On a day Stanford baseball recognized the seniors and honored Mark Marquess, the Cardinal made their latest comeback about a nine on the level of difficulty. Stanford defeated Washington 6-5 with a walk-off hit by Jesse Kuet in the 10th inning. The win finished a sweep of the Huskies, which is the third of the conference season for Stanford (37-14, 18-9). In each game against the visitors from the Evergreen State the Cardinal trailed before rallying to keep their hopes of a national seed alive. Washington led 5-0 Sunday after the third inning, but Kuet delivered the clutch hit after Jack Klein was intentionally walked with pinch runner Christian Molfetta at third base.

"Today was a special day because of senior day and we were celebrating Nine's last regular season game on this field," Kuet said. "There was a great intensity. Everyone was amped up and ready to go after it. There was definitely a different air, but not too different from what we normally bring. "In my at-bat before that (one in the 10th inning) I had a very similar opportunity, so I'm thankful I got another chance and completed the job. They had every right to walk Klein to get to me. Not many teams know about me." Opponents may know his name after this week, which he finished with 10 hits in five games. Of course, any dramatic rally first requires a deficit. Stanford fell behind once again because of a sluggish start and a costly error. Washington scored two unearned runs in the third inning to finish their scoring, and they only had three hits the rest of the game. "We've been down a lot and having things not go our way," Marquess said. "But we had a couple big hits and big innings and did a good job." Stanford scored two in the fourth inning and tied the game in the fifth. Nico Hoerner singled home Matt Decker -- the senior started at catcher for the first time this season -- with one out in the fifth. A two-out double by Daniel Bakst scored Hoerner and Matt Winaker to complete the first stage of the comeback.

Enter Tyler Thorne, the senior set-up man who stretched to cover the rest of the game, allowing two hits while striking out five. "He came in and did a great job," Marquess said. "He has a rubber arm and can throw almost every day. He's fantastic. He has come along at the right time at the end of the season. This run we're on, he's been instrumental in that."

T9: @tthorne23! Strikeout strands two and we stay tied heading to the bottom of the ninth! #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/skUK9eGJMx — Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) May 21, 2017

"As long as the game was tied and I didn't screw it up I was going to stay in there," Throne laughed. "I wasn't going to let coach pull me." With one series left in the regular season, the Cardinal have come a long way from when the pitching staff was leading the team to close wins in the first part of the season. This Stanford team isn't a statistically dominant group, but they're a complete unit capable of finding ways to win. Thorne said there always was trust that it would come together because the players who were struggling early wouldn't stay down for long: "We play good defense, obviously, and we throw strikes. But the guys that have come on lately like Nico (Hoerner) and Matt (Winaker), they both had slow starts. We had trust in those guys."

No one else will ever wear No. 9 again



We've made it official. The program's first and only retired number#FinalSeas9n #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/x0mJ2vKWgi — Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) May 22, 2017

In a ceremony after the game the Cardinal honored Marquess with a video tribute of former players and coaches. During games this weekend videos were played during breaks featuring coaches from the conference and beyond. "He taught me a bunch of little things of how to do things right: How to be a man, how to respect women, how to play hard and the most important thing was our education," Thorne said. "He gave us a chance to come to this university." Athletic Director Bernard Muir thanked Marquess for the work he has done for 41 seasons to establish Stanford baseball as one of the most successful programs in the country. Muir announced that No. 9 has been retired by Stanford baseball. "That was very nice of Bernard and Stanford University," Marquess said. "I'm very fortunate."

WALK OFF in the 10th!



What an end to Senior Day and 9⃣'s final home game #FinalSeas9n #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/Oc3JBiUF4k — Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) May 21, 2017