STANFORD, Calif. – Trailing 4-3 headed to the bottom of the ninth inning, Stanford managed to load the bases with two outs, but Miami closer Ryan Bilka slammed the door on the Cardinal (16-19, 6-11 ACC) as the Hurricanes (29-10, 10-7 ACC) clinched the series with a 4-3 win in game two on Saturday from Sunken Diamond.
Bilka, who entered following a two-out walk in the ninth, allowed a single to Eric Jeon and a walk to Rintaro Sasaki to load the bases. The right-hander got ahead of freshman Teddy Tokheim 0-1 and induced a slow roller to third that was handled by Daniel Cuvet to end the game.
After Miami got on the board first with a run in the second inning, Stanford took its first lead of the series with a three-run bottom of the third inning. A Tatum Marsh single and an error charged to left fielder Dylan Dubovik allowed the first run to score before Sasaki unloaded on his 11th home run of the season to drive in two more. The round-tripper, which came two batters after Luke Lavin had a home run robbed in center field by Fabio Peralta, came on Sasaki’s 21st birthday and traveled 396 feet out to right field.
Still trailing 3-1 after five innings, Miami strung together three two-out hits to plate three runs and take the 4-3 lead. Alonzo Alvarez singled through the right side to get the ball rolling before Vance Sheahan laced a double into right-center field to chase home Alvarez from first. Dubovik put the cap on the three-run inning one play later, launching his sixth home run of the year out to left field for the eventual game-winner.
Stanford had a golden opportunity to at least tie the game in the seventh, but a baserunning blunder thwarted all the momentum and allowed Miami to escape unscathed. T. Marsh and Lavin put together back-to-back one-out singles, pushing runners to the corners. Freshman Philip Cheong replaced Lavin on the bases and promptly stole second base. Following a mound visit and an offensive timeout, Jeon worked the count full en route to drawing a walk that loaded the bases. Sasaki came to the plate and delivered a sinking line drive to right field, but Marsh went halfway from third and Cheong attempted to tag from second. In the confusion that ensued following the catch, Miami routed the relay to second to double-off Cheong and end the inning.
Stanford’s pitching staff once again was effective on Saturday, as six Cardinal hurlers combined to limit Miami to four runs on seven hits while the Cardinal defense committed three errors behind them. Left-hander Sam Garewal was impressive as the first reliever out of the pen, tossing three scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Cohen Gomez was ultimately saddled with the loss after allowing three runs over one inning, as the right-hander dropped to 3-1 on the year.
The Cardinal will look to salvage the series on Sunday when the three-game set concludes at 1:05 p.m.