Feb. 27, 2011

Rankings are from CBI Composite Poll

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CBI Live
Pries, Cardinal Avoid Sweep

By Jimmy Jones

Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com

(photos by Jimmy Jones) 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Stanford right-hander Jordan Pries (right)  started a little shaky but finished strong in a dominant outing against third-ranked Vanderbilt to pace a 5-2 win to salvage the third game of their three-game series.

Pries opened the game by throwing seven straight balls but settled down, allowing two runs on three hits over seven innings to win for the second time this season.

Stanford’s Ben Clowe and Stephen Piscotty hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning off Commodores starter Grayson Garvin to give the visitors a 2-0 lead, and Pries was masterful in keeping the opposing hitters off balance in taking a no-hitter through the fourth.

“Pries was the one guy we faced this weekend that I felt was different,” Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. “He gave us some opportunities early with a couple of walks, and we were unable to take advantage of that in the first inning and that was the difference.”

The Cardinal (4-3) extended the lead in the fifth to 3-0 on a sac fly by Jake Stewart before Vanderbilt (7-1) got on the board with two runs on three hits in the bottom half. Mike Yastrzemski notched the first RBI with a sacrifice fly to score Conrad Gregor, and Jason Esposito added an RBI single.

Stanford first baseman Brian Ragirathen added to the lead in the sixth with a RBI single.

Pries gave way to lefty reliever Chris Reed in the eighth, and Reed finished strong with two shutout innings to earn his first save of the season.

Clowe and Piscotty led the Stanford offense with two hits apiece. Gregor led the Vandy offense reaching base three times and Connor Harrell had his team leading third double of the season.

Cardinal catcher Zach Jones was outstanding defensively. The senior threw out his fifth runner of the season in the third inning. The Commodores came into the series 17 of 18 in stolen bases, but Jones shut down the running game by going 3 for 3 on gunning down runners.

Garvin (1-1) (right) was saddled with the loss, allowing four runs on eight hits with six strikeouts over six innings.

“I missed my spots today and that pretty well explains it,” Garvin said. “They are a real aggressive offensive team, and they are two-strike oriented. They make it tough on a pitcher if he is not at his best. They are very good team, and I am pretty sure that we are going to see them down the road somewhere in the future.”