No. 6 Stanford baseball rolled into its afternoon match-up with San Francisco yesterday riding a three-game winning streak and looking to build momentum in its final non-conference contest of the season. But an offensive outburst from the Dons in the fourth inning led to an ultimately insurmountable lead as USF outpaced Stanford, 13-9, avenging a Cardinal win in extra innings on April 16.

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Jeff Keacher

Sean Ratliff hitting a home run. He now has four in his last three games.

The Cardinal (28-16-2, 10-5 Pac-10) started freshman right-hander Alex Pracher against the Dons (29-21); the freshman has gotten off to a rocky start in his collegiate career with a 1-1 record and an 8.04 ERA. Pracher was wild to start the contest as he allowed a leadoff double in the bottom of the first. USF got on the scoreboard before the end of the next at-bat as a passed ball and wild pitch brought the runner home.

Pracher would go on to allow three runs in 1.1 innings of work, foreshadowing a rough day for the Cardinal staff in which four pitchers allowed multiple runs and lasted less than two frames.

The Cardinal, however, showed the ability to keep up with San Francisco early in the game, as junior center fielder Sean Ratliff hit his team leading 15th homerun on the season, driving in senior Randy Molina and junior Brent Milleville to briefly give the Cardinal the lead before USF answered back in the bottom half of the inning.

In its last two victories, Stanford has used big innings — a five-run eighth and 11-run ninth at San Jose State and a four-run fifth against Pacific two nights ago — to achieve victory, but in a bit of role reversal, it was the Dons putting up a crooked number to bury Stanford’s hopes.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, with the score tied at three, the Dons rallied with senior David Stringer on the mound, hitting three consecutive singles to start the inning, putting runners at the corners with USF on top by a run. Freshman Michael De Groot came on in relief of Stringer, but immediately walked a batter to load the bases. One out later USF right fielder Garrett Luippold hit a two-RBI single to right, which was followed immediately by first baseman Mitchell Bialosky’s three run homer. De Groot allowed another two singles before recording his second strikeout and being relieved.

Junior right hander Max Fearnow finished out the inning for the Cardinal, allowing just one additional run to cross the plate. But the damage was done as the Dons scored all the runs they would need, taking a 10-3 lead.

Fearnow went on to throw three solid innings, allowing just one earned run. His outing was by far the best of any Stanford pitcher yesterday and gave the Cardinal a chance to come back, as the squad rallied for three runs in the fifth. Stanford plated another three in the eighth as senior right fielder Brendan Domaracki hit the second three-run homer of the day, which marked his first round-tripper of his season. But the Dons added an insurance run in the seventh and another two in the eighth to put the game away at 13-9.

The Cardinal will now have a couple of days off before taking on California (29-15-2, 9-9 Pac-10) in a three game series beginning on Friday. The Bears are currently tied for fourth in the Pac-10.

Stanford needs every win it can get down the stretch, as it currently sits a half game behind Arizona State’s 12-6 record in the conference standings. Friday’s game is set to begin at 6 p.m. at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond and is Town & Country Village Fireworks Night.

Contact Denis Griffin at djgriff@stanford.edu.ￖ