For the ninth time in ten series, #2 Stanford got the best of an opponent, as a 5-2 win over visiting California at Sunken Diamond pushed the Cardinal out to 33-6 and 14-4 in league play. Kris Bubic went 5.1 strong innings, Tim Tawa and Andrew Daschbach homered, and Jack Little came in for the game's final eight outs secure a series win that was more a "relief" than anything else for Cardinal Head Coach David Esquer, facing his former team for the first time.

After two nights of Beck Brothers pitching, Kris Bubic kept the alliteration train moving and looked very strong to start the game. Through five innings he struck out five while allowing two hits and no walks.

The Cardinal offense got things popping in the third. Beau Branton hit a sharp grounder to the left side that Sam Wezniak dove and snared, but on which he could not make the throw. Tim Tawa then stepped in and deposited the first pitch from Cal starter Aaron Shortridge up and over the leftfield wall to make it 2-0. It was Tawa’s seventh homer of the year.

Bubic continued to cruise. He set down nine straight through four innings. Stanford got a runner on third with one out in the inning when Handley hit a sinking liner to center on which Tanner Dodson went for a do-or-die dive and upon which he...died. The ball rolled almost all the way to the wall as Handley raced around the bases. He came home moments later on a wild pitch from Shortridge that made the score 3-0.

Bubic ran into some trouble in the fifth thanks to an infield hit and a passed ball, but he got it together to keep Cal off the board by striking out Max Flower to end the threat. Stanford came back and added to the lead after Branton reached on a single to left. Coach Esquer’s obsession with making Tawa, who had homered in his last at bat, continued. That sacrifice proved irrelevant when with two down Daschbach unloaded a no-doubter to left field to make it 5-0 Stanford. It was Daschbach’s 12th homer and 44-45th R’sBI on the year.

Bubic, who started the sixth with 88 pitches, showed signs of fatigue in the top of the sixth. Cal’s first two hitters singles sharply, which brought Andrew Vaughn to the plate. Bubic kept him in the yard, as Robinson went deep in center to snare his drive, but a single by Dodson and a walk to Davis ended his night.

Zach Grech came in and Wezniak greeted him with an RBI single to right. Grech retired Darren Baker on a popout to second for the second out of the inning and then he struck out Korey Lee to end the threat. Grech came out for the seventh and secured the first out, but a four-pitch walk ended his night and Pitching Coach Thomas Eager went right to his closer, brining Jack Little into the game.

Little came in and struck out Greene and Dodson to end the inning. His fortune would not be quite as good in the next inning, as Cal’s Jonah Davis hit his second homer of the series, a monster shot to dead center off the batter’s eye to draw Cal a run closer at 5-2. Little came back to end the frame on a strikeout and a grounder to first.

After the Cardinal left the bases loaded in the eighth, Little came on to close out the game and did just that.

Stanford stays home for one more game, as they host USF on Tuesday night at 6 PM before departing for Salt Lake City and a weekend series vs. Utah.

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R.J. Abeytia has been contributing to The Bootleg since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Abeytia and follow The Bootleg @TheBootleg for up to the moment Cardinal news and analysis.

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