STANFORD, Calif. – No. 6 Stanford jumped out to an early lead over No. 12 Texas Baseball and held on for an 8-1 win Friday at Sunken Diamond.
Stanford got out to an early lead, scoring a run in the first inning and never looking back. A two-out double drove in the first Cardinal run of the series. The Cardinal added to the lead with a pair of runs in the second inning to go up 3-0.
Stanford plated four more runs in the third inning to extend its lead to 7-0. The inning featured a pair of Texas errors. Nico O’Donnell came out of the bullpen and got the Longhorns out of the inning.
Texas got a run back in the top of the fourth on three-straight singles by Eric Kennedy, Austin Todd and Zach Zubia. Zubia finished the game 2-for-3 with the only Longhorn run driven in.
Jack Neely was called on with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fifth and the freshman reliever got a big strikeout to get the Longhorns out of the jam.
Neely went on to pitch 3 1/3 innings and allowed just one unearned run and one hit with six strikeouts.
With the series now even at a game apiece, Texas and Stanford with square off again on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. CT.