STANFORD, Calif. – Andrew Daschbach made history as the first Cardinal to ever hit four home runs in a game, leading No. 3 Stanford to a 7-1 win over Cal Poly on Tuesday night.
"I've never seen a performance like that in my entire career as a coach, nor as a player," said the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer. "Daschbach picked up the team on his shoulders tonight, and we certainly needed it tonight when we were lacking other forms of offense. The next two weekends will be against Super Regional-quality teams, so it will give us a chance to test ourselves and figure out what we need to do to win in the postseason."
Daschbach left the yard in all four plate appearances, finishing with 16 total bases and five RBI while homering off of four different Cal Poly pitchers. Starting pitcher Alex Williams was phenomenal, allowing one run on four hits in a career-high 7.2 innings, striking out three without allowing a walk.
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Williams worked two scoreless frames before Stanford took an early lead. Daschbach led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run to left field, his 12th long ball of the season to make it 1-0, and Bellafronto doubled off the wall in left to bring in Tawa and double the lead – Tawa also reached base with a two-out double of his own.
Williams continued to work quickly and effectively, retiring the side in order in the third before allowing his first hits of the day in the fourth. The Mustangs strung together back-to-back two-out singles but Williams struck out Nick DiCarlo to strand both runners. In the home half, Daschbach hit his second of the game, a towering shot to right field, to make it 3-0.
Williams continued his excellent outing with two more one-two-three innings in the fifth and sixth inning, retiring his seventh batter in a row to finish the sixth. In the home half, Daschbach padded the lead with his third home run of the game, a two-run blast to left field – Daschbach became the first Cardinal to hit three home runs in a game since Edmund Muth hit three on June 15, 2000.
After another scoreless, one-two-three inning from Williams, Stanford tacked on another run in the bottom of the seventh with Bellafronto scoring on a fielders' choice. Williams allowed a one-out single in the eighth, getting the second out of the inning before making way for Zach Grech. Grech allowed a two-out double for Cal Poly's first run of the game to make it 6-1 but stranded a pair of runners after getting an inning-ending fly out to left field.
In the home half, Daschbach put a bow on his historic night, blasting his fourth home run of the game to right-centerfield. Daschbach upped his season total to 15 in the process – 11 of his home runs have come in the last 16 games.
Austin Weiermiller relieved Grech for the ninth, striking out a pair en route to a one-two-three inning to earn the win with Stanford improving to 9-1 in midweek games this season.
No. 3 Stanford continues Pac-12 play when it welcomes No. 11 Oregon State to Sunken Diamond this weekend, starting Friday at 6 p.m. and continuing Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at Noon. All three games will broadcast live on Pac-12 Networks with live statistics available at GoStanford.com.
Cardinal Notes
- It was Daschbach's second multi-home run game of the season, upping his career total to 32, which leads all active Cardinal. Daschbach is the first Cardinal since June 15, 2000, to hit at least three in a game (Edmund Muth) and the only player in Division I baseball this season to hit four.
- Daschbach is the second player in Pac-12 history to hit four home runs -- UCLA's Bill Scott hit four in a game against Washington on March 30, 1999.
- Daschbach's 16 total bases were the most of any Pac-12 player in a game by five – Daschbach had 11 total bases in a win at Oregon (April 19). No other Pac-12 player has homered three or more times in a game this season.
- Stanford has hit at least one home run in 18-of-19 games with 54 in its last 23 games. It was the 18th game of hitting multiple home runs and 15th time in 23 games.
- Williams is the second Cardinal pitcher to throw at least 7.2 innings – Brendan Beck tossed 8.0 innings against Texas (March 7).