Three errors led to three Oregon State unearned runs, and the Stanford baseball team stumbled to a 7-5 loss Saturday evening. The Beavers scored five of their seven runs with two outs to beat the Cardinal a 10th straight time.
Stanford (22-30, 7-19 Pac-12) faced an early deficit for the second straight night when OSU took a 5-1 lead before the end of the fifth.
The Cardinal would rally to get the tying run to the plate after scoring three runs in the eighth but failed to even things.
Drew Jackson followed hi 4-hit night with two RBI, one on a third inning triple and another on a sac fly in the eighth, and Matt Winaker drove in two on an eighth-inning double to lead the offense. Stanford had just four hits to Oregon State’s 10.
Oregon State (35-14-1, 16-9-1 Pac-12) and freshman KJ Harrison, who went 3 for 4 with three RBI, used one run in the first, two in the third and two in the fifth to take the commanding lead.
Marc Brakeman took the loss to drop to 1-4 despite a decent outing. Only two earned runs crossed home against the junior MLB Draft prospect through 6 innings, though his own fielding error helped the Beavers score two third-inning runs.
Gabe Cramer worked the final three innings, allowing two runs on two hits. He limited the damage in the ninth by striking out a pair of Beavers with the bases loaded.
Drew Rasmussen picked up his sixth win for OSU by allowing two runs in 6 innings and Mitch Hickey worked a perfect ninth for his 10th save.
Stanford and Oregon State finish the series Sunday at 1 p.m. The Cardinal’s four seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony preceding the team’s final home game of 2015.
Women’s rowing
The No. 1 Stanford lightweight rowing team had another two races at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships and once again came away with two victories.
In the final tuneup for the IRA National Championships, the Cardinal varsity eight was focused on putting forth another great effort on the water to take momentum into the final regatta. Going up against openweight power Washington and WCC champion San Diego, Stanford had its hands full.
Looking to stay undefeated in the spring, Stanford opened up a good lead on the field with a near boat length heading into the final 500 meters. Washington began to charge and was taking seats in the final sprint. Approaching the finish line, the Huskies and Cardinal were neck-and-neck. One buzzer sounded and without hesitation another buzzer sounded. The crowd wasn’t sure which of the teams came out on top.
When all was said and done, Stanford had held on to its lead and crossed 0.3 seconds in front of Washington with a time of 6:37.2. By edging out the Huskies, the Cardinal improved to 9-0 on the season.
Meanwhile, the 2V8 was also in the women’s open 8+ race. Stanford’s second boat put up a time of 6:54.3 for fourth place. They were only two seconds back of Western Washington.
After a few hours break, which the Cardinal rowers spent working on school projects, Stanford sent two fours out for the first time this year. The first four featured half of the varsity eight, while the second included half of the 2V8.
Having the Cal and Washington openweights in the field didn’t faze the Cardinal varsity four. Stanford opened up a big lead and maintained it until the very end, winning by nearly nine seconds over Cal and 13 seconds over Washington. The Cardinal posted a time of 7:41.5 for first place. The 2V4 came in fourth overall with a time of 7:59.5, topping Western Washington.
Now that the home stretch of racing leading up to the IRA National Championships has concluded, Stanford will continue its home stretch of classwork as finals week is drawing near. The team will head to New Jersey in two weeks for the IRA National Championships May 29-31 at Laker Mercer in West Windsor, N.J.
By Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Athletics
By Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Athletics
By Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Athletics