Despite a slow start, No. 3 Stanford baseball (29-6, 13-2 Pac-12) found its fifth consecutive win on Tuesday night, defeating San Jose State (18-23, 12-9 MW) to the tune of 15-7. Stanford has now scored 56 runs over their last four games, and this is the ninth multi-home run game of their last 11.
Freshman Alex Williams got the start on the mound for the Cardinal, allowing six runs on eight hits in 6.0 innings.
The Cardinal stumbled early, giving up an unearned run in the first and a three-run homer in the third. While the offense was slow to pick up, Stanford’s defense kept SJSU production to a minimum. Junior center fielder Kyle Stowers made a incredible diving catch in the second for the first out of the inning.
The inning closed behind a Nick-to-Nick connection. Sophomore right fielder Nick Brueser launched a rocket from right field to redshirt junior third baseman Nick Bellafronto, who tagged out San Jose State’s runner.
After a sprinkler delay at the inning change, the Cardinal got their first run on the board, after a Brueser sacrifice fly scored junior DH Will Matthiessen. Stanford continued to challenge, drawing a series of walks to bring redshirt junior second baseman Duke Kinamon to the plate with bases load and two outs. SJC survived the inning, however, keeping the game tied at one.
In the top of the third, the Spartans’ Troy Viola unleashed a three-run homer to send SJS to a 4-1 lead. Stanford responded at the bottom of the frame behind a three-run homer from junior first baseman Andrew Daschbach, marking his fifth home run in the last four games.
Brueser followed with a home run of his own, his second in a Cardinal uniform. His first came Monday in Stanford’s 11-10 comeback win against Gonzaga. The ball traveled 429 feet, leaving the bat at 26 degrees and 111 miles per hour.
The inning continued for the Cardinal, as a two-out Bellafronto double plated Kinamon, who also hit a double to score Bellafronto and bring the score to 6-4 in Stanford’s favor. The five-run inning gave Stanford a lead that was never relinquished.
In the bottom of the fourth, a pair of singles from Stowers and junior catcher Maverick Handley brought senior Brandon Wulff to the plate with runners at the corners and zero outs. Wulff hit his 13th homer of the season, extending the lead to 9-4 before Matthiessen scored the team’s 10th run of the day with a solo-hit. The Cardinal have now produced double-digit scorelines in each of the last four games, culminating in 13 on the season.
The Cardinal scored another three runs in the fifth, behind a wild pitch and back-to-back RBI doubles from Handley and Wulff to extended the Cardinal lead to 13-5.
Stanford and SJS each found two more runners before the end of the game, including a two-run homer from Kinamon in the bottom of the eighth to bring the final score to 15-7.
Matthiessen and Handley finished 3-for-5 with three scores apiece, while Kinamon finished 3-for-4 with a pair of runs and three RBIs. Stowers added two runs to his season total, finishing 2-for-5 on the night, as Bellafronto went 2-for-3 and reaching base four times.
Stanford improved their all-time record against SJC to 29-7 and will look to host Arizona in a three-game series April 26 to April 28.
Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.