This weekend, #24 Stanford baseball will host Washington State for a three-game home series. Stanford comes in at 9-8 overall and 1-5 in the Pac-12 while Washington State comes in at 9-11 overall and 1-5 in the Pac-12. Game 1 of the series will be on Friday at 6:05 PM PT. Game 2 will be on Saturday at 2:05 PM PT. Game 3 will be on Sunday at 1:05 PM PT. All three games will air live on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio.
Last time out: Stanford got swept in their previous series on the road at #9 Arizona. On Monday, Stanford fell by a final score of 10-3.
RECAP: #24 Stanford falls apart late at #9 Arizona
On Washington State: While Washington State on paper looks like they should be an easy win for Stanford, their lone league win came against now #6 Oregon State at home by a final score of 9-8. The Cougars have shown they can hang with elite teams for at least one evening/afternoon.
The top contact hitter on this Cougars team is freshman infielder Elijah Hainline, who is hitting .324 with one home run and seven RBIs on the season so far. Hainline has an on-base percentage of .435 and a slugging percentage of .486. The top power hitter on the team is sophomore 1st baseman/outfielder Bryce Matthews, who is hitting .292 for two home runs and 10 RBIs. Matthews has an on-base percentage of .373 and a slugging percentage of .477.
The top starting pitcher on this Cougars team is sophomore right-handed pitcher Grant Taylor who in 24 innings pitched and five starts has a 2-2 record for a 3.38 ERA. The other two pitchers who have five starts (Cole McMillan & McKabe Cottrell) have ERAs of 5+.
Keys to the series: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is finish games. Odds are good they’ll get off to strong starts in each of their games this weekend, but the question is can they close. Washington State isn’t ranked and doesn’t have the firepower that Arizona has, so on paper they should be able to close with more ease. But still, after the way Stanford folded at Arizona, this has to be key number one.
The second thing Stanford needs is for their bats to come alive. They’ve had too many games where they’ve left runners on base and not had the kind of offensive explosion that they should have had. If Stanford hits the way they are capable of, they should average 8+ runs per game this weekend.
Finally, Stanford’s bullpen needs to get it together. That was a big part of why they struggled to finish games last week. The bullpen fell apart. Alex Williams, Quinn Mathews, and Drew Dowd should set up the bullpen well. It’ll just be a matter of the bullpen doing their job and not folding this time.
Prediction: On paper, Stanford should win all three games this weekend. They’re the better team, they’re at home, etc. However, given their recent struggles, I do not see a home sweep for the Cardinal this weekend. I see them taking two out of three games with Washington State finding a way to steal one.
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