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Baseball

Seven in a Row

STANFORD, Calif. – No. 3 Stanford made it seven in a row with a series-opening 7-1 win at Washington State on Friday at Bailey-Brayton Field.

Stanford allowed two or less earned runs for the 13th time this season and played error-free defense. Will Matthiessen finished 3-for-4 with four RBI, Duke Kinamon scored twice and stole three bases, and Austin Weiermiller earned the win with 1.2 stellar innings out of the bullpen. Andrew Daschbach and Brandon Dieter each drove in a run, and Cody Jensen (S, 1) finished it off with 3.0 shutout innings to earn his first career save.

"We're going to have a lot of different guys step up on any given night, and Matthiessen did that for us tonight with some great situational hitting," said the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer. "Pitching and defense are going to win us a lot of games, and you saw that here tonight as well."

The Cardinal (16-3-0, 4-0-0 Pac-12) wasted no time taking the lead, plating a pair of runs in the first inning. Matthiessen singled through the right side to score Kinamon and Daschbach's liner to right brought home Matthiessen to give starter Brendan Beck the early lead.

Beck lasted 4.1 innings, striking out a pair and scattering eight hits while allowing one run via an RBI single by the Cougars (6-18-0, 0-4-0) in the third inning. Weiermiller (W, 3-0) replaced Beck with one out in the fifth, striking out three without allowing a hit in 1.2 innings to earn the win. Weiermiller turned it over to Jensen to start the seventh – the freshman scattered two hits in 3.0 innings.

Stanford tacked on one run in the fifth thanks to an RBI single by Kinamon, and Matthiessen brought home Kinamon in the seventh with a single through the left side. Brandon Dieter and Matthiessen each brought in runs with sacrifice flies in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.

No. 3 Stanford returns to action on Saturday in Game 2 of the three-game series – Jacob Palisch (2-0, 3.60 ERA) is set to face off against A.J. Block (0-3, 5.11 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. PT with live streaming and live statistics available at GoStanford.com.

Cardinal Notes

  • Maverick Handley's reached-base streak stretches to 20 games – he has reached base in all 19 games this season.
  • Kinamon is 8-for-9 on stolen base attempts this season.
  • It was Stanford's seventh game of the year with zero errors.
  • Stanford's earned-run average stands at 2.36 entering Saturday.