STANFORD, Calif. – Senior southpaw Chris Castellanos struck out a career-high 12 in eight scoreless innings to lead No. 18 Stanford to its eighth straight win and second straight sweep, 3-1, over No. 13 Arizona on Saturday at Sunken Diamond.
Stanford (27-12, 11-7 Pac-12) earned its first sweep over Arizona since 1999 to prolong the program's longest winning streak in four years. The Cardinal, which won all three games at Oregon last weekend, has swept back-to-back Pac-12 series for the first time since May of 2012 against Washington State and Utah (also Stanford's last six-game Pac-12 win streak).
Castellanos (7-1) allowed just three hits and walked just two against the top-ranked offense in the Pac-12. He is the first Cardinal with a dozen punch outs since former No. 1 overall MLB draft pick Mark Appel struck out 13 at Arizona State on May 3, 2013. He struck out two in the first, third, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
Sophomore Nico Hoerner and freshman Daniel Bakst provided Castellanos with the offensive support as the duo combined for five hits and all three RBI.
Hoerner and Bakst gave Stanford an early lead with a pair of two-out RBI in the third inning. Hoerner blooped one in to center to score Matt Winaker and, two batters later, Bakst pushed one through the middle to bring home Hoerner.
Hoerner and Bakst came through again in the fifth. Hoerner led off with a double into the left field corner, and Bakst lined a single to center to give Stanford a 3-0 edge. It was all Castellanos needed.
B5: @DanielBakst drives ?? home another Cardinal. Lead is 3? #GoStanford https://t.co/1c0kKsq5kW
— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) April 29, 2017
Castellanos did not allow a base runner through the first three innings. The Wildcats got the first two on in the fourth, but the southpaw stranded both Wildcats in scoring position. Castellanos also left a runner at third in the fifth, and retired the last eight batters he faced.
Arizona (27-15, 9-12) broke the shut out with a one-out solo home run off senior reliever Tyler Thorne in the ninth. However, Thorne, who earned the win on Friday with three innings of work, retired the next two batters to extend Stanford's winning streak.
NUMBERS…
Hoerner finished 3-for-4 with two runs, two doubles, a walk and an RBI. Bakst was 2-for-3 with the two runs batted in. Freshman Maverick Handley recorded his first career multi-hit game with a 2-for-4 performance, including a double. Stanford worked eight walks, and four Cardinal combined for the team's eight hits as Duke Kinamon went 1-for-3.
AND NOTABLES
Stanford went 13-5 in April, the most wins in a month since winning 15 in May of 2003 ... Stanford last won eight straight in 2013 when the Cardinal won nine in a row from Feb. 20-March 5 … Stanford is 22-0 when leading after seven innings this season … Stanford is 27-6 when scoring at least one run this season … Previous career high strikeouts for Castellanos was eight set against Texas on March 4 ... Bakst has eight multi-hit games this season, and two in a row.
WHAT'S AHEAD
Stanford has won 11 straight Tuesday games at Sunken Diamond dating back to 2014. San Jose State will attempt to snap that streak, among Stanford's other active streaks. First pitch is at 5:30 p.m. The Cardinal then heads to Tempe, Arizona, for a three-game set with Arizona State, beginning on Friday.
SOCIAL SCENE
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#GoStanford
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Klein cycle class before the series finale ?? #GoStanford #FinalSeas9n
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