The SaberCats survived a big fourth-quarter comeback by Tampa Bay and beat the Storm 36-27 on Friday in Tampa, Florida, giving San Jose a 3-0 start to the AFL season.

Wide receiver D.J. Stephens, acquired earlier this week, had six receptions for 80 yards and two touchdowns for the SaberCats.

San Jose quarterback Erik Meyer passed for two touchdowns and ran for one. Meyer finished with 179 yards passing on 17 of 32 completions.

Meyer’s second TD pass of the game, a 31-yarder to Stephens, gave San Jose a 36-7 lead over Tampa Bay (1-2) with 12 minutes and 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Storm quarterback Jason Boltus threw three of his four TD passes in the final 8:24, but the last came with only 41 seconds remaining.

Baseball

Stanford’s Brett Hanewich limited Cal to two runs on four hits over seven innings to open a three-game series with a 4-2 win at Evans Diamond. The Cardinal won for the first time in Pac-12 play in 10 tries.

Stanford (13-18) scored three times in the fifth inning to take a 4-0 lead over the Bears (21-10, 8-5 Pac-12).

Tommy Edman and Beau Branton both finished with two hits and an RBI to lead the Cardinal. Cal’s Mitchell Kranson went 2 for 4.

Dalton Jefferies took the loss after allowing one run in four innings. He was limited to 63 pitches, as he continues to return from an injury.

Hanewich is averaging over six innings pitched in four starts since filling the void left by the injured Cal Quantrill on March 20.

San Diego State (25-10, 13-3 Mountain West) scored all its runs with two outs in an 11-2 win over San Jose State (8-15, 2-14) at Municipal Stadium.

Andrew Sopko gave up two hits and struck out eight in eight shutout innings as host Gonzaga (16-17, 6-7 West Coast Conference) posted a 7-0 win over Saint Mary’s (19-14, 6-7).