Hochstatter Dazzles Devils

STANFORD, Calif. –  John Hochstatter took a no-hit bid to the sixth and Danny Diekroeger gave him enough run support with a solo home run in the fourth, as Stanford beat Arizona State, 1-0, in front of 1,811 fans at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond Sunday afternoon. Hochstatter went on to throw 7.2 innings, while allowing just three hits, to help the Cardinal win the series two games to one.

““It’s exciting for the team to take home a series win. It was definitely a whole team effort,” Hochstatter said after his best outing of the year. “I couldn’t have done it without my defense and the rest of the guys out there.”

On a warm day with the wind blowing out, both starting pitchers frustrated opposing hitters. Hochstatter was countered by Arizona State’s Darin Gillies, who was almost as equally brilliant. Gillies went eight innings, while allowing one run on four hits, as the two teams combined for seven hits in the ballgame.

Hochstatter (5-1) mixed speeds and stayed in the strike zone, especially early in the game. The junior left retired the first 11 batters in order and needed only 14 pitches to get through the first six hitters.

He put himself in trouble in the third and fifth innings with two walks in each, but eventually worked out.

Hochstatter’s no-hitter was ended by a Nate Causey’s single that sparked a rally in the sixth inning. R.J. Ybarra followed with a double to the right field corner, but Zach Hoffpauir retrieved the ball and fired it to the infield in time to force Causey to stay at third. The next batter, Dalton Dinatale, sharply grounded to third baseman Alex Blandino for a 5-2 fielder’s choice to get Causey stranded between third and home. A lineout to Tommy Edman at shortstop ended the threat.

Gillies (1-3) was just as good on the mound, minus a 1-2 offering to Diekroeger in the fourth. Stanford’s senior first baseman cleared the wall in right center for what would become his third game-winning hit in the last four games.

Edman, Blandino and Hoffpauir also had hits for Stanford.

Stanford (15-17, 6-9 Pac-12) used closer A.J. Vanegas to finish the final 1.1 innings after Causey singled with two outs in the eighth. Vanegas got Ybarra to pop out to end the eighth and induced a 6-4-3 double play after walking the second batter of the ninth to pick up his fourth save.

Vanegas, the winning pitcher in the first game against ASU, has thrown 18.1 innings without allowing an earned run this season.

Arizona State (21-16, 10-8) stranded seven base runners, while the Cardinal left four on the base paths.

Stanford continued its sparkling defense in Pac-12 play with another errorless effort. In addition to Blandino’s backhand pick with one knee on the ground to get Causey during ASU’s best chance, Austin Slater made a spectacular diving, tumbling play to rob a Sun Devil base hit in the eighth.

The Cardinal owns a .990 fielding percentage through 15 Pac-12 games.

Stanford has a busy week ahead with games at Santa Clara (Tuesday) and Saint Mary’s (Wednesday). California visits Klein Field at Sunken for three games starting next Saturday.