Cardinal stay alive on good pitching
Stanford’s hopes for an 18th trip to the College World Series come down to a matchup with Connecticut at Sunken Diamond on Monday.
In Game 2 of a best-of-three super regional Sunday, the Cardinal stayed alive by knocking off the Huskies 8-2. Four Stanford pitchers combined on a four-hitter.
Stanford (46-16) is the No. 2 national seed. UConn (50-15) was the third seed in the College Park Regional, which the Huskies won last Monday.
On Sunday, Kody Huff ’s two-out, two-run single up the middle on a 3-2 pitch in the top of the first put Stanford ahead to stay. UConn cut its deficit in half in the bottom of the inning when the UberHuber matchup went to UConn. First baseman Ben Huber hit an RBI single off Stanford right-hander Ty Uber with two outs.
Uber, a freshman, then threw six consecutive balls and Stanford replaced him with sophomore Brandt Pancer. The right-hander stranded runners at the corners by striking out Korey Morton.
UConn scored eight in the top of the second in its 13-12 win Saturday night. Stanford almost matched the Huskies’ second-inning output Sunday. The Cardinal put a six-spot on the board in the second. Brock Jones, who hit three homers in Game 1, nearly added his 21st of the season, but center fielder T.C. Simmons made an excellent grab, leaping at the wall in right-center to turn that homer bid into a sacrifice fly.
An RBI single by Carter Graham put Stanford up 4-1. After a Brett Barrera base hit, Braden Montgomery unloaded on Austin Peterson. A switchhitter batting left-handed, Montgomery launched a towering drive over the fence in left-center to make it 7-1. That’s 18 homers this season for the freshman.
That ended the outing for Peterson, who carried an 11-2 record with a 3.30 ERA and 145 strikeouts in 109 innings into Sunday.
Cole Chudoba replaced Peterson. With two outs, Drew Bowser took Chudoba deep to left, making it 8-1 and matching Montgomery with 18 long balls this season. Stanford extended its school record for homers in a season to 115.
Pancer provided the Cardinal with 31⁄3 innings of onehit, one-run relief. Lefties Ryan Bruno and Quinn Mathews worked the final five innings. Mathews recorded nine outs for his eighth save.
UConn won Saturday night even though Stanford hit eight — yes, eight — homers.