Stanford seized the first game of the weekend series with eighteenth ranked Oregon St. 14-6. Or 3-1. As in three big innings to one.
The Cardinal rocked the Beavers, and junior ace Greg Peavey, for four runs in the first inning. That lead held up until there were two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, when Oregon St. erupted for six runs, to take the lead.
Stefan Romero delivered a three RBI double to highlight the rally.
Stanford took the lead back for good in the top of the seventh, scoring five runs, and chasing Peavey, and Kraig Sitton, who took the loss, in the process.
Stephen Piscotty's double scored a run that pulled Stanford within 6-5, and then Jonathan Laslow delivered a two run single that gave the Cardinal the lead.
Kevin Rhoderick came on for Oregon St., but Jake Schlander homered to left field to increase the lead to 9-6.Reliever Chris Reed, who threw the sixth inning for Stanford, got the win.
The Cardinal buried the Beavers with five more runs in the eighth inning, and improved to 16-13, and 5-5 in the Pac-10, tied with Oregon for sixth place.
"They just took us to the woodshed and that's all there is to it," Oregon St. coach Pat Casey said. "I wish I had an answer for you. We come all the way back and get the lead, we have veteran guys coming into the right situations, and we just didn't get it done."
Oregon St.'s third consecutive loss, in front of a crowd of 2,428, dropped them to 20-9, and 3-4 in the conference race, and into a tie with Washington St. for eighth place.
The Beavers' problems at the plate persisted, as Oregon St. managed their six runs on only five total hits. Nowhere near enough when their pitching staff, so highly regarded of late, gave up 19 hits, while recording only four strikeouts.
"You have to give Stanford all the credit in the world. They just totally dismantled our bullpen," Casey commented.
The three game series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. PT. Left-hander Tanner Robles (4-3, 2.25 ERA) will start for Oregon St., against Stanford right-hander Jordan Pries (3-1, 3.06).