SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Junior starter Chris Castellanos and sophomore reliever Colton Hock paired up with a balanced offensive attack to guide Stanford baseball to a crucial road win, 4-2, over first-place Utah on Saturday evening at Smith's Ballpark.
Eight different Cardinal combined for the team's eight hits as Stanford overcame an early 2-0 deficit behind another home run from junior Jack Klein, and the go-ahead RBI double from junior Alex Dunlap.
Utah (19-25, 14-9 Pac-12) used four singles to get two across in the first.
Stanford (25-20, 11-12), which moved within three games of first place in the Pac-12 and within two of second place, cut the deficit in half in the third. Sophomore catcher Bryce Carter singled to lead off, and sophomore Matt Winaker advanced him to second. Next in the box, freshman Nico Hoerner, lined a single up the middle to score Carter and make it 2-1.
Two innings later, Klein launched one to deep left field. The solo shot was his third home run in the last five games, and tied it up, 2-2.
In the sixth, sophomore Quinn Brodey extended his career-best hitting streak to nine games with a one-out single. Junior Alex Dunlap followed with a line drive that skipped to the wall in left center and scored Brodey from first to give Stanford the lead. Dunlap touched home when freshman Duke Kinamon poked an opposite-field single through the right side to give Stanford a 4-2 lead.
Meanwhile, Castellanos (7-2) was in the midst of five straight scoreless innings after the two-run first. He pitched into the seventh for the sixth straight start. The Public Policy major allowed just two earned runs in 6.2 innings, scattered eight singles and struck out three.
Hock got the last out in the seventh to strand two Utes. He then threw two perfect innings to close out the game. The Bloomsburg, Pa., native struck out four to earn his fourth save of the season.
NOTABLES: Klein tied the team lead with his fifth home run ... Klein homered three times in his first 310 career at-bats and homered three times in his next 13 at bats ... Winaker has hit safely in 14 of 15 games ... Castellanos won for the third straight start, and is the first Cardinal with seven wins in a season since teammate John Hochstatter had 10 in 2014.
NEXT UP: The rubber match is set for Sunday at noon PT. The game can be seen on the Utah Pac-12 live stream.