STANFORD, Calif. – No. 5 Stanford completed a 4-0 week with a 6-1 win over Washington to earn the series sweep on Sunday at Sunken Diamond.
"It was a good bounce-back week for us," said the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball. "Our pitching and defense really carried us all week and, looking forward, we will be tested with a lot of Pac-12 road games to go. We play in a very tough conference and the mark of a great team is being able to win on the road."
Starting pitcher Erik Miller (W, 4-0) fanned eight in 5.0 shutout innings, Kyle Stowers led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run and Austin Weiermiller (S, 1) pitched the final three innings to finish the job. Andrew Daschbach finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run, Will Matthiessen went 3-for-4 and Tim Tawa and Maverick Handley each finished with a pair of hits.
After Miller stranded a pair of Huskies in the top of the first, Stowers led off the home half with a solo home run on Josh Burgmann's (L, 3-2) first pitch of the day. The Cardinal (24-5-0, 10-2-0) doubled its lead through Daschbach, whose grounder round the five-six hole to score Brandon Wulff from second.
.@KyleStowers got us going and we never looked back. ???? #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/8XaN0M8ZyT
— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) April 15, 2019
Miller stranded two base runners in the second and third innings. In the second, Miller struck out a pair after the Huskies (15-15-0, 5-10-0) put runners at second and third with one out, pitching through a single and a walk in the third to leave runners at the corners.
Stanford stranded two runners in the third and Miller struck out another pair in the fourth to up his total to six. Miller made it four strikeouts in a row with two to start the fifth, eventually working a one-two-three frame. In the home half, Stanford pushed the lead to six with a four-run inning. Two runs scored on a fielding error by the left fielder, Daschbach's single scored another and Nick Brueser's sacrifice fly made it 6-0.
Cody Jensen entered to start the sixth, replacing Miller, who finished 5.0 shutout innings with eight strikeouts while allowing four hits. Jensen struck out a pair to put a zero on the board and, after Stanford went down in order in the sixth, Weiermiller pitched a shutout seventh inning – the frame ended as Handley fired a strike to first to pick off Ben Baird.
Weiermiller worked a scoreless eighth, allowing one run in the ninth to make it 6-1 before finishing the job with his first career save.
No. 5 Stanford is back in action on Tuesday at 5 p.m. when it plays host to UC Davis – the game was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. Live streaming and live statistics will be available at GoStanford.com.
Cardinal Notes
- The home run was Stowers' second in four games. Stowers has multiple hits in three of four games since moving to the lead-off spot.
- Stanford has won six of seven series on the season, including three of four in Pac-12 play.
- It was Stanford's 11th game with 10 or more strikeouts.