Stanford rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat Arizona State 11-6 Saturday and clinch the Pac-12 series win over the visiting Sun Devils. It was beautiful day on The Farm for lounging and watching a baseball game. The problem for the Cardinal (26-5, 8-3) was that for much of the game the hitters appeared to be embracing the idea of a lazy weekend afternoon in the sun. ASU starter Sam Romero held the Stanford lineup without a hit through five innings while the Sun Devils were hitting the Cardinal's Kris Bubic hard. Before fans who watched the Stanford football spring game at Cagan Stadium could settle into seats at Sunken Diamond, Spencer Torkelson hit a solo home run to give ASU a 1-0 lead. Arizona State padded their lead in the fourth inning with a two-run double by Taylor Lane. The Cardinal finally responded in the bottom of the sixth and it was DH Bryce Carter who broke through with a leadoff double. Alec Wilson followed and ripped a triple to right-center field and the dugout was energized. Beau Branton nearly beat out an infield single to keep the train going, but the fielder's choice scored Wilson and a new game started. Each team notched zeroes in the seventh inning and Arizona State got some breathing room in the eighth when Torkelson launched a shot that may have hit softball fans beyond the left field fence. That ended Bubic's day and it's a credit to his ability that in a dogfight with a talented Sun Devil lineup he allowed eight hits but only four runs while striking out seven. The game was turned on its head in the bottom of the eighth and it started with a Christian Robinson walk. With one out Arizona State brought in Chaz Montoya, who promptly walked Wilson. Branton singled home Robinson and it was almost palpable that the game was slipping away from ASU. A fielding error by third baseman Gage Workman allowed a grounder by Tim Tawa to scoot into left field; Wilson scampered home and the game was tied. Nico Hoerner was intentionally walked to set up a potential inning-ending double play with Andrew Daschbach in the box. This happened instead.

A Kyle Stowers double kept the inning alive and backup catcher Matthew Decker doubled him home. Wilson later got his second shot in the inning and delivered a rifled single up the middle for two RBI. Stanford plated nine runners in the inning, which gave the Cardinal plenty of margin for error to get three outs, even with a two-run homer by Workman.

David Esquer

There were two different games today: "We talked about that. There are sometimes you come out and you don't play well. You can't accept it and say, 'Well, this is a day we're not going to play well.' You draw a line in the sand and you try to turn it. You try to do something to make it two different games. We were able to do that. We had some big at-bats and performances. The pitching may not have felt like they were at the top of their game but Bubic got a big double play out of Lane to kind of minimize. And Matthiessen got a guy to pull the ball to third base (with the infield in) to help us out. I thought Robinson had two great at-bats to draw walks. Then the hits as they piled on between Beau and Wilson, who had two big hits for us on the day. Then obviously Daschbach's grand slam was what we needed. Great effort and a tale of two games. But I told them that you have to prove to yourself you can stop it and flip a game when you're not playing well." The theme this season has been anyone can step up and Wilson did so after not many recent opportunities: "That has been our battle cry that everyone has to be ready. Sometimes with our moves in and out the lineup, again you're just looking for lightning in a bottle. And you don't necessarily give guys time to battle out of slow periods. Alec has been getting ready and he has been doing well in batting practice. We have noticed that. We've been watching his training and it has been good. We felt comfortable sticking him in there today." How about the way Daschbach has come on for you guys? "We were talking about him earlier today and some freshman don't get to come out and be stars. Guys doing well for us this year, Stowers and Daschbach, they had rough freshman years. They had to learn. Sometimes we can get a little impatient and wish some of our freshmen are more ready to go, but it's a learning process." Tawa back in the lineup so everything is Ok with him? "Getting hit on the hand yesterday, you're always concerned. Usually things don't go well when a guy gets hit on the hand. But he was able to come back and play today." You've talked about not being satisfied when a sweep is on the table: "The good news is there was enough there to humble us and let us know people aren't going to let us win. I think that will affect their preparation tomorrow. We'll be ready to go and play a better ballgame."

Alec Wilson and Andrew Daschbach