Handley_Plate_2017_at_USCHandley_Plate_2017_at_USC
Baseball

Perfect 10th

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Photo courtesy of Lisa Whiting

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - A five-run outburst in the 10th inning propelled Stanford to an 8-3 victory over USC at Dedeaux Field on Friday night.

Stanford (16-10, 3-5 Pac-12) evened the series behind Colton Hock's stellar relief appearance, another three hits from junior Matt Winaker, and some clutch performances from a pair of freshmen.

Hock (4-0) entered in the sixth and pitched five scoreless innings. The game remained tied at 3-3 throughout that stretch as the Trojans mustered just four hits and struck out five times against Hock.

Freshmen Daniel Bakst and Maverick Handley each had clutch at-bats to give the Cardinal a commanding lead in the 10th inning. Bakst had the go-ahead sacrifice fly to put Stanford up 4-3. Junior Mikey Diekroeger singled home another run with two out, and Handley followed with another two-out RBI single to give the Cardinal its cushion. Senior Jack Klein provided the last two insurance runs with a double to left center.

Perfect 10th #GoStanford #FinalSeas9n

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Junior starter Andrew Summerville tied a career high with nine strikeouts in five innings. His night got off to a rocky start though. The first four Trojans reached and the bases were loaded with one run in and nobody out. The southpaw got a strikeout and induced a double play to get out of the inning without further damage.

Summerville was almost untouchable the next four innings. He struck out the side in the fourth and fifth.

Meanwhile, Stanford took the lead with three in the third. Matt Winaker doubled with two out to start the rally. Nico Hoerner walked and Quinn Brodey ripped one through the left side for a double to tie the game at 1-1. Freshman Daniel Bakst's grounder to short appeared to end the inning, but the throw to first went wide, and Hoerner and Brodey both touched home for a 3-1 lead.

USC got the first two runners on in the sixth and Hock relieved Summerville. Hock appeared to pick off the runner at second, but an error on the rundown put both runners in scoring position. A single tied the game at 3-3.

NUMBERS…
Winaker was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs and is 5-for-6 with four runs, two doubles, two home runs and two walks in the series, including Friday's game-winning run. Diekroeger was 3-for-5, Hoerner was 2-for-4 with two runs, and Klein finished 2-for-4 with a walk and the two runs batted in.

Stanford finished with 13 hits, while Cardinal pitching registered 14 strikeouts.

AND NOTABLES
In addition to his game-winning sacrifice fly, Bakst also sacrificed his 11-game hitting streak … Bakst's streak was the longest for Stanford since Brodey had a 14-game stretch at the end of last season, and was just the third 11+ hit streak for Stanford in the last three years … The last freshman with an 11-game hit streak was Beau Branton (11 in 2015) ... Stanford is 3-0 in extra inning games this season.

WHAT'S AHEAD
The series concludes Saturday at 2 p.m. The Cardinal then returns to the Bay Area for a midweek matchup at San Jose State (7 p.m.) on Tuesday, and hosts UCLA for three at Sunken Diamond, April 13-15. On April 14, the giveaway is a Stanford baseball trading card pack (No. 3 of 5), and April 15 is Honoring Our Heroes Day where all troops receive free admission.  

SOCIAL SCENE
For the latest updates, you can follow Cardinal baseball all year long on instagram, twitter and snapchat (@StanfordBSB).