STANFORD, Calif. – Junior Brock Jones scampered home from third base on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning, handing No. 22 Stanford (18-10) a 6-5 walk-off victory over San Francisco (17-19) on Tuesday night from Sunken Diamond.
Jones, who reached on a four-pitch walk to start the frame, moved to third on a two-out single from freshman Braden Montgomery. With Joe Lomuscio at the plate, the first offering from USF's Adam Shew skipped off the catcher Michael Campagna and got away far enough for Jones to come home without a play.
Weston Lombard, who issued the free pass to Jones, was charged with the loss and fell to 2-3 on the season.
Jones finished the game 0 for 2, but drew three walks and scored twice while hitting out of the leadoff spot in the order.
The single from Montgomery was his third hit of the night and capped a 3 for 5 effort that included a pair of doubles. Montgomery has now hit safely in four straight games.
Junior Brett Barrera also managed a pair of doubles to highlight a 2 for 5 night at the plate.
Stanford finished the game with six extra-base hits – including a two-run home run from Carter Graham. The round-tripper, which tied the game at two in the first inning, was Graham's team-leading eighth of the season. Graham would add a sacrifice fly in the second inning for his third RBI of the night. With the homer, Graham has now hit safely in seven straight games and 22 of his last 23 overall. The native of Los Angeles has hit safely in all but three games this season.
Hitting and pitching on Tuesday night, Montgomery got the start and tossed the first three innings for the Cardinal. The native of Madison, Mississippi struck out a career-best five batters over a career-high three innings of work.
After giving up two runs in the first on a double from Gabe Giosso and a wild pitch, the Cardinal rallied for three in the first and two more in the second to open up a 5-2 advantage.
Single runs against relievers Nathan Fleischli, Brandt Pancer and Joey Dixon in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings brought USF back even at 5-5 headed to the seventh.
The two teams traded scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth before Ryan Bruno contributed his second scoreless inning of work in the top of the ninth. The left-hander struck out a pair and walked two over his two innings on the hill, eventually earning the victory and moving to 2-0 following Stanford's heroics in the home half of the ninth.
Including the five from Montgomery, and four more from Dixon over his two innings, Stanford pitching struck out a season-high tying 16 batters. The strikeout total matched the 16 vs. Oregon on March 12.
Stanford, which trails frontrunners Oregon State, UCLA and Arizona by a game in the Pac-12 standings, will travel to No. 12 UCLA to face the Bruins in a three-game series starting on Thursday at 7 p.m.
