Sycamores scored their only run.

“The fastball was good, a little bit wild early on, so I backed it up with a changeup a lot,” said Quantrill. “I got them looking for the change early so that was good, and obviously it's a lot easier to pitch when you have that kind of run support behind you.”

Quantrill kept his pitch count down by throwing just nine pitches during 1-2-3 frames in the seventh and eighth, including a three pitch inning in the seventh.

His ability to stay in the zone with all of his pitches also gave him the chance to go nine innings and made things difficult for the Sycamores, as noted by Indiana State’s Jacob Hayes. “What kept us off balance was just throwing all three pitches for strikes. Whenever they can throw all three pitches for strikes, it's tough to get into a rhythm in the batter's box.”

Hayes had the Sycamores’ lone RBI on a double down the right field line in the sixth after Stanford had pulled ahead 5-0.

Klein’s homer came as part of a four-run sixth inning that broke open the game. His blast to the bullpen down the left field line plated Stanford’s fifth run, as the Cardinal cruised from there. Klein was one of three Stanford hitters with multiple hits including Alex Blandino and Danny Diekroeger.

“It was a great feeling. It was probably the last thing on my mind at that point since there was a guy on second,” Klein said of his first collegiate home run. “I was just trying to go the opposite way with the way he'd been pitching. Yeah, it was probably one of the best feelings of my entire life.”

Marquess added, “The turning point obviously for us offensively was Jack Klein's three‑run home run, which really made the difference, gave us a cushion, and as well as Cal was pitching, we hoped that would be enough.”

The homer would have been enough, but Stanford tacked on three insurance runs in the ninth anyway. Tommy Edman and Brett Michael Doran had RBI singles in the inning and Doran also scored on a wild pitch.

Zach Hoffpauir drove in Stanford’s first run of the day as part of back-to-back-to-back two-out singles and Brant Whiting delivered a sac fly in the sixth after Connor McLain made an outstanding diving catch in left field.

Indiana State's Ryan Keaffaber (3-2) took the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits over six innings. The Sycamores used four pitchers out of the bullpen to finish the game. 

Austin Slater moved his hitting streak to 18 games with a 1-for-4 day and Blandino reached for the 24th straight game.

Stanford awaits the winner of Indiana and Youngstown State in the winners’ bracket. The Cardinal’s next game of the double-elimination regional will be at 3 p.m. PT tomorrow on ESPN3.