Big Innings Doom UW In 8-4 Loss At No. 9 Stanford

Friday, May 19

Stanford, Calif.

6:00 PM

University of Washington

Stanford

May 19, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score Box: Stanford 8, UW 4

By: Brian Tom

STANFORD, Calif. – No. 9 Stanford had two big innings Friday night at Sunken Diamond and it was enough to beat visiting Washington, 8-4, in game one of an important three-game series.

The Cardinal (34-14, 16-9 Pac-12) scored three runs in the third and five runs in the seventh to turn deficits into leads. They are trying to secure a top-16 seed for the NCAA Championships, while the Huskies (26-23, 12-13) are simply trying to keep their post-season hopes alive.

Washington got the lead-off runner on in each of the first three innings, but it took until the third to finally break through with a run and initial lead. Nick Roberts struck out to start the frame, but he reached base safely on Kris Bubic's wild pitch. The freshman fill-in second baseman eventually came in to score on a sacrifice fly by third baseman Willie MacIver that made the score 1-0.

The Huskies did not get much time to enjoy their hard-earned lead as Stanford responded with a three-run third. The Cardinal had five hits off Noah Bremer in the inning – a week after he allowed just one hit and a walk in a complete game shutout. Quinn Brodey delivered the biggest blow – a two-run single – and Daniel Bakst followed with a RBI single that made the score 3-1.

UW tied things back up in the fifth inning, 3-3, scoring a couple of runs on a rally started by a Stanford error. Roberts reached second to start the inning on a bad throw by third baseman Jesse Kuet and was brought home one batter later on a MJ Hubbs double. Two batters later, Hubbs scored on a sacrifice fly by Joey Morgan, who picked up his team-leading 37^th RBI.

An inning later, UW re-took the lead, 4-3, thanks to some hustle on the base paths. With two outs and Nick Kahle standing at first after being hit by pitch, AJ Graffanino tripled to right field. Kahle was able to barely beat the throw home as the relay home missed the cut-off man.

But, Stanford re-took the lead in the seventh and padded its advantage. The Cardinal sent nine men to the plate and had six hits in the inning.

First baseman Matt Winaker hit a one-out, two-run home run off Bremer to give the Cardinal the lead, but the home team was just getting started. They went on to load the bases off Bremer, who was running out of gas, and with two outs, Brandon Wulff singled up the middle to score two runs. The Cardinal capped the scoring on a run-scoring single by Jack Klein off new pitcher Greg Minier.

Washington couldn't answer back from the four-run deficit and were set down in order in both the eighth and ninth innings by reliever Tyler Thorne.

Bubic (5-6) went seven innings for Stanford to pick up the win.

Bremer (6-3), the reigning Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week, could not replicate the success he had a week earlier against Arizona State. He allowed a career-high 12 hits – 10 in the two big innings – and tied a career high with eight runs allowed. The junior did strike out four Stanford batters to move up to 198 in his career.

The Huskies had only three hits on the night, while Stanford had 14.

Game two is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon at Sunken Diamond.