Texas Baseball dropped the second game of a 4 game series against 7th ranked Stanford, 7-1, at Disch-Falk Field. The Cardinal received a brilliant starting pitching performance from left-hander Kris Bubic, who struck out 9 in 6 innings, allowing a single run. Stanford pounded out 13 hits, including a pair of home runs. The loss drops Texas to 9-5 on the season, while the win moves Stanford to 12-2.
“I thought Bubic was as advertised,” Pierce said about the Stanford starter. “He was very good tonight and we had minimum opportunities, and we knew weren’t going to have a ton of them. So when we get those chances, we have to come up with a clutch hit, and he dialed up some pitches and we made mistake running the bases in the 3rd. Then we really only had 2 legitimate chances and that was 3rd and the 7th, and we just didn’t get it done tonight. I credit Bubic. I credit Stanford for playing very well tonight.”
Nolan Kingham was tagged with the loss after allowing 5 runs on 10 hits, striking out 3 batters. The loss drops the juniors record to 2-2, and Pierce said he wants to continue to see Kingham work the ball low in the zone.
“He left the ball up with his best two pitches,” Pierce said about Kingham. “He’s got to get the ball down and he’s got to get committed this week to really getting into his legs a little more and getting out over his front side. It’s a good test for him. He hasn’t been as sharp as opening night, and we gotta get him right.”
Stanford jumped out to a 5-0 lead through 5 innings. Nico Hoerner started the scoring with a solo home run to left field in the top of the 1st. The Cardinal extended their lead to 2-0 in the 3rd on a RBI single by Andrew Daschbach, scoring Tim Tawa. In the 5th, Brandon Wulff connected on a 3-run home run to left field, stretching the Stanford lead to 5-0.
Texas scored their only run of the game on a RBI groundout by Duke Ellis in the 7th, scoring pinch runner Kamron Fields and cutting the Cardinal lead to 5-1.
Stanford had the first 3 batters reach in the 8th against Longhorn reliever Matt Whalen, loading the bases with nobody out. After another call to the bullpen, Beau Ridgeway issued a 4 pitch walk and sacrifice fly, giving Stanford a 7-1 lead. Reliever Zach Grech pitched a scoreless 9th inning to lock down the win for the Cardinal.
After splitting the first two games, the two teams will return to action tomorrow for game 3. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 PM and the pitching matchup will feature RHP Blair Henley against LHP Erik Miller. Follow along at hornsports.com for live updates.
