OMAHA, Neb. – Playing an elimination game from the College World Series on Monday, Stanford (39-16) defeated Arizona (45-18) 14-5 to survive and advance to play on Wednesday.
The Cardinal bats exploded for seven runs on seven hits in the third inning, and added three more in the fourth, to open up a 10-0 advantage early.
Junior Brock Jones, who finished 3 for 6 with two runs scored and five RBIs, contributed a two-RBI double to put the Cardinal on the board before Kody Huff punched a single through the left side to make it 3-0. Drew Bowser came to the plate with two in scoring position and two outs later in the frame, delivering a two-RBI single to run the tally to 5-0. Freshman Tommy Troy capped the seven-run frame with his 10th homer of the year – a two-run shot to left-center field.
Eddie Park and Tim Tawa each singled to start the fourth inning, setting the table for RBI-hits from Huff and Christian Robinson – the latter a two-RBI double to cap the three-run frame and push Stanford into double digit scoring.
Robinson, Huff, Tawa and Bowser each joined Jones with three hits, with Huff and Bowser scoring twice and driving in two. The Cardinal finished with 20 hits on the afternoon - the most by any team in a CWS game since the move to TD Ameritrade Park (2011) and the most for the Cardinal in a College World Series game.
Pitching with a lead, junior Alex Williams kept the pressure on Arizona, retiring nine of the first 10 through three innings. The right-hander ran into a bit of trouble in the fourth, issuing back-to-back walks with one out before allowing a two-RBI double to Daniel Susac to make it a 10-2 game.
Williams would eventually toss 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts, to pick up the victory and move to 5-2 on the season.
Senior Jacob Palisch was the only reliever used by the Cardinal on Monday, entering the game with out and a runner at second in the sixth after Susac connected for an RBI-double to left-center field to end Williams' day.
Palisch surrendered a triple to Kobe Kato to plate Arizona's fourth run of the game before Tanner O'Tremba lofted a sacrifice fly to right-center field to cut the deficit to 10-5 after six innings.
Refusing to surrender the momentum, Stanford responded for four runs in the seventh – highlighted by a three-run home run from Jones. The round-tripper was the 17th of the season for Cardinal centerfielder.
Palisch worked around a couple runners in the seventh and eighth innings, inducing a pair of double plays to hang zeroes in both frames. He returned to the hill in the ninth, retiring the side in order to convert his second save of the year.
Palisch logged the final 3 2/3 innings, allowing just the one run on three hits with a strikeout.
Stanford will advance to play the loser of NC State and Vanderbilt on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in another elimination game.