Baseball: Stanford Cardinal Holds On For 6-4 Win Over USF Dons
By Phil Watson
The Stanford Cardinal put up three runs in the first inning and three more in the fifth, then hung on to beat the USF Dons Tuesday night at Sunken Diamond 6-4.
The Cardinal (4-4) jumped on USF starter Grant Goodman in the bottom of the first. Tommy Edman walked and Danny Diekroeger singled through the right side of the infielder to get the inning started, with both runners moving up on Austin Slater’s sacrifice bunt.
Alex Blandino then yanked a double down the left field line to chase home Edman and Diekroeger to give Stanford a quick 2-0 lead. Blandino then stole third and after a walk and a strikeout, Alex Dunlap reached on an infield single up the middle that scored Blandino to make it 3-0.
That’s where it stayed into the fifth. Slater reached on a one-out infield single and moved all the way to third on a groundout by Blandino. Brett Michael Doran ripped a double down the line in left to score Slater to put Stanford up 4-0, knocking Goodman out of the game. Wayne Taylor greeted reliever Thomas Cox with another double to left to plate Doran and Dunlap picked up his second RBI of the game with a single through the left side of the infield to chase home Taylor.
The Dons (3-5) finally got something going in the top of the sixth. Nico Giarratano led off with a double to right and moved up to third on a groundout. After a walk, Derek Atkinson got USF on the board with a single to score Giarratano. One out later, Brendan Hendriks laced a double to right field to score Zack Turner and Atkinson to cut the Cardinal lead to 6-3, with all the runs in the inning being charged to reliever Logan James.
Tyler Thorne came on to close it out in the ninth for Stanford and got two quick outs before things got dicey.
Pinch-hitter Cody Snider singled up the middle and moved up a base on a wild pitch. After a walk to Harrison Bruce, Matt Sinatro singled to center to score Snider and put the tying run on base. But Thorne got Giarratano to ground out to shortstop Drew Jackson, who got the out at second to end the game.
Cal Quantrill (1-2) got his first win, working three innings and allowing just a hit and a walk while striking out one. Thorne got his first save of the season despite needing 31 pitches to get through the ninth.
Goodman (0-1) took the loss for USF, allowing five runs on six hits in 4.2 innings, walking two and fanning four.
The Cardinal will be back on the road this weekend, heading to Nashville, Tenn., for a three-game series with Vanderbilt Friday, Saturday and Sunday. First pitch Friday is set for 2 p.m. Pacific.