SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A full recap to come.
Friday the 13th got off to a rough start for Stanford baseball. The Cardinal battled back from seven runs down to get within one, but dropped the series opener to first-place Utah at Smith's Ballpark.
After a quick first inning where starter Tristan Beck retired the side in order, the Utes made the freshman throw nearly 40 pitches in the second inning and nearly 30 in the third inning. Beck allowed just one run in the second after a walk and a pair of singles, but Utah tallied four in the third to take a 5-0 lead.
That carried over into the fourth where Dallas Carroll singled home a pair with two outs to make it 7-0.
Stanford (24-20, 10-12 Pac-12) began to fight back in the fifth. The bases were full of Cardinal on two walks and a Jack Klein single. Matt Winaker brought home a run on a ground out, and Nico Hoerner and Tommy Edman each singled one home to close the deficit to 7-3.
Though Utah (19-24, 14-8) scored one in the bottom of the inning, the Cardinal got two more runs in the sixth. Sophomore Mikey Diekroeger doubled both home with a line drive down the left field line to bring Stanford within 8-5.
An odd double play scored two more runs for the Cardinal in the seventh. Klein hit into a possible routine inning-ending double play with the bases loaded. But after the out at second, the throw to first went wide. The runner at second scored to close the deficit to 8-7, but Klein was thrown out trying to reach second.
Sophomore Keith Weisenberg was strong in relief as he allowed just one run on one hit in three innings during Stanford's comeback. Freshman Kris Bubic allowed a run in the eighth, and was relieved by Tyler Thorne, who stranded two runners thanks to a diving catch in center by Klein.
NOTABLES: Edman extended the longest current hit streak for the Cardinal to nine games and is one shy of his career high set in 2014 ... Brodey extended his career-best hit streak to eight games.
NEXT UP: Stanford against first-place Utah in Game 2 on Saturday evening (5 p.m. PT). The series finale is set Sunday afternoon (noon PT). Both games can be seen on the Utah Pac-12 live stream.