A late bullpen implosion set the stage for a tough walk-off loss for the Stanford baseball team against San Jose State, as a walk-off RBI single from Spartans shortstop Michael Breen capped off a 4-run ninth inning and a 10-9 victory for San Jose State (8-15), which dealt Stanford (12-7) its first midweek loss of the year.
Although Stanford, down to its final three outs down 6-5, rallied for 4 runs in the top of the ninth to take a late lead, the normally solid junior Chris Viall yielded a 4-run ninth to the Spartans, who beat Stanford for the first time since a 10-8 decision at Stanford on May 13, 2014.
Freshman Kris Bubic also had a rough outing out of the bullpen, allowing 3 earned runs in one inning of work to spot the Spartans a 4-run rally in the seventh inning. The bullpen’s struggles spoiled another stellar outing from sophomore Andrew Summerville, who pitched 3.0 shutout innings in relief of fifth-year senior John Hochstatter.
Meanwhile, the Cardinal’s bats finally came alive, as Stanford pounded out a season-high 16 hits paced by twin 3-hit days from freshman second baseman Nico Hoerner and sophomore right fielder Quinn Brodey and multi-hit games from five of its hitters.
Brodey has now hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games and notched his second straight 3-hit game, while Hoerner tallied his second 3-hit game of the season to raise his average to a team-leading .306.
However, although the hitters got their fair share of timely hits, they also squandered a few opportunities to add on more runs, as the Cardinal left 12 runners on base for the game.
Although Stanford drew first blood in the top of the first inning with an unearned run on a Breen error and an RBI single from freshman Duke Kinamon, the Spartans answered right back against Hochstatter in the veteran’s second start back from injury with an RBI single and an RBI groundout to knot the game at 2-2 after one frame.
Stanford pulled ahead in the second with an RBI single from Brodey, who further extended the Cardinal’s lead in the sixth with a 2-run double to the right-center field gap to back Summerville’s strong relief and stretch the margin to 5-2.
Bubic struggled to begin the seventh, allowing three straight hits to plate a run and put runners on first and third before yielding to sophomore Colton Hock, who allowed both of his inherited runners to score on a fielding error by Tommy Edman at shortstop and a wild pitch — one of two in the frame for the typically dominant middle reliever.
Although RBI singles from sophomore Matt Winaker and junior Jack Klein were followed by a bases-loaded walk by Hoerner to plate four in the top of the ninth, Viall couldn’t finish the Spartans off in the bottom of the frame.
Stanford will have a longer-than-usual break of three days between games before it welcomes USC to The Farm for a three-game set over the weekend, with a Friday first pitch set for 7 p.m. at Sunken Diamond.
Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dhpark ‘at’ stanford.edu.