On Tuesday at 6:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio, #9 Stanford baseball will welcome Sacramento State to The Farm for a single game at Sunken Diamond. Stanford comes in at 23-10 overall and 11-4 in the Pac-12 while Sacramento State comes in at 18-18 overall and 6-9 in the WAC.
Last time out: On Sunday, Stanford defeated Oregon 6-4 on the road. Oregon won the series 2-1.
RECAP: #8 Stanford BSB bounces back on Sunday at Oregon
Probable pitchers: Stanford sophomore right-handed pitcher Braden Montgomery (1-1, 5.00 ERA, 13K) vs. Sacramento State freshman left-handed pitcher Jaxon Byrd (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1K)
Braden Montgomery makes John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award Watch List: On Monday, Stanford sophomore right-handed pitcher/outfielder Braden Montgomery was named to the 2023 John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award Watch List. On top of his 1-1 record and 5.00 ERA, Montgomery is batting .357 for nine home runs, 31 RBIs, a .670 slugging percentage, and a .500 on base percentage. While his hitting is better than his pitching, Stanford continues to develop him on the mound with the hope of him becoming a more reliable weapon for them in that department as the season goes on as well as in the coming seasons.
On Sacramento State: The Hornets are playing .500 ball overall with a losing record in the WAC. They have played a couple of Pac-12 teams tough, losing to USC and UCLA on the road by one run at the Southern California College Baseball Classic. Most recently, they lost two out of three at home to UT Arlington in a three-game WAC series.
The top contact and power hitter on this Hornets team is freshman infielder Wehiwa Aloy, who is batting .361 for nine home runs, 29 RBIs, a .660 slugging percentage, and a .414 on base percentage. The number contact and power hitter is senior catcher/infielder Martin Vincelli-Simard, who is batting .333 for eight home runs, 32 RBIs, a .622 slugging percentage, and a .392 on base percentage.
As a team, the Hornets are hitting .278 for 51 home runs, 210 RBIs, and 232 runs while their opponents are hitting .288 for 41 home runs, 228 RBIs, and 249 runs. Their pitching staff has a 6.27 ERA while their opponents have a 6.06 ERA.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is get quality pitching from their bullpen. The bullpen is going to have to carry the load on the mound in this one. It would be huge if Montgomery could pitch a couple of scoreless innings at the start to help the rest of the staff settle in. In truth, if he could go even deeper, that would be better. Just because it’s always a wild ride when this bullpen is taking over.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is go wild offensively. Given the nature of this being a Tuesday game, it would be really good for them to put up a lot of runs and not even have the pitching be in a position to screw things up. 10+ runs would be perfect and knowing this team, they’re more than capable of doing that.
Finally, Stanford needs to contain Aloy and Vincelli-Simard. Those two guys are going to look to have a big night. If Stanford can keep those guys quiet, it’s going to be tough for the Hornets to generate enough offense to win.
Prediction: I gotta roll with Stanford in this one. 11-5 is how I see this one shaking out. These Tuesday games are always tough to predict and anything can happen, but Stanford is the obvious pick here.
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