Baseball: Stanford Cardinal Frosh Cal Quantrill Blanks Jayhawks On 4 Hits In 1-0 Win

The Stanford Cardinal got freshman right-hander Cal Quantrill a run in the fourth inning. That was all the support he needed.

The Cardinal took the rubber match of their three-game weekend series at Sunken Diamond Sunday, beating the Kansas Jayhawks 1-0 behind a four-hitter by Quantrill.

Quantrill (2-2) walked two and struck out seven, throwing 126 pitches in posting the first complete game by a Stanford pitcher this season.

It was good that Quantrill was great, because Frank Duncan (2-1) was almost as good, limiting the Cardinal to just four hits.

Stanford (7-8) got the lone run of the game in the fourth. Danny Diekroeger led off with a single through the right side and moved up on a groundout by Alex Blandino. With two outs, Alex Dunlap singled up the middle to score Kiekroeger to give the Cardinal a 1-0 lead.

Quantrill made it stand up.

The freshman from Port Hope, Ontario, and the son of former major-league pitcher Paul Quantrill was the first frosh to start a Stanford opener since Mike Mussina in 1988 and he showed Sunday why coach Mark Marquess thought he had such promise.

He pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the first inning, getting Aaron Hernandez to ground out to end the threat, and got out of a possible jam in the fifth when he struck out Justin Protacio with a runner at third base.

Kansas (12-3) got a runner to third in the seventh, albeit with two outs, and Quantrill induced a groundout from Blair Beck to get out of the inning.

It got dicey again in the eighth. Pinch-hitter Michael Tinsley grounded to shortstop Drew Jackson, who threw the ball away, allowing Tinsley to get to second base. He moved up on a ground ball out, but Quantrill induced a grounder from Connor McKay to escape yet again.

In the ninth, Quantrill allowed a leadoff single to Dakota Smith, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and went to third on a balk.

Ka’iana Eldredge then staged an epic battle with the tiring freshman, grinding out an eight-pitch at-bat before grounding out to end it.

Diekroeger had two of Stanford’s four hits, while Dunlap and Tommy Edman had the other safeties.

Stanford has now won three of four games since being swept at Vanderbilt on Feb. 28-March 2. The Cardinal will take 12 days off, returning to action at home on March 21 when they host the USC Trojans at 7 p.m.