BRIGHTON, Mass. – Sophomore Joey Volchko twirled a gem on Friday night as he teamed with fellow sophomore Aidan Keenan to lead the Cardinal (23-19, 8-17 ACC) to a 2-0 shutout victory over Boston College (22-25, 9-16 ACC) in the opener of a three-game ACC series.
Volchko, who improved to 3-3 on the season, allowed a single in the first inning to put runners at the corners with two outs, but did not allow another hit until a one-out single from Josiah Ragsdale in the sixth.
Leading 1-0, the right-hander wiggled out of a jam in that sixth inning, as a wild pitch and an errant throw moved Ragsdale to third with only one out. Volchko got Gunnar Johnson looking for a strikeout and the second out, but walked a batter to put runners at the corners. Digging his heels in, Volchko induced a ground ball to second base to end the threat and maintain the one-run advantage. The native of Visalia, Calif. finished his night having tossed six shutout frames, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out six.
Volchko handed the ball to Keenan in the seventh and the right-hander retired nine of his 10 batters faced – the only blemish being a one-out single in the ninth inning. Keenan recorded a career-best seven of his nine outs via the strikeout, including punching out the side in the final frame to secure the shutout and lock up his fifth save of the year.
The seven punchouts surpassed Keenan’s previous career high of six in a game vs. Notre Dame on April 20 of this season.
In support of Volchko, the Cardinal offense broke the scoreless game in the third inning when Ethan Hott doubled, moved to third on a ground ball and came in to score on a two-out single from Trevor Haskins.
The duo of Hott and Haskins finished with six of Stanford’s eight hits, as Hott went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored, and Haskins was 3-for-4 with the RBI.
Stanford had an opportunity to add some insurance in the eighth inning, loading the bases with two outs, but Rintaro Sasaki struck out to end the threat. The play was far from routine as Sasaki swung at a pitch that got to the backstop, but Haskins did not break from third, allowing the Boston College catcher to retrieve the ball and step on the plate for the out.
Still leading 1-0 headed to the ninth, the Cardinal managed to push across a huge insurance run as Temo Becerra singled to start the inning before coming around on a one-out RBI-double inside the bag at third off the bat of Charlie Saum.
The shutout victory was Stanford’s fourth of the season.
Stanford will look to clinch the series victory on Saturday when the series continues at 11 a.m. PT.