Stanford opened the closet, but couldn’t quite reach the broom.

The Cardinal had the opportunity to sweep its Pac-10 rival UCLA in Los Angeles this weekend, but fell just short, as the Bruins pitched their way to a 6-2 victory on Sunday. Pitching was the theme of the weekend, as the winning team in every game turned in excellent performances on the mound.

But despite missing the sweep, it was a very successful weekend for Stanford, which moved into first place in the Pacific-10 Conference by taking two of three from the Bruins. No. 10 Stanford had entered the weekend tied for first with Arizona State, but the Sun Devils dropped two of three at Oregon State, allowing the Card to take a one-game conference lead.

“It’s great to be in first place in the standings,” said head coach Mark Marquess. “But it is a lot more important to be there at the end of the year. We are playing good baseball right now and we just need to keep it going.”

Of course there is a lot of baseball yet to play, but Stanford (21-12-2, 8-4 Pac-10) should feel pretty well about leading the conference at the halfway mark, especially since it was expected to finish in the bottom half by most experts at the start of the season.

By winning the first two games Stanford secured its 11th straight three-game series win. The loss on Sunday ended a six-game winning streak for Stanford and was the first time this season it has lost on a weekend.

Friday: Stanford 4, UCLA 1

In the opener, Stanford jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. The first four Cardinal batters reached, and before the first out of the game was recorded, Stanford had a 3-0 lead. Junior Brent Millville (2-5, 2 RBI) hit a two RBI double to cap this early rally, which was enough for the pitchers to take control.

Junior Austin Yount, senior David Stringer and freshman Drew Storen combined to hold the Bruins to just a single unearned run on six hits. Stringer struck out four in 2.1 innings and received the win — Yount did not go the five innings required to receive a win as a starter — to move to 1-0 on the year and Storen received his fourth save. Storen was perfect after entering the game with a runner on first and no outs in the eighth.

Junior Cord Phelps had another great day in the leadoff spot, going 2-2 and drawing three walks to reach all five times he came to the plate. Phelps and Millville had the only multiple-hit days for Stanford. Sophomore Toby Gerhart also drew three walks. No UCLA batter had multiple hits and none reached base more than twice. UCLA starter Tim Murphy took the loss, falling to 3-4.

Saturday: Stanford 6, UCLA 1

Looking to take the series without having to play in a rubber game Stanford sent senior right-hander Erik Davis to mound. Davis, out of Mountain View High School, had already set a career high in wins with five and had pitched complete games in his last three starts.

Make that four. Davis turned in the best outing of his career as he went the distance allowing just one run on seven hits and one walk while striking out a career-high 13 batters en route to picking up his sixth win and fifth in as many appearances. With the win Davis is now 6-1.

“Erik was simply fantastic today,” said Marquess. “It’s an amazing accomplishment to have pitched four consecutive complete games. It is almost unheard of in today’s age of college baseball.”

It looked for awhile that Davis would have to be near perfect to get the win as Bruins starter Charles Brewer matched Davis into the fifth, keeping the game scoreless. But with two outs in fifth inning Stanford finally found its bats.

Senior Brendan Domaracki delivered an RBI ground-rule double to put Stanford up 1-0. Junior Jason Castro followed with a two RBI single, bringing up Senior Randy Molina with two on and two outs.

Molina connected on his third home run of the year, making the score 6-0 Stanford and chasing Brewer. Brendan Lafferty came on and shut the Card down the rest of the way. Brewer fell to 4-4 with the loss.

Castro (3-5, 2 RBI), Molina (2-5, HR, 3 RBI) and freshman Zach Jones (2-3) all had multi-hit games for Stanford. All seven of the Bruins’ hits were singles.

Sunday: UCLA 8, Stanford 2

Stanford jumped out to an early 2-0 lead off of UCLA starter Gavin Brooks, but couldn’t get anything going after that.

Brooks settled down and cruised through the next five innings he worked, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out six Cardinal batters. Brooks showcased a devastating curveball which the Stanford bats simply couldn’t find an answer for.

Sophomore Jeffery Inman started for the Card, and wasn’t able to hold onto the two-run lead he had been spotted for long. Inman came into the game 5-0 on the year with an ERA of just 1.49, but struggled out of the gate and lasted just 2.1 innings.

Casey Haerther hit a two-out solo homerun after Jermaine Curtis delivered a sacrifice fly, tying the game at two in the first inning. UCLA put up another run in the second, taking a 3-2 lead into the third inning.

The Bruins loaded the bases with nobody out in the third before Tim Murphy grounded out, scoring one run. Inman was then relieved by freshman Dan Sandbrink. Sandbrink allowed a RBI groundout followed by a Mickey Weisser RBI single before getting a fly-out to get out of the inning, the score now 6-2 UCLA. All six runs were charged to Inman.

Sandbrink and Brooks traded great innings on the hill until the eighth, when Stanford finally got something going.

Matt Drummond came on in the seventh to relieve Brooks, and in the eighth Gerhart and Castro delivered singles to put runners on first and second with no outs. Milleville looked to deliver another single, but shortstop Brandon Crawford made an excellent catch moving back into left field for the first out. Junior Sean Ratliff dropped a bloop single into left to load the bases for freshman Ben Clowe, but Drummond got him to hit one on the ground and the Bruins successfully turned the double play to get out of the inning.

UCLA scored two more runs in the eighth to win by the final 8-2. Inman got the loss — his first of the year — to fall to 5-1.

Stanford returns to action tonight when it travels to Santa Clara. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Contact Erik Adams at ekadams@stanford.edu.