After a forgettable start to their series at Stanford (16-10, 8-6 Pac-12) on Friday, the Sun Devils (14-19, 5-7) put up much more of a fight on Sunday.
But ASU faltered late thanks to some defensive miscues and a disastrous eighth inning from the Sun Devils’ bullpen, losing to the Cardinal 10-6 for their second defeat in as many days.
The knockout blow came in the bottom of the seventh after the Sun Devils had scored two in top of the inning to tie the game at five runs apiece. Stanford loaded the bases off of redshirt junior reliever Will Levine and redshirt sophomore reliever Christian Bodlovich, then Cardinal right fielder Braden Montgomery launched a no-doubt grand slam over the right-field fence, giving his team a 9-5 lead.