This weekend, Stanford baseball will welcome a former Pac-12 foe to Sunken Diamond in the Washington Huskies. Stanford comes in at 4-0 overall while Washington comes in at 2-2. Game one will be on Friday at 2:05 PM PT. Game two will be on Saturday at 2:05 PM PT. Game three will be on Sunday at 1:05 PM PT. Game four will be on Monday at 1:05 PM PT. All four games will air on ACCNX.
Last time out: Stanford defeated Cal State Fullerton 9-7 on Monday in 10 innings, completing a four-game sweep of the Titans.
RECAP: Stanford BSB completes sweep of Cal State Fullerton
Probable Pitchers: Last weekend against Fullerton, Stanford rolled with a starting rotation of junior righty Matt Scott for game one, sophomore lefty Christian Lim for game two, sophomore righty Joey Volchko for game three, and freshman righty Parker Warner for game four.
I would expect the same pattern to hold this weekend, but given Volchko and Warner had shaky outings, perhaps Stanford will mix things up for games three and four.
On Washington: The Huskies are coming off a four-game showcase in Conway, South Carolina hosted by Coastal Carolina. The Huskies defeated Kansas State and Saint Josephs while falling to Saint Josephs and Coastal Carolina.
On the mound, senior righty Max Banks is off to a good start picking up a win in his first start of the season, giving up zero runs and only two hits in 6.0 innings pitched while striking out nine batters. The other pitcher who picked up a win was junior righty Isaac Yeager, who did so in a relief role. He has a 3.38 ERA so far, striking out three batters and giving up two hits in 2.2 innings pitched.
The top contact hitter for the Huskies is graduate student infielder Trevor Kole, who is hitting .429 for one home run, two RBIs, a .643 slugging percentage, and a .556 on base percentage. The top power hitter for the Huskies is senior infielder/outfielder Casen Taggart, who is hitting .308 for two home runs, five RBIs, a .769 slugging percentage, and a .444 on base percentage.
As at team, the Huskies are hitting .205 for five home runs, 19 RBIs, a .352 slugging percentage, and a .329 on base percentage. Their opponents are hitting .268 for five home runs, 23 RBIs, a .449 slugging percentage, and a .392 on base percentage. On the mound, they have a 6.48 ERA while their opponents have a 4.24 ERA.
Keys to the series: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is simply keep the hot bats going. They’re batting .355 so far with four home runs, 40 RBIs, a .523 slugging percentage, and a .429 on base percentage. If they keep the bats hot like they were last weekend, they should be in a good spot to win this series.
The second thing Stanford needs is quality starting pitching. That was an issue last weekend as they often needed to put up a lot of runs and pull their starters early (last two games). If they can get quality starting all the way through, especially in the Sunday and Monday games, that would go a long ways towards them having a strong series.
Finally, Stanford simply needs to play smart. So long as they don’t commit silly errors in the field, make base running mistakes, and those sort of things, they should be fine. If they get sloppy mentally, this series could get interesting.
Prediction: I’m going to pick Stanford to take three out of four games. A sweep is possible, but even against teams you are favored to beat, it’s tough to get a sweep. The Huskies likely find a way to get one win, but a split I think is unlikely. Especially with this being played at Sunken Diamond.
Connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Blue Sky: @StanfordRivals
Connect with Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Blue Sky: @slamdunk406
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
