Saturday SplitSaturday Split
Baseball

Saturday Split

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STANFORD, Calif. – No. 8 Stanford dropped its first decision of the season to split a doubleheader against Michigan on Saturday at Sunken Diamond.

"It had to happen at some point," said Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer, who dropped his first game as Stanford's head coach after a 10-0 start. "Michigan is a really good team and it's been a battle over the last couple days with the rain and the uncertainty. We would have loved to be up 3-0 in the series but taking two of three with one more tomorrow still puts us in position to close the homestand with a win."

The Cardinal (10-1) started the doubleheader with a dramatic 3-2 win courtesy of freshman Tim Tawa's walk-off, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth. With Brandon Wulff and Alec Wilson aboard and one out, Tawa blasted one into the trees beyond the left field wall for his first career home run.

"That's the beauty of college baseball right there," said Esquer, a former walk-on who started at shortstop for Stanford's 1987 national championship-winning team. "You love to see a freshman making a big play in a big moment."

Kris Bubic went 6.1 innings, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out six and allowing just one earned run. Jacob Palisch (2-0) pitched 2.1 innings to earn the win without allowing a base runner. Seven Cardinal accounted for one hit apiece, and Tawa's three RBI were the only of the day for Stanford.

In Game 2, Erik Miller (0-1) got the call, striking out seven in 5.2 innings of work. Miller made way for Carson Rudd after allowing three hits, two walks and three runs (two earned), and John Henry Styles finished the final 2.1 innings while allowing one hit and one run.

"I thought Erik Miller pitched really well tonight," added Esquer. "He was unfortunate to be out there longer than he had to in the fifth with a few bounces not going our way, but that's baseball."

Maverick Handley, Daniel Bakst and Kyle Stowers had Stanford's only hits of the game, with Michigan starter Karl Kauffmann going 6.2 innings while striking out 10.
Stanford wraps up its eight-game homestand tomorrow with the series finale against Michigan at 2 p.m. PT at Sunken Diamond. This is Stanford's first game televised on Pac-12 Networks, and live statistics will be available at GoStanford.com.

Cardinal Notes

  • No Cardinal had multiple hits in either game on Saturday.
  • Bubic lowered his earn-run average to 1.56 after Saturday's outing.
  • Palisch's ERA stands at 0.79 after 2.1 shutout innings in the first contest.
  • Nico Hoerner was ejected from the second game in the seventh inning.
  • Freshman Brendan Beck gets the call for Sunday's game. Beck enters the day 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA.
  • Brandon Wulff's season-opening hit streak ended at 10 games.
  • Stanford's streak of regular-season nonconference wins ends at 17.
  • The Cardinal's 19-game home unbeaten streak also came to an end Saturday.

--#GoStanford--