This weekend, Stanford baseball will head to Seattle to battle the Washington Huskies. This will be the Pac-12 opener for both teams. Stanford comes in at 6-6 overall while Washington comes in at 3-5-1. Game one will be on Friday at 6:05 PM. Game two will be on Saturday at 4:05 PM PT. Game three will be on Sunday at 1:05 PM PT. All three games will air on Washington Livestream-2 and KZSU radio.
Last time out: Stanford fell to Cal on Tuesday by a final score of 5-0. The Cardinal just weren’t able to get their bats going.
RECAP: Stanford falls to Cal in Tuesday battle in Berkeley
Probable pitchers: On Friday, the probable starting pitching lineup is Stanford sophomore righty Matt Scott (1-2, 4.70 ERA, 28K) vs. Washington redshirt senior righty Jared Engman (0-2, 4.40 ERA, 9K).
On Saturday, the probable starting pitching lineup is Stanford freshman lefty Christian Lim (1-2, 5.25 ERA,) vs. Washington senior righty Calvin Kirchoff (0-0, 2.35 ERA, 4K).
As for Sunday, the probable starting pitching lineup is Stanford sophomore righty Nick Dugan (3-0, 4.50 ERA, 17K) vs. Washington sophomore righty Spencer Dessart (0-0, 3.38 ERA, 12K).
On Washington: The Huskies have not been off to a great start. They went 0-2-1 against Long Beach State on the road and also 1-2 against Santa Clara at home. So, it’s been a rough start for them. They’ll be hoping to turn things around this weekend.
The top contact hitter for the Huskies this season is redshirt sophomore catcher Colin Blanchard, who is batting .417 for one RBI, a .417 slugging percentage, and a .611 on base percentage.
The top power hitter for the Huskies is junior infielder Cam Clayton, who is batting .263 for two home runs and eight RBIs to go along with a .447 slugging percentage and a .408 on base percentage.
As a team, the Huskies are batting .215 for seven home runs, 37 RBIs, 40 runs, a .318 slugging percentage, and a .336 on base percentage. Their opponents are batting .226 for six home runs, 39 RBIs, 42 runs, a .329 slugging percentage, and a .325 on base percentage. As for pitching, Washington has a 3.63 ERA while their opponents have a 3.58 ERA.
Keys to the series: Stanford needs to make sure their starting pitching is solid across the board. Matt Scott, Christian Lim, and Nick Dugan need to be dialed in. If they collectively do their job, Stanford should be in a good spot to win this series.
The next thing Stanford needs to do is play clean defense. It’s likely going to be pretty chilly up there in Seattle, which is more conducive to a defensive battle. If Stanford can make sure their fielding is clean and free from errors, that will go a long ways towards winning this series.
Finally, Stanford needs to make sure they get hits when they need to. Namely when they get a runner in scoring position. If they are able to do that, I like their chances to pull through this series.
Prediction: I got Stanford taking two out of three. A road sweep in their Pac-12 opener might be asking for too much, but I do think they’ll find a way to win the series.
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