After its Monday afternoon game at Cal was suspended due to darkness with the score tied at 5-5 in the 13th, the Stanford baseball team lost in extra innings last night, 9-8, against UC-Davis at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond.

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Stanford’s four-run seventh inning gave the Cardinal a 7-3 lead, but its pitching staff could not get the job done as the Aggies rallied to take the game in extra innings, 9-8. #gallery http://daily.stanford.org/image/full/8936
Jeff Keacher

Stanford’s four-run seventh inning gave the Cardinal a 7-3 lead, but its pitching staff could not get the job done as the Aggies rallied to take the game in extra innings, 9-8.

Despite holding a 7-3 lead after seven innings, Stanford couldn’t find an arm to put Davis away. Two nights after going through 10 pitchers in that unresolved game at Cal, Stanford went through nine in a 12-inning loss.

Things started off poorly for the Card, as the Aggies managed to push across two runs in the first inning. Catcher Jake Jefferies (2-5, RBI) delivered a one-out double off of Stanford starter Cory Bannister (1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER), putting runners at second and third. First baseman Evan Hudson (0-4, 2 RBI) then delivered a sacrifice fly to right field, and Brendan Domaracki’s throw got away, allowing both runners to score.

The score held at 2-0 as Bannister yielded to Michael Marshall (3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER) in the second, who shut down Davis until the sixth. Meanwhile the Cardinal bats were finally able to get something going in the fifth.

Aggies starter Bryan Evans was replaced with Trevor Fox, which was good news for the Card. Evans had held Stanford to just two hits while striking out five over his four innings on the hill, but Fox couldn’t hold the Card down any longer.

Fox was greeted with consecutive singles from Joey August (2-6, R), Austin Yount (2-4, R) and Zach Jones (1-5, R, RBI), resulting in one run. Jake Schlander (0-3, 2 R) then drew a walk before Cord Phelps (2-6, R, 2 RBI) delivered another single, scoring two and making the score 3-2. Fox (1.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER) then settled down to get the next three batters.

Davis put one more on the board in the top of the sixth, tying the game at 3-3, but that didn’t last long. Stanford loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh and Davis brought in Marco Grifantini (0.2 IP, R) to face pinch hitter Brent Milleville (1-1, R, RBI) with one out. Grifantini hit Milleville, scoring one, and Stanford added three more, all unearned, by way of a wild pitch and an error by shortstop Scott Heylman, making the score 7-3 Stanford.

The Aggies weren’t done, though, as Davis piled on three more runs in the eighth, making the score 7-6. Stanford put one run up in the bottom of that inning but it wouldn’t be enough, as the Aggies rallied to tie the game at eight in the ninth.

The Cardinal got the winning run on base with no outs in the bottom of the ninth as Milleville singled off of Tom Briner (0.1 IP, ER). Wande Olabisi was inserted as a pinch runner and made his presence felt, stealing second after Sean Ratliff struck out for the first out. Briner got August to strike out as well, bringing up pinch hitter Colin Walsh with a chance to win the game. Walsh drove one to the gap, but the centerfielder Ryan Royster was able to get under it, forcing extra innings.

Carey Schwartz (3 IP, 2 H, ER, 3 SO), in his first appearance of the season, allowed just one Aggie runner in the tenth and eleventh, but Rikki Foster (1-1, R) led off the twelfth with a double. Schwartz struck out the next two batters he faced, but Matt Dempsey (1-6, RBI) drove him in with a single to bring the score to 9-8.

Stanford was retired in order in the bottom of the inning by Jeff Reekers, who picked up the win (3-2) after turning in perfect frames in the 11th and 12th. Schwartz was tagged with the loss, dropping his record to 0-1. Stanford fell to 15-10-1 while UC-Davis improved their record to 21-10.

Stanford will look for its first win as the No. 10 ranked team in the country this weekend when it travels north to challenge the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis, Oregon.

The road trip is the first weekend road series against a Pac-10 opponent this season and the first time the Cardinal has spent a weekend away from the Farm since it took two of three from Texas last month. All three games of the series will be available on KZSU 90.1 FM.