SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Earning a split of the season series between the two teams, Stanford (18-19) defeated Santa Clara (14-25) 6-4 on Wednesday from Stephen Schott Stadium.
The game was a makeup contest after Monday’s contest was rained out.
The Cardinal jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings, plating a trio of runs in the second inning before Rintaro Sasaki belted his team-leading 13th home run of the season in the third. The round-tripper was Sasaki’s third in as many games.
A bases-loaded walk to Brock Sell – the first of three walks drawn by the freshman – put Stanford on the board in the second before a sac fly from Cort MacDonald drove Santa Clara’s center fielder into the fence and allowed both Jimmy Nati and Nolan Stoll, who started the play on second base, to score on a sacrifice fly.
Freshman Brock Ketelsen turned in a strong start in the midweek bullpen game. The left-hander worked the first three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out three.
Santa Clara managed to cut the deficit to two with a pair of runs in the fourth, and clawed to within a run at 4-3 with two outs on a double by Luke Devine in the seventh, but reliever Trevor Moore entered and shut the door on the rally to keep the Cardinal lead intact.
Having seen its 4-0 cushion dwindled to a run, the Cardinal got a jolt off the bench from pinch hitter Brady Reynolds in the eighth. Hitting for Stoll with a runner at first and one out, Reynolds unloaded on the first pitch he saw for an opposite-field two-run home run that handed Stanford a 6-3 lead.
The Broncos again responded with a run in the eighth, but Kassius Thomas entered in the ninth and retired the side without incident to record his first save of the season and seal the victory.
Stanford will return to action on Friday at 6:05 p.m. when it opens a three-game ACC series against No. 8 Florida State from Sunken Diamond.