Sacramento, Calif. - Stanford’s six runs in the first inning was all it needed in an 8-2 defeat of Sacramento State on Saturday afternoon at Hornet Field. The Cardinal and Hornets finish their two-game series 1-1.Stanford’s Jeff Gilmore earned his fourth win of the season, improving his record to 4-1, after pitching 8.1 innings and giving up just six hits and two runs. The Cardinal, ranked 10th in the nation by the Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 Coaches poll, are now 14-8 on the year.
The Hornets Matt Campbell (1-4) took the loss after facing eight batters in the first inning and giving up four hits and six runs. Sacramento State, who came in after a 4-3 upset of Stanford on Friday night, fall to 8-16-1 on the season.
Jed Lowrie, who finished the game with two hits, two RBIs and one run, started things off in the first inning for Stanford, when his double to center field scored Chris Minaker and Adam Sorgi. John Mayberry, Jr. followed with another double to drive in Lowrie for the third score of the inning.
Mayberry, Jr., Michael Taylor and Chris Lewis scored the final three runs of the inning. At the plate, Stanford was led by Lowrie and Sorgi, who finished with two RBIs apiece.
Taylor also went 3-for-4 from the plate and recorded one RBI and one run.
Senior Ken Livesey replaced Campbell on the mound for the Hornets, and in arguably his best outing of the season, went 5.1 innings and faced 21 batters without surrendering a run to the Cardinal.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Sacramento State made things interesting. Gilmore recorded the first two outs of the inning but then walked senior Brett Flowers and hit consecutive batters, junior Brain Blauser and junior Pat Keiper to load the bases. Junior Brain Conradi, then singled up the middle to score Flowers and Blauser and bring the Horents within 6-2.
But Sacramento State would get no closer. Junior Jim Strombach led the team with two hits and he currently leads the team with 31. Conradi, a transfer from Taft JC, is now batting .305 and has nine RBIs on the season. The Bakersfield, Calif., native is also on a four-game hiting streak.
In the top of the ninth inning, Sorgi blasted a two-run shot over the right field wall to give the Cardinal the 8-2 victory.
Stanford will next play Pacific on Tuesday, Mar. 29 at Sunken Diamond with the start time at 6 p.m.
The Hornets will visit another Pac-10 team, playing Cal on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
