On Tuesday at 6:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream-2 and KZSU radio, Stanford baseball will welcome the Saint Mary’s Gaels to Sunken Diamond. Stanford comes in at 14-9 overall and 6-6 in the Pac-12 while Saint Mary’s comes in at 17-11 overall and 2-7 in the WCC.
Last time out: On Sunday, Stanford defeated #4 Oregon State 8-5 to take two out of three games on the road.
RECAP: Stanford takes the series at #4 Oregon State
On Saint Mary’s: The Gaels have done very well at home with an 8-2 record, but they’re just 9-9 away from Moraga. They’ve also done well outside of league play, but WCC play has been a real struggle for them.
The top contact hitter on this Gaels team is sophomore catcher/1st baseman Nathan Chong, who is hitting .400 to go along with three home runs, 19 RBIs, a .500 on base percentage, and a .667 slugging percentage. As for power, the Gaels have two hitters who have hit six home runs, both of which are batting .310: Junior 1st baseman Christian Almanza and sophomore infielder/right-handed pitcher Chris Santiago.
As a pitching unit, the Gaels are pretty solid: 3.63 ERA with an opponent batting average of .238. They also give up fewer than one home run per game. So it’s not easy to hit a home run off this pitching staff. It remains to be seen who the Gaels will trot onto the mound in this game, but typically, in these Tuesday games they’ve usually gone with a committee approach.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is prevent Almanza and Santiago from going yard. If those guys don’t hit a home run in this game, a major part of the Gaels’ offensive attack will be taken away. Stanford has to make sure they pitch well to those two guys in particular since they have the most potential to do damage with one single swing.
The second thing Stanford needs to do just get on base. The Gaels have a pretty solid pitching staff that doesn’t give up a lot of hits. This is a game where if Stanford can just get on base through patient at-bats, that should go a long way towards securing a victory.
Finally, Stanford needs to ride the wave of momentum that they are riding in on after sweeping Washington State at home and taking two out of three games at Oregon State over the weekend. Baseball is a game of momentum and when it’s on your side, you gotta ride that wave.
Prediction: Stanford is at home and they’ve won five of their last six games. They’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. In one game, anything can happen, but on paper, this is a game Stanford should win. I don’t see this being a blowout. I think Saint Mary’s will put up a fight, but Stanford will get the job done by a final score of 7-3.
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