This weekend, Stanford baseball will have their final home series of the season as they welcome Arizona State to Sunken Diamond. Game one will be on Friday at 6:05 PM PT. Game two will be on Saturday at 2:05 PM PT. Game three will be on Sunday at 1:05 PM PT. All three games will air on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio. Stanford comes in at 20-25 overall and 11-13 in the Pac-12 while Arizona State comes in at 26-24 overall and 14-13 in the Pac-12.
Last time out: Stanford is coming off a rough weekend at #21 Arizona in which they got swept 3-0. They’ll be looking to bounce back this weekend.
Probable pitchers: For Friday, the probable pitching matchup is Stanford sophomore righty Matt Scott (4-7, 5.35 ERA, 91K) vs. Arizona State sophomore lefty Ben Jacobs (5-2, 4.97 ERA, 76K). For Saturday, the probable matchup is Stanford freshman lefty Christian Lim (4-5, 4.01 ERA vs, 75K) vs. Arizona State senior lefty Connor Markl (5-3, 4.58 ERA, 53K). For Sunday, Stanford sophomore righty Nick Dugan (3-4, 6.63 ERA, 52K) is the probable starter while Arizona State is yet to announce a probable starter (TBD).
On Arizona State: The Sun Devils have had an up and down season. They have particularly struggled away from home, where they are 8-12. They just haven’t been able to put it together despite showing flashes.
The top contact hitter for the Sun Devils is sophomore outfielder Kien Vu, who is batting .420 for 10 home runs and 41 RBIs to go along with a .773 slugging percentage and a .485 on base percentage. The top power hitter is redshirt freshman Brandon Compton, who is batting .340 for 11 home runs and 42 RBIs to go along with a .647 slugging percentage and a .408 on base percentage.
As a team, the Sun Devils are batting . 303 with 81 home runs and 357 RBIs to go along with a .519 slugging percentage and a .389 on base percentage. Their opponents are hitting .288 for 76 home runs and 350 RBIs to go along with a .492 slugging percentage and a .397 on base percentage. As for pitching, the Sun Devils have a 6.80 ERA while their opponents have a 7.19 ERA.
Keys to the series: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is find a way to bring some power. When Stanford goes yard at least once in a game, they usually do pretty well offensively. The guys feed off that and everyone steps up their game. When they don’t hit a homer, the offense tends to stagnate. If Stanford can find a way to go yard at least once in this game and preferably with some guys on base, that’ll go a long ways towards them winning the series. While Malcolm Moore is the top power hitter on the team, there are others who can go yard as well. It can’t just be Moore who brings the power.
Secondly, Stanford needs to field well behind their pitching. Poor fielding has cost them some games this year. If Stanford is able to able to play sound defense and field well behind their pitching, that will really help. If they are able to play error free, I like their chances to win the series. If that is an issue, Arizona State likely pulls this one out.
Finally, Stanford needs their starting pitching to deliver. Scott, Lim, and Dugan need to step up. Lim has been the best of the bunch this year, but all of them could be better. Lim I cut some slack because he’s a freshman on top of being the best, but Scott and Dugan need to have strong outings.
Prediction: Stanford is coming off a rough weekend, but I think with it being their final homestand, they’ll rise to the occasion and take two out of three. Arizona State has struggled on the road and then Stanford has been solid at home as of late, winning six of their last eight games at Sunken Diamond.
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