Win Streak Ends at 11Win Streak Ends at 11
Baseball

Win Streak Ends at 11

Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. – No. 2 Stanford dropped Game 2 of the three-game series against No. 1 UCLA, 11-5, on Saturday at Sunken Diamond.

"We punched back after getting hit pretty hard but we have to get off to a better start," said the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer. "UCLA did a great job of sustaining their offense. They've got a few guys swinging the bat very well right now but we have to do a better job of stopping them."

Andrew Daschbach drove in a pair of runs, accounting for two of Stanford's six hits including his third home run of the season, Duke Kinamon scored twice and Friday's hero Will Matthiessen also drove in a pair.

The Bruins (22-6-0, 8-3-0) got on the board first, plating three runs in the first inning. Jake Pries' triple scored a pair and he eventually scored on a single through the right side, but the Cardinal (20-4-0, 7-1-0) responded with a run of its own in the home half. Daschbach lined a single through the left side with two outs, scoring Kinamon.

Starter Jacob Palisch worked a one-two-three second and stranded a runner in the third before Stanford took its first lead of the day in the bottom of the third. Brandon Wulff drew a bases-loaded, two-out walk, and Matthiessen's single through the left side scored Kinamon and Nick Bellafronto.

UCLA regained the lead in the fourth with a two-run blast off the bat of Michael Toglia, chasing Palisch from the game after 3.0+ innings – Palisch was charged with five runs, all earned, on seven hit with three strikeouts. Alex Williams relieved him and, aided by another amazing play in center field by Kyle Stowers, put away all three Bruins he faced to end the inning.

In the fifth, UCLA added four more runs after Zach Grech replaced Williams – Williams lasted 1.0 inning, charged with two earned runs on two hits. Chase Strumpf doubled down the left-field line to score Garrett Mitchell, Pries added another with a sacrifice fly, Jack Stronach doubled home Strumpf and Michael Toglia grounded into a fielders' choice to score Stronach.

Daschbach led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run to make it 9-5, his third of the season and fourth in his career against UCLA – Daschbach homered three times in last year's three-game series at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. The Bruins got the run back and more in the seventh, courtesy of Toglia's double to score Strumpf and Stronach.

Grech, who allowed three earned on five hits in 2.1 innings, was relieved by Carson Rudd, who stranded a runner on second to limit the damage to two runs in the seventh. After Stanford went down in order in the home half, Rudd worked a scoreless eighth with his second strikeout of the day. Rudd returned to work a scoreless ninth, finishing 2.2 shutout innings with three strikeouts before the Cardinal went away quietly in the bottom of the ninth to wrap up the contest.

No. 2 Stanford wraps up its three-game series with No. 1 UCLA on Sunday at 1 p.m. Erik Miller is expected to start for the Cardinal against UCLA's Ryan Garcia. Live streaming and statistics will be available at GoStanford.com.

Cardinal Notes

  • Maverick Handley's reached-base streak ended at 24 games – he had reached base safely in all 23 games this season and in his final appearance of 2018.
  • Matthiessen has reached base safely in 11 straight games and Daschbach rides a 10-game reached-base streak into Sunday.