Stanford Sinks in the NinthStanford Sinks in the Ninth
John P. Lozano/isiphotos.com
Baseball

Stanford Sinks in the Ninth

TEMPE, Ariz. – No. 4 Stanford surrendered four runs in the bottom of the ninth to drop a 6-5 decision to Arizona State on Thursday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

"This was a tough loss but we need to pick ourselves up off the ground sometimes," said the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer. "Tomorrow we'll have to come out hungry to rebound, but this is baseball, and baseball can be cruel. The rest of the series is an opportunity for us to show our character as a team heading into the postseason."

Five Cardinal finished with two hits, led by Nick Bellafronto and Andrew Daschbach, who each homered, but Stanford squandered opportunities late in the game to extend the lead, ultimately coming up short in the final frame. It was the first loss of the season for Stanford when leading after eight innings – the Cardinal entered the series 36-0 when leading through eight.

The Cardinal (39-11-0, 20-7-0 Pac-12) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening frame with a pair of two-out, RBI singles. Andrew Daschbach poked a two-strike pitch through the middle to score Kyle Stowers and Duke Kinamon's liner into left-centerfield brought in Will Matthiessen. The Sun Devils (37-15-0, 16-11-0) had a golden opportunity to post a crooked number on the board, loading the bases with no outs. Arizona State scored on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly before Beck retired the next two batters he faced to keep the score at 2-1.

Beck allowed a lead-off single in the second but got three consecutive outs for a scoreless frame. Beck upped his strikeout total to four in the third, striking out Hunter Bishop before working through a pair of two-out singles and striking out Gage Workman to end the inning.

Bellafronto's solo home run to left field made it 3-1, but Arizona State clawed back with a run in the home half. Trevor Hauver's single up the middle made it 3-2 but Beck stranded three base runners with help from Christian Robinson, who made an exceptional diving play charging from centerfield for the final out to save at least two runs.

Jacob Palisch relieved Beck (4.1 innings pitched, seven hits, two runs and five strikeouts) with one out in the bottom of the fifth, stranding two runners with an inning-ending strikeout before Daschbach's solo shot restored the Cardinal's two-run advantage in the sixth. Daschbach led off the inning with his 16th long ball of the season, a sky-high blast beyond the left-field fence.

Stanford pitched through trouble again in the home half. Palisch got two outs before Zach Grech took over with two runners on base, striking out Lyle Lin to end the inning. Stanford squandered an opportunity in the seventh, loading the bases with nobody out with the next three batters going down in order. Grech returned to work the bottom of the seventh, pitching through a lead-off single to get a double-play grounder and a fly ball to centerfield.

In the eighth, Stanford tacked on an insurance run with another two-out RBI single. Stowers fought off an inside fastball and looped one into right field to score Bellafronto, who reached base with a one-out double into the left-centerfield gap. Grech worked a one-two-three eighth, Stanford went down in order in the top of the ninth and Jack Little entered for the bottom of the ninth.

Alika Williams' single scored Bishop to make it a two-run game and Gage Workman's double scored Williams to make it 5-4 with nobody out. A pair of sacrifice flies was all the Sun Devils needed to seal the win with pinch hitter Miles Denson registering the game-winning sacrifice.

With Stanford and Oregon State both losing on Thursday night, UCLA clinched the Pac-12 conference championship with a 4-2 win at Oregon.

No. 4 Stanford continues its three-game series with Arizona State on Friday at 6 p.m. PT with Jr. Will Matthiessen scheduled to take the mound for the Cardinal. Stanford's regular season concludes on Saturday at Noon – both games will broadcast live on Pac-12 Networks with live statistics available at GoStanford.com.

Cardinal Notes

  • Stanford drops to 18-4 in games played away from Sunken Diamond.
  • Stanford has hit at least one home run in 20-of-22 games with 57 homers and 16 multi-homer outings in 26 games. The Cardinal entered the series co-leading Pac-12 play with 44.
  • The Cardinal had double-digit hits for the 22nd time this season and 12th time in 19 games.
  • Stanford played error-free defense for the 21st time this season and ninth time in 12 games.