After a slow start for the Cardinal, which were held scoreless until the fifth inning, Stanford beat the University of San Francisco 5-3 on Tuesday night.
Momentum shifted with the first out of the fifth inning, with a great snag by freshman infielder Mikey Diekroeger. The Cardinal then regained their rhythm offensively when Jack Klein hit a single that brought home Matt Winaker for Stanford’s first run of the night to tie the game 1-1.
Things started sliding downhill again for Stanford in the seventh inning, however, when USF’s Ross Puskarich advanced to second on a wild pitch by Joey Starling. Aaron Ping then hit a double to left-center, scoring Puskarich. An RBI single by Michael Eaton then put the Dons back up by two.
The Card came back from this two-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh after a combination of poor San Francisco defense and good hitting by Stanford.
Both Winaker and Alex Dunlap were walked and Klein laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Winaker and Dunlap. Jesse Kuet, who was pinch-hitting for catcher Bryce Carter, singled to score Winaker. Tommy Edman hit another single, advancing Dunlap, who then scored a run after a dropped fly ball by USF infielder Aaron Ping. Stanford added two more runs on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.
Contact Laura Stickells at lauraczs ‘at’ stanford.edu.