This weekend, #3 Stanford baseball will welcome the Cal State Northridge Matadors to The Farm for a three-game weekend series. Stanford comes into the series at 6-2 overall while CSUN comes in at 5-2. Game 1 will be on Friday at 2:05 PM PT. Game 2 will be on Saturday at 2:05 PM PT. Game 3 will be on Sunday at 12:05 PM PT. All three game will air on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio.
Last time out: Stanford fell to UTSA on the road by a final score of 6-5 in 10 innings. Stanford swept the Karbach Round Rock Classic in Round Rock, Texas before falling a bit short on Monday at UTSA. Stanford has now risen to #3 in the USA TODAY Baseball Coaches Poll.
RECAP: #5 Stanford runs out of gas at UTSA
On CSUN: After dropping two of their first three games at then No. 24 UCLA, the Matadors are coming in hot having won all four of their games in a home series against Pacific that included a Saturday doubleheader. They scored 8 runs in two of those games and double figures in the other two games: 16 runs and 14 runs. The 16 run explosion came in the first game of the Saturday doubleheader which featured two 7 inning games. So, they really came alive in that game.
Redshirt senior Kai Moody, who is listed as a utility player, is the top hitter on this Matadors team across the board. He leads them in batting average (.345), hits (10), home runs (4), and RBIs (10). His .931 slugging percentage is a team-high though interestingly enough, his .367 on base percentage is not a team-high. That belongs to redshirt senior infielder Gabe Gonzalez, who has a .464 on base percentage to go along with a .250 batting average, 5 hits, 2 home runs, 5 RBIs, and a .550 slugging percentage.
As far as their pitching is concerned, the Matadors have some quality starters. Most notably senior right-handed pitcher Blake Sodersten (2-0, 1.50 ERA) and sophomore right-handed pitcher Ryan Wentz (1-0, 1.93 ERA). Those two pitchers are off to a great start and could find some success against a Stanford team whose hitting has been a bit come and go so far this season.
Keys to the series: While pitching is always a key to every series, it’s going to be especially crucial for Stanford in this series since the Matadors are coming in with some hot bats, lighting up Pacific like a Christmas tree. Stanford’s pitching is going to need to set the tone early and let the Matadors know that they’re not going to have as easy of a time getting runs as they did in their last series.
Secondly, Stanford needs to play a clean series. What cost them the game at UTSA was errors. Part of that may have been due to fatigue, but regardless, you can’t expect to win if you make commit errors. If Stanford plays a clean series and doesn’t allow CSUN to get any freebies, they should win this series with little trouble.
Finally, Stanford needs to give junior center fielder Brock Jones a chance to shine. So long as he’s not getting good run support, especially when he’s at bat, he’s going to have a really tough time coming alive given how tough teams are pitching to him. If Stanford can get guys on base before him and force teams to have to pitch to him, things could really break wide open for Stanford in this series.
Prediction: On paper, Stanford should sweep the Matadors. They’re ranked #3 in the nation and are coming off an impressive road trip in in Texas in which they took three out of four games, including a three game sweep at Round Rock. However, given how hot the Matadors are coming in, I do think they’ll find a way to get one game off the Cardinal this weekend.
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