Baseball: Stanford Cardinal Passes First Road Test With 9-3 Win Over San Jose State Spartans

The Stanford Cardinal broke open a tie game with a five-run fifth inning and went on to beat the San Jose State Spartans Tuesday night 9-3 at Municipal Stadium for their second straight win. It was the Spartans’ third straight loss.

With the score tied 3-3, Wayne Taylor led off the top of the fifth with a single to right off Spartans reliever Ross Slaney. Taylor moved up on a wild pitch and went to third when Danny Diekroeger grounded a single through the right side of the infield.

That brought a pitching change, with right-hander Jackson Berumen coming on in relief of Slaney. Alex Blandino grounded a ball to third base that Sheldon Daquioag mishandled, allowing Taylor to score the go-ahead run. Austin Slater then doubled into the right-center field gap to bring in two more runs to make it 6-3. Brant Whiting walked and Zach Hoffpauir was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Drew Jackson lined to left field, deep enough to score Slater.

Staked to an 8-3 lead, freshman Tyler Thorne had all the support he needed to pick up his first collegiate win. Thorne went six innings, allowing three runs—one earned—and four hits with a walk and four strikeouts for Stanford (2-2), which is the only team in the nation to start a freshman in each of its first four games this season.

The Cardinal bullpen had its second straight scoreless outing, with Logan James allowing a hit and fanning two in two innings of work and Griffin Weir pitching a scoreless ninth despite hitting two batters.

Stanford opened the scoring in the second inning. Slater reached on an error by shortstop Michael Breen with one out, moved to third on a single by Whiting, with both runners chased home by Brett Michael Doran’s triple into left field.

The Spartans (1-3) tied it with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the frame. Matt Carroll reached to lead off the inning when Thorne couldn’t handle a feed from first baseman Diekroeger. Thorne then walked Brett Bautista. Matt Lopez singled to left center to score Carroll and Alec de Watteville followed with a sac fly to tie the game.

San Jose State took the lead in the bottom of the third when Andre Mercurio led off with a triple down the right field line and scored on a throwing error by second baseman Tommy Edman.

The Cardinal tied it in the fourth. Slater led off with a walk, went to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Doran’s single to center.

Stanford capped the scoring in the eighth inning on a double by Diekroeger, a single by Blandino and a sac fly by Slater.

Slaney (0-1) took the loss for the Spartans, working two-plus innings in relief and allowing three runs—two earned—on five hits and two walks with one strikeout. Starter Carter Johnson worked the first two innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on three hits while fanning two.

Mercurio had two hits for San Jose State. Doekroeger was 3-for-4 for the Cardinal, while Slater and Doran each drove in three runs.

Stanford will be on the road for three games over the weekend, visiting Texas on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday’s first pitch is set for 4 p.m. Pacific.