The Stanford baseball team (23-17, 10-8) got back to its winning ways early this week, beating a pair of teams it is expected to beat: Santa Clara and San Jose State.
The Cardinal entered the week on a four-game losing streak and out of the national rankings.
A group of freshmen led the Cardinal to victory on both Monday against Santa Clara and Tuesday against San Jose State.
On Monday, it was a pair of freshman pitchers — Dean McArdle and Mark Appel — that paced Stanford’s 8-3 victory by keeping the Bronco hitters at bay. McArdle (3-0) got the start and went four innings, allowing just two runs on five hits. Appel then came in and pitched the final five innings for his second career save. Appel was utterly dominant in his first three innings of work, before allowing a run in the top of the eighth and then settling down to finish the game.
The Cardinal offense was led by a pair of players that have only been used part-time this season: junior outfielder Dave Giuliani and junior catcher Ben Clowe.
Giuliani drove a two-out 3-2 pitch deep over the trees behind the right field fence in the bottom of the third, extending the Stanford lead at the time to 7-0. The home run was the first of Giuliani’s career.
“When I get a chance, it’s nice to do something to help the team win,” Giuliani said. “Most of the time when I’m in the game, it’s as a defensive replacement and I don’t do that much, so it’s nice to contribute to the wins.”
Clowe got the start behind the plate as junior Zach Jones was given the day off, since the Cardinal had games on five consecutive days. Clowe took full advantage of his opportunity by getting a pair of hits, including an RBI double down the right field line to cap the Stanford scoring in the bottom of the seventh.
Freshman Kenny Diekroeger — who moved over from third base to shortstop for the games as the everyday shortstop, junior Jake Schlander, recovers from a broken right pinky he suffered at Washington this weekend — also continued to play well, scoring three runs. It is unclear how long Schlander will be out, but the injury is not believed to be serious.
Diekroeger picked up where he left off on Tuesday, leading the Cardinal hit parade with three in a 10-7 victory. The star freshman now has a 14-game hitting streak.
Tuesday’s win was littered with three Cardinal home runs. The first was a solo shot by Jones in the bottom of the second, extending the Cardinal lead to 2-0. Freshman Stephen Piscotty hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to give Stanford a 6-3 lead. An inning later, Giuliani decided he liked the home run feeling so much that he hit another one, this time a two-run shot off the scoreboard in right-center.
“I’m probably not going to play in the majors, so it’s nice to play and contribute with these guys and for this team,” Giuliani said.
Jones’s homer tied him with junior second baseman Colin Walsh for the team lead with five.
On the hill, the Cardinal got a solid performance out of junior righty Danny Sandbrink (2-1). Sandbrink battled through 5.1 innings, allowing six runs on eight hits and four strikeouts. Sophomore Scott Snodgress pitched the remaining 3.2 innings for his first save of the year.
Despite playing five days in a row, the Cardinal doesn’t have much time to rest, as it travels to Long Beach this weekend to play a three-game non-conference series at Long Beach State beginning on Friday.