This weekend, No. 14 Stanford baseball will welcome Cal to Sunken Diamond. Stanford comes in at 15-3 overall and 5-1 in the ACC while Cal comes in at 10-10 overall and 2-4 in the ACC. Game one will be on Friday at 6:05 PM PT on ACCNX. Game two will be on Saturday at 2:05 PM PT on ACCNX. Game three will be on Sunday at 1:05 PM PT on ACCNX.
Last time out: Stanford swept Duke last weekend at home. Rintaro Sasaki hit three home runs in the series. Stanford is now ranked No. 14 in the nation as a result.
RECAP: No. 18 Stanford BSB sweeps Duke
Probable pitchers: On Friday, the probable pitching matchup is Stanford junior righty Matt Scott (4-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Cal junior righty Austin Turkington (3-2, 3.38 ERA). On Saturday, it’s Stanford sophomore lefty Christian Lim (2-2, 5.70 ERA) vs. Cal redshirt freshman Gavin Eddy (1-1, 1.52 ERA). On Sunday, it’s Stanford sophomore righty Joey Volchko (2-0, 6.27 ERA) vs. TBD.
On Cal: The Golden Bears have had a bit of a rough season as their record indicates. They lost two out of three at Duke and in their most recent series, they lost two out of three at home to Virginia. They’re coming off a 13-7 win over St. Mary’s on Tuesday, so they got the bats going a bit in this one.
The top contact and power hitter for the Bears is junior infielder Cade Campbell, who is batting .417 for six home runs and 24 RBIs to go along with a .738 slugging percentage and .425 on base percentage. Campbell is doing his part for the Bears, bringing great power while also doing a fantastic job of getting on base.
The number two contact hitter for the Bears is sophomore infielder Jarren Advincula, who is batting .365 for one home run and 11 RBIs to go along with a .494 slugging percentage and a .427 on base percentage.
The number two power hitter is redshirt catcher Alex Birge, who is batting .244 for five home runs and eight RBIs to go along with a .644 slugging percentage and a .424 on base percentage.
As a team, the Bears are batting .274 for 137 runs, 26 home runs, 122 RBIs, a .460 slugging percentage, and a .354 on base percentage. Their opponents are batting .218 for 101 runs, 17 home runs, 87 RBIs, a .337 slugging percentage, and a .337 on base percentage. That’s not a typo. Their opponents’ slugging and on base percentage is identical. Pitching-wise, the Bears have a 4.32 ERA while their opponents have a 6.36 ERA.
Keys to the series: The first thing Stanford needs to do is make sure they keep the bats swinging. Cal simply doesn’t have the same firepower that Stanford has in their lineup. Especially now that Rintaro Sasaki is starting to hit home runs. As long as Stanford’s lineup does their thing with their bats, Stanford should be fine.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is contain Cade Campbell. Campbell is by far and away the best bat the Bears have. If the Bears are going to make this series interesting, it’ll require Campbell to get going. If Stanford pitches to him well, it’ll be hard for Cal to pull this series out.
Finally, Stanford needs Matt Scott to set the tone on Friday night. If Scott has a strong outing on Friday, odds are really good Stanford wins and from there takes the series. A strong outing from Scott should calm down Christian Lim on Saturday and subsequently Joey Volchko on Sunday. Scott has been fantastic so far this season. If he continues to do his thing, Stanford should be fine.
Prediction: I usually don’t pick series sweeps in baseball since sweeping teams is hard and with this being a rivalry, it’s tempting to pick Cal to steal a game. That said, Stanford is playing on another level right now and now that Sasaki is hitting home runs, I just have to pick Stanford to get the sweep. Especially with this being played on The Farm.
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