Quantrill's Effort Not Enough

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Cal Quantrill delivered 7.2 innings of four-hit ball, but Stanford could not hold a 2-1 lead as the Wildcats walked off with a 3-2 win in 10 innings. Arizona scored once in the ninth to tie it, before Taylor Gilbert’s fourth hit of the day, a liner down the left field line with runners on first and second and one out, ended it in the 10th.

A.J. Vanegas (2-3) allowed the game-winner to take the loss. Vanegas came on in the eighth and worked out of a two-out jam, before the Wildcats tagged him for two runs.

Quantrill allowed just one run, struck out five, walked two and held Arizona hitless in his last four innings. He was forced to come out after Stanford made two errors in the bottom of the eighth to give Arizona two base runners with two outs. Quantrill had already thrown 107 pitches, so the Cardinal opted for Vanegas to get out of the inning against Scott Kingery, who earlier singled off Quantrill.

Stanford (22-21, 9-13 Pac-12) pulled ahead on timely hitting from Brant Whiting and Zach Hoffpauir. Whiting made it 1-0 in the top of the fourth on a sac fly and Hoffpauir slapped a single through the right side for a two-out RBI in the sixth. Hoffpauir’s single gave the Cardinal a 2-1 lead and was the Arizona native’s 13th RBI with two outs this season.

Arizona (19-28, 8-17 Pac-12) answered Stanford’s fourth-inning run with one of its own in the bottom half. After Kingery and Gilbert singles, Tyler Krause drove in a run on a ground out to short, as Tommy Edman made a spinning play up the middle for the first out. Quantrill got a line out to left, where Wayne Taylor made a nice sliding play, and a ground out to finish the only real threat against him.

Three singles in the bottom of the ninth, including Michael Hoard’s two-out, game-tying grounder through the middle, evened the score at 2-2.

The Wildcats set up Gilbert in the ninth on a walk and Kingery’s second hit.

Hoffpauir, Whiting, Taylor and Alex Blandino each had two hits for Stanford. Austin Slater moved his hitting streak to seven games with a sixth-inning double, before scoring on Whiting’s sac fly.

Arizona ace James Farris also left with a no-decision despite an excellent outing. He went 8.1 innings and allowed only two runs, despite giving up 10 hits. Bobby Dalbec (1-2) got the final five outs, on just four batters, to earn his first win of the year. 

Stanford and Arizona are slated to play game two at 6 p.m. tomorrow. John Hochstatter (7-1, 1.59) will face Cody Hamlin (5-3, 3.22).