STANFORD, Calif. – Alex Williams threw Stanford's first complete game in two years to lift the Cardinal to a must-win, 12-3 triumph of Sacramento State on Sunday at Sunken Diamond.
Williams (W, 8-1) struck out a career-high eight batters while allowing three runs on six hits, becoming the first Stanford pitcher since Chris Castellanos (June 3, 2017) to throw a complete game. Brandon Wulff, Will Matthiessen, Kyle Stowers and Nick Bellafronto each homered, advancing Stanford to the Regional final against Fresno State at 6 p.m. Stanford must win today and beat the Bulldogs again on Monday to advance to the Super Regional round.
The Cardinal (43-12-0) got on the board quickly through Wulff's home run, a no-doubter to left-centerfield which scored Maverick Handley to make it 2-0, and Williams cruised through three Hornets (40-25-0) in the home half for a shutdown inning.
We needed a big outing from our freshman RHP Alex Williams and, boy, we got one. ?? He sets a career high with 8 strikeouts, tossing Stanford's first complete game since Chris Castellanos' CG in the Stanford Regional on 6/3/17. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/Idcpswt4LA
— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) June 2, 2019
Stanford plated another run in the second courtesy of Stowers, who roped a two-out single up the middle to score Duke Kinamon and push the lead to 3-0. Williams issued a lead-off walk in the bottom half but retired the next three batters, striking out the final two.
Matthiessen's solo shot pushed the lead to 4-0 in the top of the third inning before Williams pitched through a hit batsman and an error in the bottom half, picking up his third strikeout in the process. Stanford added an unearned run in the fourth as Tim Tawa, who reached on an error, scored on a passed ball, but Sacramento State responded with its first run of the game on a fielders' choice to make it 5-1.
Williams added two more strikeouts in the fifth before pitching through a jam in the sixth. The Hornets put their first two batters aboard but Williams induced a four-six-three double play and a six-three putout to hang a zero on the scoreboard.
.@nickbellafronto nearly cleared the batters' eye with this monster HR, his 6th of the season and 2nd in as many days. Stanford hit 4+ HR for the 8th time this season in today's 12-3 win over Sacramento State. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/RNtqbfzY7x
— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) June 2, 2019
Williams' hard work paid off as Stanford plated seven runs in the seventh. Stowers' solo shot led off the inning to make it 6-1 and Matthiessen's one-out single scored Wulff, who reached on a walk before taking two bases on a wild pitch. Kinamon's double brought in Matthiessen and Daschbach followed him home on Tawa's infield single, making it 9-1. Bellafronto's three-run blast off the batters' eye blew the game wide open, pushing the score to 12-1.
The Hornets fought back in the bottom of the seventh as Matt Smith hit a two-run home run to make it 12-3, but Williams retired the next two batters. In the eighth, Williams added two more strikeouts, upping his career high to eight. Williams retired all three batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth, finishing the game with career highs in innings pitched (9.0), strikeouts (8) and pitches (109).
Cardinal Notes
- Wulff's 19th home run of the season leads the team and ties Joe Borchard (2000) for ninth on Stanford's all-time single-season list.
- Stanford has homered in 25-of-27 games with multiple home runs in 16 of those games. The Cardinal has hit 69 long balls in 31 games.
- The Cardinal hit four or more homers for the eighth time this season, upping its total in the Regional to 10.