EUGENE, Ore. – Junior Mikey Diekroeger tied a career high with four hits and sophomore Nico Hoerner added three more as Stanford completed the sweep with a 10-4 win at No. 25 Oregon on Sunday.
Diekroeger was 4-for-4, and for the second straight day Hoerner finished a hit shy of the cycle.
Stanford (23-12, 8-7 Pac-12) won its fourth straight game with its first sweep since taking all three from Oregon in the 2016 regular season finale. It also marked the first Pac-12 road sweep for the Cardinal since the 2014 finale at Utah. Stanford is also the first Pac-12 team to earn a sweep at PK Park in six years.
A brief rain delay in the top of the first did not stop the Cardinal from scoring in its first at-bat for the third straight game. The first two hitters were retired, but the Cardinal rallied for three runs. Quinn Brodey and Daniel Bakst singled, and Diekroeger walked.
T1: Waited 15-minutes for a ?? delay.
— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) April 23, 2017
Waited just one batter for two more runs #GoStanford https://t.co/BGQlbsRvIC
Brodey scored on a wild pitch, and the game was halted for 15 minutes due to some heavy precipitation. As soon as the game resumed, Duke Kinamon laced a single to left to score Bakst and Diekroeger.
An inning later, Stanford repeated its process. The first two hitters were retired, but once again, the Cardinal dented the scoreboard. Matt Winaker singled up the middle and Nico Hoerner followed with a triple to center. That answered a Ducks run and gave Stanford a 4-1 edge.
T2: @nico_hoerner! ???? Its a 4-1 lead #GoStanford https://t.co/FaWn1f5q2u
— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) April 23, 2017
Diekroeger gave the Cardinal a four-run lead in the fifth. He ripped a single to the right side against a drawn-in infield and Brodey, who doubled to lead off the inning, trotted home from third.
Senior starter Chris Castellanos cruised through much of the first 4.2 innings, but Oregon strung together three straight hits, and scored a pair to pull within 5-3 after five.
Hoerner ended that Oregon rally with an over-the-shoulder catch, and in the next half inning, roped a two-out RBI single to right.
The lead reached 8-3 in the seventh. Diekroeger doubled down the left field line and scored on a double from Jack Klein. Then Brandon Wulff's two-out RBI single up the middle put Stanford up by five.
Oregon got one in the seventh and chased Castellanos. Senior Tyler Thorne entered and threw 2.1 scoreless innings to close out the game.
For good measure, Hoerner and Bakst each doubled in the eighth, and Diekroeger logged his fourth hit to bring home Bakst.
NUMBERS…
Castellanos struck out four in 6.2 innings, while Thorne retired all seven batters he faced with two strikeouts.Diekroeger scored twice, walked once and had two doubles, while Hoerner finished 3-for-5 with a run, two batted in, double and triple. Bakst extended his hitting streak to nine games with a 2-for-5 day that included two runs, an RBI and a double. Brodey was 2-for-4 with two runs and a double, and Wulff finished 2-for-5 with an RBI.
AND NOTABLES
Freshman Daniel Bakst has a hit in 20 of the last 21 games and all but one game in his career when he has at least three at-bats … In the first inning this weekend, Stanford scored one on Friday, two on Saturday and three on Sunday … Oregon had not been swept at home by a Pac-12 opponent since UCLA in 2011.
WHAT'S AHEAD
Stanford returns home on Tuesday to take on Santa Clara at 5:30 p.m. The Cardinal has won 10 straight Tuesday affairs at Sunken Diamond, and tickets are two for $9.
Starting on Thursday, Stanford hosts national runner-up Arizona for a three-game series. Thursday is Dollar Dog Night, Friday is the Trading Card giveaway (set 4 of 5), and Saturday is Classroom Cardinal where local students earned free tickets for reaching their reading goals.
SOCIAL SCENE
For the latest updates, you can follow Cardinal baseball all year long on instagram, twitter and snapchat (@StanfordBSB).
#GoStanford