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Bob Drebin / Stanford Athletics
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Clinical Cardinal

Box Score

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Alex Williams tossed 7.0 innings of one-run ball to lead No. 2 Stanford to a 7-1 win over Santa Clara on Tuesday night at Stephen Schott Stadium.

"What a great performance from Williams tonight when we really needed it," said the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer. "These are the types of performances that really help a pitching staff at this stage in the season and the home run ball continues to be big for us, but we've got to find ways to keep producing runs as the games go on. USC will be a tough test on the road this weekend, as are all series in this conference."

Starting pitcher Williams logged a career performance, fanning a career-high six in a career-high 7.0 innings while allowing zero walks and just one run on two hits. Brandon Wulff hit his team-leading 16th home run of the season, scoring twice and driving in a pair, and Kyle Stowers finished 2-for-5 with a home run, two RBI and two runs.

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@alex.williams28 ?? dominant. Defense ?? perfect. @brandon_wulff & @kjstowers3 ?? ?? Stanford wins, 7-1. ?? #GoStanford

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Stowers led off the game with a hard-hit single to left field, stole second, stole third and then stole home with Wulff, who reached via a hit by pitch, taking second base on the play to put Stanford on top, 1-0. Williams delivered a one-two-three, shutdown inning, picking up his first strikeout of the night along the way. Nick Bellafronto made a spectacular diving play to his right to start the bottom of the second, firing a strike to Andrew Daschbach at first before Williams got an inning-ending, six-four-three double play for another zero on the board.

Maverick Handley led off the third with a walk before Wulff's 16th home run of the season, a towering shot to straightaway centerfield which cleared the batters' eye beyond the 402-foot sign. In the home half, Williams sent the Broncos away in order, needing just a handful of pitches to get three fly balls.

In the fourth, Stowers made it 5-0 with a missile off the apartments beyond the wall in right field, bringing in Bellafronto, who reached with a one-out double. Williams put away Santa Clara in order, once again, facing the minimum 12 batters through 4.0 shutout innings.

The Cardinal added two more runs in the fifth. Wulff, who drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the inning, scored on Daschbach's sacrifice fly and Matthiessen followed him home on a passed ball to make it 7-0. The Broncos plated their only run of the day in the bottom half with Ryan McCarthy's solo home run to center.

Stanford went away in order in the top of the sixth before Williams worked another stellar frame, adding a pair of strikeouts to tie his career high (5) through a career-best 6.0 inning. Williams added his career-high sixth strikeout in the seventh on his way to another one-two-three inning.

Jacob Palisch took over to work the eighth, striking out a pair en route to another three-up, three-down inning for the Cardinal. The Cardinal offense went away quietly again in the top of the ninth before Cody Jensen shut the door with a one-two-three ninth.

No. 2 Stanford returns to Pac-12 play this weekend with a three-game series against USC in Los Angeles. All three games will air on Pac-12 Networks, starting Friday at 7 p.m. – live statistics for all three games will be available at GoStanford.com.

Cardinal Notes

  • In the last 15 games, Stanford has hit 39 home runs with multiple homers in 13 of those contests.
  • It was Stanford's 11th game of the season allowing one earned run or less.
  • Stanford stole four bases, all in the first inning.
  • Wulff's home run was his eighth in nine games and third in two games.
  • All five of Stowers' home runs have come since March 31.