As improbable as it seemed just two weeks ago, Stanford baseball managed to avoid its second losing season in the past 30 years, sweeping Southern California on the road in a three-game series to finish the year. Racking up a 9-1 record after May 12, the Cardinal notched its 14th consecutive non-losing season with an even .500. The team avoided the dismal distinction of finishing last place in the Pacific-10 Conference by closing out the year with wins against Washington and USC.

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Masaru Oka

Ryan Seawall in a game agianst Pacific

This past weekend’s action against the Trojans (27-29, 8-16 Pac-10) opened with a thrilling, 11-inning battle in which Stanford’s red-hot offense put up 20 hits. The Cardinal (28-28, 9-15) had contributions from every spot in the lineup, as sophomore left fielder Joey August rapped six hits and sophomore center fielder Sean Ratliff collected four RBI.

But the heroes Friday night were junior right hander Nolan Gallagher and Stanford’s lone senior, third baseman Ryan Seawell. In relief of sophomore starter Jeremy Bleich, Gallagher went four scoreless innings to earn the win, giving up just two hits and striking out five. Seawell, meanwhile, belted a three-run homer to left, putting the Cardinal up 10-7 for the win.

“It was huge for us,” Gallagher said of Seawell’s game-winner. “We’d been chugging along, and it came up at a pretty big part of the game. Especially from a guy like Seawell, who’s worked so hard his senior year, it was an awesome sight to see.”

Gallagher attributed his own key role in the victory to finally finding all his pitches.

“It was kind of one of those nights,” the junior said. “I was able to throw every pitch for a strike. That was just real big; my change up [and my curve ball] came up big. Everything was going pretty good, so it was just one of those nights.”

Stanford’s offense continued to roll in Saturday afternoon’s second game of the series, as the Cardinal downed the Trojans 20-13, largely on the strength of a spectacular, 13-run fourth inning.

While every hitter in Stanford’s lineup played a role in the offensive explosion, the star of the inning was right fielder Michael Taylor. The junior slugger knocked in a pair of runs on a homer to right, and followed it up with a grand slam down the left-field line later in the frame.

“Anytime you can put together the type of output we did in the fourth inning in a game, let alone one inning, it’s something special,” Taylor said to GoStanford.com. “There are a lot of guys on the team that are swinging the bats really well. In that inning, nobody wanted to be the last out.”

Other offensive performances of note came from a pair of juniors, as designated hitter Brendan Domaracki racked up four RBI and catcher Brian Juhl scored three runs and brought another three home.

The Cardinal closed out the series with a 10-5 win on Sunday. Taylor collected another four RBI, three on a second inning, bases-clearing double, while extending his career-long hit streak to 12 games and recording his 16th multiple-hit outing in his last 19 games. Sophomore first baseman Brent Milleville, who went 4-5 and homered in the contest, also stood out.

Still, after heading into the bottom of the ninth up 10-3, Stanford went through a pair of pitchers and gave up two runs to put the outcome somewhat in doubt. But Gallagher was staunch in relief yet again, as the junior entered the game with runners on second and third and walked a batter to load the bases before recording the final three outs of the season for the Cardinal.

“It feels good,” Gallagher said following Sunday’s game. “Everybody knows this is what we can play like, and finishing the year like this, winning nine of 10 games, is just a confidence builder and a good way to get things going into next year. It’s just really good to see everybody playing like they should be playing.”

The Cardinal’s coach was also pleased with his team’s performance down the stretch.

“I am proud of the way this ball club finished the season,” head coach Mark Marquess said to GoStanford.com. “They never quit working hard, and the way [they] played at the end of the season, and the results we had in the last few weeks were evidence of that.”