STANFORD, Calif. – Playing the first of five scheduled games against California on Tuesday night, Stanford (17-5) collected a 4-3 victory over Cal (16-11) from Sunken Diamond.
The Cardinal scored three times in the third inning, highlighted by a two-run home run from Christian Robinson, and added one more in the fourth on Brock Jones' team-leading 10th home run of the year.
Robinson finished the game 2 for 4 while hitting out of the cleanup spot in the order. The round-tripper was his third of the season.
The Cardinal used eight different pitchers in the midweek victory, with sophomore Max Meier getting the start and tossing a scoreless first inning. Freshman Drew Dowd tossed the next two scoreless innings before Ryan Bruno and Austin Weirmiller took the Cardinal through the fourth. Weiermiller returned to the hill in the fifth and was ultimately charged with a run on two hits and a walk over his 1 1/3 innings of work.
Freshman Tommy O'Rourke was the fifth pitcher used by the Cardinal, logging 1 2/3 scoreless with three strikeouts before handing the ball over to senior Jacob Palisch. The left-hander was charged with two runs on two hits and three walks over his two-thirds of an inning, but Stanford managed to maintain the one-run cushion at 4-3 when freshman Joey Dixon entered the seventh with the bases loaded and two out and induced an inning ending ground ball on the first pitch he threw. Dixon would go on to toss a scoreless eighth before fifth-year senior Zach Grech retired the side in order in the ninth to lock up his eighth save of the year.
Weiermiller was credited with the victory and improved to 2-0 on the season.
Stanford will remain at home this weekend, hosting UCLA in a three-game Pac-12 series beginning on Friday at 2:05 p.m.