Brendan Beck carried a shutout into the sixth inning and settled for a five-hitter over 5 2/3 innings to earn a victory in his collegiate debut as No. 12 Stanford won its fourth straight, beating host UC Davis 3-2 on Monday.
Nico Hoerner collected two hits, his third multi-hit game, for the Cardinal (4-0), which returns home to open a four-game series with Rice on Thursday at 6 p.m. Tim Tawa drove in a run.
“These midweek games are always a true test, especially coming off a big three-game series at home against a ranked opponent,” Stanford coach David Esquer said. “Pitching and defense are what this team is built around, and that was on display again today with Nico (Hoerner), Maverick (Handley) and Beau (Branton) coming through with big plays down the stretch.”
Beck sailed along into the sixth and then allowed three of his five hits, including a two-run homer that brought the Aggies within 3-2. Relievers John Henry Styles, Zach Grech and Jack Little, who recorded his second save in as many days, kept UC Davis off the scoreboard the rest of the way.
Defensive substitution Beau Branton made a spectacular diving play up the middle to end the sixth inning and preserve the lead.
“We really needed a lot from Brendan today and he gave us just that,” said Esquer. “He realistically made one real mistake and it was late in his outing, so we were overall very pleased with him.”
Hoerner led off the top of the first with a single up the middle, eventually scoring on a heads-up play after Brandon Wulff’s infield single.
Tim Tawa continued his strong start, singling home Sacred Heart Prep grad Andrew Daschbach, who had walked, with two outs in the fourth to make it 2-0. Tawa scored to make it 3-0 after Bryce Carter reached on an error.
In the eighth, the Aggies had a runner on third with no outs but Hoerner threw out the lead runner at home on the next play.
Handley, who entered the game in the seventh, caught an Aggie trying to steal second and Grech produced a third out to escape the jam.
Little struck out two of three batters in the final frame to earn the save, Stanford’s third in four games.
Of local note
Menlo School grad Griff McGarry made his collegiate debut with Virginia, pitching the eighth inning of the Cavaliers 6-3 loss to Central Florida over the weekend.
McGarry allowed a run on two hits. He struck out one and did not walk a batter.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
Nice seeing the new coaching staff use all their pitchers out of the bull pen. It takes a village and they have a fine staff.