Stanford, CA – True-freshman starting pitcher Kyle Barraclough (1-0) will have a tough time living up to his Saint Mary’s debut.  The right handed pitcher was electric tonight, holding the No. 20 ranked Stanford Cardinal (3-2-1) lineup to three hits.  Barraclough and the Gaels (3-1) would go on to defeat the Cardinal 5-3 at the Sunken Diamond.

For the first four innings it looked like the Gaels and the Cardinal would be settling in to an old fashioned pitchers duel as the two teams traded zero’s on the board.  Barraclough’s final line for the evening was five complete innings, three hits, zero runs, two walks and four strike outs, en route to his first collegiate win.

On the mound for the Cardinal was Brandt Walker (0-1) who went 4.1 innings pitched, giving up two hits, three earned runs, with three walks, and four strike outs.

The two hits proved to be costly as they were apart of a four-run inning in the top of the fifth that proved to be the difference in the game.  Freshman Chris Murphy led off the inning with a bunt single, back to back walks to Daniel Alcaire and Cory Miller loaded the bases with no outs.  A wild pitch from Walker scored Murphy to break the scoreless tie, Ryan Mulligan followed that up with a single scoring Alcaire.  Mulligan finished the game going 1-for-4 with a run scored and a run batted in.

Freshman Greg Ditmer continues his hot hitting as he went 1-for-2 to extend his hit-streak to four games, his double in the fourth scored Miller to put the Gaels up 3-0.  A sacrifice fly from Ryan Young scored Mulligan to cap the scoring in the fifth.

Brandon Berl came into the game for the Gaels in the bottom of the sixth and was lights out.  The relief pitcher extends his scoreless streak to four innings, going two complete, surrendering two hits, no runs, two walks and two strike outs.

Stanford added a run in the bottom of the eighth off an RBI single from Brent Milleville, scoring Joey August.  The Cardinal made it interest in the bottom of the ninth loaded the bases, and scoring two runs before Gaels reliever Alex Schmarzo got Milleville to ground out to Murphy for the final out.

Schmarzo went two compete, giving up four hits, three earned runs, with two walks and four strike outs, for his second save of the season.

Junior outfielder Kyle Jensen went 2-for-5 on the day with his first homerun of the season to finish the scoring for Gaels. 

Saint Mary’s will return to the diamond on Friday, when they head to Huntsville, TX, to play in the Sam Houston State tournament.  The Gaels will face the Bearkats at 5:00 PM.