No. 20 Stanford Blanks PacificNo. 20 Stanford Blanks Pacific
John P. Lozano/isiphotos.com
Baseball

No. 20 Stanford Blanks Pacific

STANFORD, Calif. – Five Stanford pitchers combined to shut out Pacific on Wednesday night as the No. 20 Cardinal (20-6) managed a 2-0 victory over the Tigers (8-21) from Sunken Diamond.

The shutout win was the second of the season for Stanford.

Freshman Joey Dixon earned the start on a staff day, tossing the first three scoreless frames and limiting Pacific to just two hits and a walk to eventually earn his first collegiate victory.

Senior Jacob Palisch and freshman Brandt Pancer followed with two scoreless innings apiece before freshman Tommy O'Rourke contributed a scoreless eighth.

Leading 2-0 headed to the ninth, the Cardinal passed the baton to closer Zach Grech. The right-hander allowed a single, but induced a game-ending double play to lock up his national-best 10th save of the year.

The Cardinal plated single runs in the third and seventh innings, with freshman Drew Bowser utilizing a productive out to put Stanford on the board first. Junior Vincent Martinez added the insurance run in the seventh, punching an RBI-single over a drawn in infield to chase home Brock Jones. Jones, who went 1 for 2 with two walks, had doubled and stole third to set the table.

First baseman Brett Barrera contributed two of Stanford's eight hits, finishing 2 for 4.

Stanford will return to Pac-12 play this weekend when it travels to Arizona State for a three-game series starting on Friday at 6:35 p.m. PT.