STANFORD, Calif. – Junior Matt Winaker tied a career high with three hits, delivered two big knocks and scored the game-winning run to lead No. 18 Stanford to its seventh consecutive win, 4-3, over No. 13 Arizona at Sunken Diamond on Friday night.
Stanford (26-12, 10-7 Pac-12) clinched the series behind senior reliever Tyler Thorne (3-1), who retired all nine batters he faced to earn the win.
Junior Colton Hock closed out the game for the second straight night. He has 11 saves this season—third-most in school history and two off the school record, and became the second player to record 20 career saves in a Cardinal uniform.
Winaker, who finished 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, put the Cardinal in front on three different occasions.
The biggest one, was the last one. In a tie game in the seventh, Winaker singled. Sophomore Nico Hoerner then ripped a single to left, which went right through the legs of the left fielder and rolled all the way to the warning track. Winaker raced home and gave Stanford a lead it did not relinquish.
It took just one pitch for Winaker to give Stanford its first lead and extend his hitting streak to nine games. He crushed the first pitch of the bottom of the first to deep right field for his fourth home run of the season.
One pitch. One run. @mattwinaker #GoStanford
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Arizona tied the game on a squeeze bunt in the fifth, but in the home half, Winaker gave the Cardinal the lead again. Sophomore Brandon Wulff led off with a walk, was bunted to second, and scored when Winaker ripped a single to right.
The Wildcats took the lead in the sixth. The first four hitters reached and Arizona went ahead, 3-2. Thorne entered with runners at first and second and nobody out. After a sacrifice bunt, Thorne got a strikeout and pop up to keep Stanford within one.
.@tthorne23 Thorne to the rescue! Strands both runners. Keeps the deficit at 3-2 #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/5O3EufAD2E
— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) April 29, 2017
Two pitches later, it was tied again. Freshman Daniel Bakst launched the first home run of his career -- a no-doubter to left to even things up, 3-3.
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In the ninth, Hock retired the first two batters, but a walk and single put the tying run in scoring position. Hock, who picked up a two-inning save just 24 hours earlier, got a strikeout to extend Stanford's winning streak.
NUMBERS…
Stanford held the Pac-12's top offense to just four hits. Junior starter Andrew Summerville went five innings, allowed just two earned runs (three total), three hits and struck out five. Thorne had three strikeouts. Hoerner and Bakst each went 2-for-4 as Stanford finished with seven hits and drew five walks.
AND NOTABLES
Stanford last won seven straight in 2013 when the Cardinal won nine in a row from Feb. 20-March 5 … The Cardinal earned its first series win over Arizona since 2014, and has won five straight Pac-12 games for the first time since 2013 … Stanford is 21-0 when leading after seven innings this season … Stanford is 26-6 when scoring at least one run this season … Winaker is one away from matching his career-high hit streak, set last season … Bakst has seven multi-hit games this season … Winaker has nine multi-hit games this year and 33 for his career … Duke Kinamon became the first Cardinal with 11 steals in a season since Zach Jones in 2009.
WHAT'S AHEAD
Stanford hosts the 2016 national runner-up for one more at Sunken Diamond. Saturday has a 2 p.m. first pitch and 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
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— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) April 29, 2017