STANFORD, Calif. - Junior Alex Dunlap and freshman Brandon Wulff led Stanford baseball at the plate, and junior Brett Hanewich shut down USC from the mound in an 8-1 series-clinching win at Sunken Diamond on Sunday evening.
Dunlap and Wulff combined for seven RBI, and Hanewich went seven innings without allowing an earned run. The Cardinal has won its first two Pac-12 series for the first time since 2013 (also against Washington State and USC).
USC (12-14, 3-3 Pac-12) scored first in all three games of the series. The Trojans used a walk, single and passed ball to push one across in the top of the second.?
Stanford (14-8, 4-2 Pac-12) tied it in the bottom of the inning. Mikey Diekroeger led off with a double high off the left field wall and later scored on Wulff's?sacrifice fly to centerfield.
Stanford took the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth. Matt Winaker drew a leadoff walk and advanced on a bunt. Wulff then roped a single up the middle and Winaker beat the throw home. Wulff moved to second on the throw, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then scored when Alex Dunlap ripped a single over short for a 3-1 advantage.
One inning later, Wulff and Dunlap were at it again. The duo combined for three more RBI to give the Cardinal a 6-1 lead. Wulff drove a single through the left side to bring home Diekroeger -- who had doubled for the fourth time in two days -- and Dunlap brought in two more with a two-out double to left center.
Wulff added his third RBI single of the day in the seventh, and finished with a career high four RBI. Later in the inning, Tommy Edman added an RBI double that gave Stanford an 8-1 edge.?
Junior reliever Chris Viall closed out Stanford's third straight series victory with two scoreless innings.?
NOTABLES:?Dunlap tied a career-high with three RBI (5/2/15 at Oregon) ... Diekroeger has reached in eight of his last 10 at-bats, and five hits went for extra bases (four doubles, one home run) ... Hanewich has allowed just one earned run in 19.0 career innings against USC ... After trailing 8-3 in the sixth on Saturday, Stanford outscored USC, 16-1 over the final 12 innings ... Stanford dropped the first game of both Pac-12 series, but rebounded to take the last two each time.
NEXT UP: Stanford heads to Berkeley for a mid-week non-conference matchup with Cal. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. The following day, the Cardinal heads to Los Angeles to prepare for a three-game set with UCLA, Thursday-Saturday. All four games can be seen on the Pac-12 Networks.
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.@brandon_wulff laser beam = ?? lead.#GoStanford https://t.co/NOvlnOi2ba
? Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) April 4, 2016
A video posted by Stanford Baseball (@stanfordbsb) on Apr 3, 2016 at 2:07pm PDT