STANFORD, Calif. – No. 11 Stanford made it 23 midweek wins in a row with an 8-3 win over San Francisco on Wednesday at Sunken Diamond.
"They got on us early but Weiermiller, Rudd and Grech each looked very good out of the bullpen tonight," said the Clarke and Elizabeth Director of Baseball David Esquer. "Wulff really gave us a shot in the arm and sparked the offense, but our pitching and defense kept us in it for a while."
Wulff, who launched his first home run of the season in Sunday's win over UNLV, tripled his season tally on Wednesday with two long balls to left, the second of which cleared the trees and landed on Stanford Field Hockey's Varsity Turf. Kyle Stowers had a season-high three hits, Maverick Handley was 2-for-4 with two runs and Duke Kinamon drove in a pair as part of Stanford's six-run fifth inning.
WATCH | Absolute no doubter from @brandon_wulff puts Stanford out in front, his 2nd in as many at-bats.
— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) February 28, 2019
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The Cardinal (7-1-0) got 4.0+ innings from freshman right-handed pitcher Alex Williams and a combination of Austin Weiermiller (1-0), Carson Rudd and Zach Grech tossed 5.0 shutout innings in relief.
The Dons (4-3-0) plated two runs, one of which was unearned, in the opening frame, when Josh Allen singled down the right-field line and a second run came across after a throwing error by the Cardinal.
Wulff cut the lead in half with a solo shot in the second before Stanford tied it up in the third courtesy of a throwing error by the Dons. After Jack Winkler's RBI double in the fifth regained the lead for San Francisco, Stanford hung a six on the board in the home half and never looked back.
Will Matthiessen's RBI single tied the game before Wulff launched his second home run of the day over the trees beyond the left-field wall, a three-run shot to make it 6-3. Kinamon extended the lead with a two-run single to left field.
Weiermiller, who earned the win, escaped a jam in the fifth after replacing Williams, who allowed two earned runs on five hits. Rudd took over in the seventh, striking out two over 2.0 innings in his season debut before Grech finished the job in the ninth.
No. 11 Stanford returns to action this weekend when it travels to Fullerton, California, to take on No. 24 Cal State Fullerton in a three-game series. Friday's series opener starts at 7 p.m., Game 2 on Saturday is set for 6 p.m. and Sunday's finale will begin at 1 p.m.
Cardinal Notes
- Nick Bellafronto made his first career start at third base.
- Stanford has registered four errors on the season.
- Wulff, Handley and Matthiessen have reached base safely in all eight games this season.