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Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. – No. 3 Stanford fell behind early and never recovered in a 6-3 loss to Arizona on Friday night at Sunken Diamond.

"We just have to play better. In our league, you can't make four errors and win many games on Friday night," said the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer. "We didn't put a ton of pressure on them, defensively, but I give them credit for pitching a great game. Top-to-bottom, every game in this conference is going to be tough, so we'll have to come out more focused for the rest of the weekend."

Will Matthiessen homered as part of his fifth three-hit night of the season and Duke Kinamon drove in a pair, but four errors in the first five innings led to the Wildcats (19-20-0, 7-12-0 Pac-12) taking a lead which it would not relinquish. Tim Tawa added a 2-for-4 night with one run but Stanford's offense struggled against the Wildcats' Randy Labaut (W, 3-2) and couldn't mount a comeback late in the game.

Starting pitcher Brendan Beck (L, 3-3) pitched through a jam in the first inning after a one-out throwing error by the Cardinal (29-7-0, 13-3-0 Pac-12), getting a strikeout and a pop-out to strand a runner in scoring position. Stanford stranded a pair in the home half before Beck worked through trouble again in the second. A pair of singles and an error by the Cardinal put two on with no outs and Beck, who surrendered just one unearned run, got a strikeout and two fly balls to escape with just a 1-0 deficit.

Stanford went away quietly in the second and third innings before Arizona doubled its lead in the fourth with an RBI double off the bat of Branden Boissiere. Beck stranded a runner 90 feet from home, getting a strikeout and a pop-out after Stanford's third error in four innings allowed Boissiere to advance to third.

The Cardinal cut into the lead in the home half with Matthiessen's solo shot to centerfield, making the score 2-1, but Arizona responded in the fifth with Nick Quintana's two-run blast to make it 4-1. In the home half, Tim Tawa, who led off the inning with a single, came home on Kinamon's sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to two.

Beck started the sixth, retiring a pair of Wildcats before Austin Weiermiller relieved him with a runner on second – Weiermiller struck out pinch hitter Tony Bullard to end the inning and strand the runner. Weiermiller worked a one-two-three seventh, making way for Cody Jensen after 1.1 perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts.

In the bottom of the seventh, Stanford cut the lead to one after Kinamon's two-out single scored Andrew Daschbach, but the Wildcats plated a pair in the eighth to extend the lead, 6-3. Matthiessen's third hit of the night, a two-out single in the eighth, was the only hit Stanford produced in the final two innings as Quinn Flanagan tossed 2.0 shutout innings to earn the save.

No. 3 Stanford returns to Sunken Diamond on Saturday at 5 p.m. for Game 2 of the three-game series against the Wildcats. Will Matthiessen is expected to face off with Arizona's Quinn Flanagan. Stanford's annual fireworks display will begin following the final out and Sunday's series finale is set for 1 p.m. Live streaming and live statistics for all games will be available at GoStanford.com.

Cardinal Notes

  • The Cardinal's winning streak in Pac-12 play ended at six games.
  • Stanford has hit at least one home run in 14-of-15 games, including the last seven.
  • It was the Cardinal's 15th game this season with double-digit strikeouts.
  • Stanford's four errors were a season high.
  • It was Matthiessen's team-leading 15th multi-hit game of the season and fifth three-hit appearance.