STANFORD, Calif. – Will Matthiessen's walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning sent the home fans packing in No. 2 Stanford's 3-2 win over No. 1 UCLA on Friday night at Sunken Diamond.
The Cardinal (20-3-0, 7-0-0) extends its win streak to 11 games with its third walk-off win of the season. Starter Brendan Beck was brilliant in 7.1 shutout innings, Andrew Daschbach and Tim Tawa finished with two hits apiece, Brandon Wulff hit his sixth home run of the season and Austin Weiermiller (W, 5-0) gave Stanford a chance to win by pitching through a jam in the top of the ninth.
"This game was a test at the highest level and UCLA did a great job of coming back. They came through with some big hits in the later innings against our best pitcher, but I give our guys credit for being able to take a punch and not go down," said the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer. "This was a great team win. We cracked a little bit at the end, but they ultimately came through and Brendan Beck gave us an incredible showing on a Friday night."
Wulff put Stanford on the board first, blasting his team-leading sixth home run of the season into the trees in left field in the first inning, but the Cardinal would fail to produce another run until the eighth inning.
Beck was excellent all night, showing his range off the mound with a fine play in the third inning. After a lead-off double by Ryan Kreidler, Beck fielded a bunt and fired to third to erase the runner in scoring position. Beck then forced an inning-ending double play on the very next batter to escape the jam.
M6 | Wow, just wow. @KyleStowers saves a run with this spectacular diving catch in the RC gap. Inning. Over.
— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) April 6, 2019
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Beck escaped jams in the fourth and sixth innings, stranding two runners in the fourth with a ground ball to Nick Bellafronto, who stepped on third for the final out. Beck once again pitched through trouble in the sixth after UCLA put runners on first and second with no outs. He induced another timely ground ball to Bellafronto, who stepped on third and fired to Daschbach at first. Kyle Stowers ended the inning with an outstanding diving catch in right center, saving a run and preserving Stanford's 1-0 lead.
Stanford stranded a pair of runners in the third and sixth innings before Beck departed with one out in the eighth. Jack Little entered, loaded the bases and struck out a pair to get out of the inning unscathed.
The Cardinal plated an insurance run in the bottom half as Stowers' two-out double brought home Daschbach from first, but the Bruins answered in the top of the ninth with a pair of runs to tie it up, 2-2. Little surrendered a double off the bat of Kreidler to cut the lead in half, and a miscommunication in the outfield led to the tying run crossing home plate. Weiermiller then relieved Little with one out and runners on second and third, stranding both runners with a strikeout and a pop out to center.
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Stanford loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth – Christian Robinson reached first after striking out on a passed ball, and Duke Kinamon and pinch hitter Nick Oar drew walks. Matthiessen lined Kyle Mora's (L, 2-2) 2-0 pitch to left field for his first hit of the night to give Stanford the win, 3-2.
No. 2 Stanford returns to action on Saturday at 2 p.m. with Game 2 against No. 1 UCLA with Game 3 set for Sunday at 1 p.m. Live streaming and live statistics will be available at GoStanford.com.
Cardinal Notes
- It was Stanford's third walk-off win of the season – most recently, Stowers ended a 12-inning affair against Utah with a walk-off double on March 23.
- It was Stanford's eighth time with 10 or more hits in a game and third in fourth games.
- Handley's reached-base streak stretches to 24 games – he has reached base safely in all 23 games this season and in his final appearance of 2018.
- It was Beck's fifth time pitching at least 6.0 innings.