Overcoming fierce winds at Stephen Schott Stadium, the ninth-ranked Stanford baseball team won its ninth straight game with a 6-4 nonconference victory over host Santa Clara on Tuesday night.

Dean McArdle got his first win, Sam Lindquist earned his third save and Brian Ragira extended his hitting streak to nine games as the Cardinal improved to 10-2.

Stanford's three pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts though the Cardinal was out-hit by Santa Clara, 8-6.

McArdle (1-0) gave up a leadoff single to start the game and Santa Clara (6-7) went on to take a 1-0 lead after the first inning.

McArdle settled in to fan six against one walk in four innings. David Schmidt provided 2 2/3 innings of four-hit relief. Schmidt struck out four and surrendered a pair of unearned runs in the fifth.

Lindquist began his evening by extinguishing a potential two-out Bronco rally. Santa Clara had runners on second and third when Lindquist stepped in and induced a foul fly to Ragira to get out of the seventh.

Lindquist put two on base in the bottom of the ninth with the tying run at the plate. He gave up an RBI single, balked two Santa Clara runners on base up a bag but stayed cool enough to register an inning-ending strikeout.

Stanford's Alex Blandino drew a one-out walk in the second and a pair of errors on Dominic Jose's infield grounder put two runners in scoring position for Jonny Locher. Locher promptly singled to center to plate his game-high two RBI.

Jose scored twice for the Cardinal.

Brant Whiting's sacrifice fly scored Lonnie Kauppila from third to start a three-run fourth for the Cardinal. Austin Slater singled home Jose and Menlo School grad Danny Diekroeger poked a single to right to score Slater which gave Stanford a 5-1 lead.

Diekroeger led Stanford with a pair of hits and scored once with one RBI. Diekroeger added an insurance run in the ninth when Blandino drew a bases-loaded walk.

Santa Clara did little to help its cause by committing four errors, which led to three Stanford runs.

Stanford returns home for a three-game series with UNLV beginning Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Earlier in the day, Stanford senior pitcher Mark Appel was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) National Pitcher of the Week. Appel shared the honor with North Carolina State's Carlos Rodon.

The Pac-12 Conference also named Appel as its Pitcher of the Week. It was his third such conference honor and Stanford's league-best 78th all-time citation.

Men's swimming
Stanford went without a win, but held on to second place through Day 3 of the Pac-12 Conference Men's Swimming Championships at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.

Cal remained atop the leaderboard at the end of Tuesday's events with 583 points as Stanford (520) and USC (404.5) rounded out the top three.

Stanford is riding an unprecedented streak of 31 straight conference titles, the most of any sport in conference history.

"We finished up the day with some great swims and many promising swims," said Stanford coach Ted Knapp.

Stanford's Matt Thompson was third in the 400 individual medley in 3:45.82 performance. Robert Hommel clocked 3:48.69 for seventh. The Cardinal had five among the top 11.

Stanford's Gray Umbach was fifth with a 46.57 in the 100 fly and one spot ahead of Jack Lane (46.68). Aaron Wayne (46.60) and Mack Montgomery (48.21) also scored.

Stanford's Thomas Stephens (1:35.44) rallied for a fourth-place swim in the 200 free with freshman Tom Kremer from Sacred Heart Prep tapping sixth (1:35.60).

Mason Shaw represented the Cardinal with a 54.21 for 11th in the 100 breast, the weakest event of the day for Stanford, and David Nolan stretched out for a second-place 46.38 in the 100 back, which saw Matthew Swanston (47.80) and Will Gunderson (48.24) among the top 11.

Stanford streaked through the 400 medley relay with a 3:08.08, which was good for an NCAA 'A' cut. The duties went to Nolan, Shaw, Umbach and Wayne.

The meet concludes Wednesday with the 1,650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and the 400 free relay.

Tennis
There will be no shortage of matches later this week at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, as both teams combine to play five matches over a four-day stretch.

Following the busy weekend, both Cardinal teams will be idle over the next two weeks for final exams.

The No. 20-ranked Stanford women (5-2, 0-0 Pac-12) will prepare for an upcoming stretch that includes matches over three consecutive days. Home matches are nothing new for the Cardinal, which is in the middle of a six-match homestand.

Stanford is coming off a 6-1 victory over No. 9 California in its most recent action, picking up its seventh straight win against the Golden Bears dating back to April 18, 2009. The Cardinal looked sharp in all areas in the rivalry match, capturing the doubles point and locking up singles wins at spots No. 1-5.

This week's matches against No. 31 Washington and No. 73 Washington State will count toward the Pac-12 standings. Sunday's contest against No. 38 Texas represents the first half of a doubleheader with the men.

Stanford boasts five nationally-ranked players in singles, led by 14th-ranked Krista Hardebeck, who has compiled a team-best 17-7 overall record. The freshman is off to a slow start in duals at 3-4, but she provided the clincher in last week's win over Cal. Ellen Tsay, who enters the week ranked No. 31, is 15-4 overall and has won three in a row to increase her dual record to 6-1.

Meanwhile, Nicole Gibbs and Kristie Ahn continue to anchor the top two spots of the lineup while finding their groove as the Cardinal's top doubles team.

The No. 49-ranked Stanford men shifts their focus back to dual-match competition following an appearance in last weekend's 124th Pacific Coast Doubles tournament in La Jolla.

The Cardinal also will open a stretch of six straight home matches, starting with Furman on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. Three days later, Stanford welcomes Boise State to The Farm for a 1 p.m. contest that represents the back-half of a doubleheader with the women.

Stanford was well-represented in the Pacific Coast Doubles event, with two teams reaching the semifinals following impressive tourney runs.

Stanford is looking to snap a four-match losing streak, with its last victory coming in a 7-0 rout of BYU back on Feb. 1. The Cardinal is slated to play four straight nonconference matches before opening Pac-12 play against USC on March 29.

John Morrissey (No. 45, 14-8 overall, 4-3 dual) and Nolan Paige (No. 91, 15-9 overall, 4-4 dual) own national rankings for Stanford. Robert Stineman has contributed a 12-9 overall record and is 3-5 in duals while Maciek Romanowicz has also totaled double digits in victories (11).

— Stanford Athletics/Palo Alto Online Sports

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