PHOENIX, Ariz. - Junior Alberto Rios continued his torrid pace at the plate on Friday night, finishing 4-for-5 with two doubles, two homers and five RBIs as No. 7 Stanford (29-13, 16-6 Pac-12) defeated No. 20 Arizona State (29-16, 14-7 Pac-12) 8-6 in the opener of a three-game Pac-12 series being played at ASU's Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
With the victory, Stanford now owns a 1.5 game lead in the Pac-12 standings.
Rios lined out to second in his first at bat, but responded with an RBI double in the fourth, a solo homer in the sixth, a three-run shot in the seventh, and a double in the ninth. The two-homer game, pushing his season home run total to 11, is the second of the year for Rios after connecting for two against CSU Bakersfield as part of an 11-RBI game on March 5.
Rios' double in the fourth handed Stanford a 2-1 lead, while his three-run shot in the seventh turned a 6-5 deficit into an 8-6 advantage.
Senior Quinn Mathews was strong once again in the start for Stanford, tossing eight innings and allowing six runs (three earned) on eight hits. The left-hander struck out 11 and did not issue a free pass. Mathews improved to 6-3 on the year with the victory. Mathews recorded just two strikeouts through the first four innings, but struck out two in the fifth, two in the sixth, three in the seventh and two more in the eighth to finish off his stellar outing.
Mathews has now logged seven-plus innings in each of his last seven starts and has struck out double-digit hitters in each of the last six.
Taking over for Mathews in the ninth, junior Ryan Bruno struck out the side in order to record his fifth save of the year. Bruno has now allowed just three hits and no runs over his last eight appearances (13 innings) while striking out 25.
In addition to Rios, Drew Bowser put together a standout day at the dish, going 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and two RBIs. Junior Tommy Troy made the most of his one hit on Friday night, sending an opposite-field homer out to right field to lead off the four-run fourth inning. The solo homer was Troy's eighth round-tripper of the year.
UP NEXT
The Cardinal and Sun Devils will continue the three-game series on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES
» Stanford has now won five of the last six games and six of the last eight.
» Rios has now connected for a go-ahead homer in the seventh inning or later in back-to-back games after launching a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning vs. UCLA on April 30 ... he's now homered four times in his last six games.
» Stanford's seven doubles are the most for the Cardinal since compiling seven at Washington State on March 31, 2019.
» The 12 total bases for Rios are the most for a Cardinal player since Brock Jones had 12 vs. Connecticut on June 11, 2022.
» Sophomore Jake Sapien also finished with multiple extra-base hits, going 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles.
» The Stanford pitching staff combined to strike out 14 Arizona State hitters.
» The Cardinal out-hit the Sun Devils at an 11-8 clip.
» Stanford pitchers faced 37 Arizona State hitters in the game, allowing eight ground balls and five fly balls while striking out 14.
» The Cardinal drew four walks from Arizona State pitching.
» Arizona State was led offensively by freshman Nick Mclain, who went 2-for-5 with a double, a home run and two RBIs.