BLACKSBURG, Va. – Knotted at 3-3 in the 10th inning, Stanford scored three times, including two on a go-ahead RBI-single from freshman Teddy Tokheim, to earn a 6-3 victory in the rubber game of a three-game series at Virginia Tech on Sunday.
Senior Cort MacDonald legged out an infield single to start the top of the 10th, but Stanford still had a runner at first with two outs after a pair of fielder’s choice outs. Freshman Brock Sell kept the inning alive and moved runners to second and third with a ground-rule double that bounced just inside the chalk line in left and skipped over the side wall. Virginia Tech elected to intentionally walk Rintaro Sasaki – one of three walks for Sasaki in the game – to get to Tokheim, and the freshman made the decision hurt by lining a two-RBI single back up the box. The Cardinal tacked on one more insurance run on a Charlie Bates single, running the tally to 6-3.
Bates’ RBI-single in the 10th capped a 3-for-6 day for the sophomore, while Tokheim went 2-for-5.
Stanford managed to force extra innings by escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the ninth. After allowing a one-out double and a pair of walks, senior Trevor Moore dug his heels in to record a strikeout and a lineout to strand the bases loaded.
Moore would eventually earn the victory and move to 4-1 on the year after working the final three scoreless innings and allowing just one hit and three walks with three strikeouts.
The two teams combined to strand 30 runners on Sunday, with Stanford leaving 13 and Virginia Tech 17 on the other side. The Cardinal left them loaded in the fifth and seventh, while the Hokies left the bases loaded in the third, fifth and ninth.
Stanford scored a run in three of the first four innings on Sunday, with Luke Lavin driving in a run in the second with a single before connecting for a go-ahead solo homer in the fourth. The round-tripper, which handed the Cardinal a 3-2 lead to that point, was Lavin’s fourth of the season and ran Stanford’s home run streak to 18 consecutive games – the longest such run since the Cardinal hit 52 homers over 18 straight games from May 1 to June 3, 2022.
After Virginia Tech drew even in the fifth, neither team was able to push anything across over the next four innings – combining to strand 10 runners over the span.
Seven Cardinal pitchers bent without breaking on Sunday afternoon, teaming to walk 10 while striking out 13 and allowing just the three runs (two earned) on nine hits. Senior Toran O’Harran worked two scoreless innings and struck out three, Mike Erspamer tossed a 1-2-3 seventh inning, including two strikeouts, and Moore worked the final three as the last three arms used for the Cardinal.
The three-game series win was Stanford’s first in ACC play and its second consecutive series win overall after sweeping a four-game set over Utah Valley last weekend.
The Cardinal will now return home to host Clemson in a three-game ACC series beginning Friday at 6:05 p.m.