On Sunday, #11 Stanford baseball completed a three-game home sweep over Cal with an 11-3 victory. Stanford freshman right-handed pitcher Ty Uber (3-1, 3.82 ERA) picked up the win for the Cardinal pitching 6.0 innings to go along with four hits and two earned runs. Cal senior right-handed pitcher Sam Stoutenborough (2-3, 5.22 ERA) was awarded the loss. Stanford improves to 29-14 overall and 15-9 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 22-25 overall and 11-16 in the Pac-12.
“Big weekend, they’re a good team,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said of getting the sweep. “I know it wasn’t a good weekend for them, but we beat a good quality team with a great offense and they got good arms and you gotta beat’em. You’re not just gonna roll in and play your B-game and be able to win. So we had to play three good games, obviously yesterday was a great comeback and so I’m proud of our guys for coming out and playing three good days of baseball.”
In the top of the 1st inning, Nathan Martorella got hit by a pitch in the very first at-bat of the game and was able to advance to second base on a wild pitch after Dylan Beavers struck out. Cal looked like they might strike first again, but Uber was able to calm down and get the next two batters out to end the top of the inning.
“Well, we got a great weekend out of Quinn Mathews and him coming in pitching in the biggest parts of both those games was big for us,” Esquer said of his decision to start Uber. “And he’s done that for us all year and we were able to get the first two games with him and so we knew that we were probably going to have to use Uber and Bruno and Montgomery if needed. We had a plan on how we were going to attack game three and Uber was a big part of it.”
“Usually it’s when Quinn pitches like a lot,” Uber added of the decision to have him start. “So he pitched in the last two games and so I kinda knew that I would probably be starting today. I knew like a couple hours before the game that I was gonna start and was able to get myself mentally in the right place to get the start going.”
In the bottom of the 1st, Stanford would get on the board as Brett Barrera hit a solo home run to left field with two outs. That would be the only hit of the inning for Stanford, but with a 1-0 lead, things were looking good early.
“Man, I mean, I had a difficult game last night, so I went one-for-five, getting away from stuff I do well,” Barrera said. “So, all pre-game and stuff I went back to what I do well and just like felt much better today at the plate. Yeah.”
The next couple of innings were pretty uneventful as neither team scored. Both teams did get on base in the 3rd inning but weren’t able to generate any runs. In the top of the 4th inning it was more of the same as Dom Souto was the only Cal player to get on base, hitting a single up the middle with two outs.
“I think it was really establishing my breaking ball,” Uber said of what was working well for him. “I established it first strike and I was able to spot up my fastball off of it and really get that tunneling going well and so I think that was the key for today’s performance.”
In the bottom of the 4th, Stanford added to their lead. Barrera would single through the left side before Braden Montgomery hit a single through the left side as well to advance Barrera to third base. Kody Huff would then hit a double down the left field line to bring Barrera home and advance Montgomery to third base. Drew Bowser would then fly out to left field resulting in Montgomery coming home and Huff advancing to third base before coming home thanks to an error by Stoutenborough. Eddie Park then grounded out for the second out before Tommy Troy was caught stealing to end the inning after hitting a single to center field. 4-0 Stanford lead.
Uber would once again keep the Cal batters in check in the top of the 5th inning as only Cole Elvis got on base via a double to right center. In the bottom of the 5th, Cal made a pitching change as they took out Stoutenborough and brought in Nick Proctor. Adam Crampton hit a single to center field off Proctor in the opening at-bat before Brock Jones was walked. Carter Graham then flied out to left field to advance Crampton to third base. With Crampton on third base and only one out, that set up a relatively easy scoring opportunity for Stanford and Barrera delivered the goods, flying out to center field to bring Crampton home. After Montgomery got hit by a pitch, Huff would fly out to center field to end the inning. 5-0 Stanford lead.
“We got so much talent, all the talent in the world,” Barrera said of the offense. “I mean, it was just a matter of time before we got going, I’d say. All our guys are feeling more confident, more comfortable as the season goes on. So I mean, just looking forward to how much better it’s gonna get.”
Uber pitched another scoreless inning in the top of the 6th inning while Ian May and Christian Becerra collectively pitched a scoreless inning for Cal in the bottom of the 6th. With three innings to go and a 5-0 lead, things were looking good for Stanford.
“Today was just one of those days where coming off a huge win last night with a comeback victory and there was no way I was gonna lose,” Uber said of what he was feeling on the mound. “And so I just went out there with that mindset and did my best and then we got the win.”
In the top of the 7th inning, Uber got pulled and replaced by Brandt Pancer after giving up back-to-back singles to Souto and Rodney Green, Jr. With two outs, Martorella was walked by Pancer to load up the bases. Then, Dylan Beavers doubled to right field to bring both Souto and Green home. Hance Smith flied out to left field to end the top of the inning. 5-2 Stanford lead.
In the bottom of the 7th, Stanford quickly responded to Cal’s two-run inning. With one out, Barrera hit a single to right field after which Montgomery was walked to advance Barrera to second base. Huff then singled to left field to load up the bases. It was at this point that Cal pulled Becerra and brought in Tucker Bougie. The first batter Bougie would face was Bowser, who singled up the middle to advance Huff to second base and bring home both Montgomery and Barrera. Park would then reach first base on a fielder’s choice as Bowser was out at second base while Huff advanced to third. With Park on first base and Huff on third, Troy hit a three-run home run to left field. Crampton then grounded out to end the inning. It was now a 10-2 Stanford lead.
“Well, we got some big hits,” Esquer said of his team’s offensive explosion. “I thought we ran the bases well. I thought we created some ninety-feet advances that really keyed some innings and so I know Kody Huff taking third base and throw goes over third and we score on a sac fly and just little things like that going first to third were big and then the big hits by Bowser and Troy at the end of the game kinda put’em away.”
In the top of the 8th inning, Cal did not score as Pancer secured the first out of the inning after which Ryan Bruno came in to secure the other two outs. As for Cal, they made a pitching change right away in the bottom of the 8th inning as they pulled Bougie and brought in Mitchell Scott. Stanford would tack on another run for good measure as Kody Huff singled to left center to advance Austin Kretzschmar to third base and bring home Brock Jones. 11-2 Stanford lead heading into the 9th inning.
In the top of the 9th inning, Cal added a run of their own as Caleb Lomavita hit a single to drive home Elvis and advance Martorella. 11-3 Stanford lead. In the next at bat, Keshawn Ogans flied out to right field to end the game. Bruno bended a little bit, but with an 11-2 lead going into the 9th, he really didn’t have a lot of pressure on him. Even with the extra run, an 11-3 victory is still dominating.
“I mean, Uber pitched a heck of a game,” Barrera said. “He was outstanding for us and with that confidence because he’s locating like that with his best stuff, I mean, we were put in the position that we’re supposed to play against each batter and they hit it right to us and so as long as he’s doing his job, we get to do our job.”
For Stanford getting the sweep over Cal is huge. This is their first sweep over Cal since the 2013 season and their first home sweep over Cal since 2010. Cal has been a tough team for the Cardinal to sweep and this year was no exception. Cal came in having not gotten swept in a Pac-12 series all season long and it took a seven run comeback on Saturday night to pick up the second victory.
“Feels great,” Uber said of getting the sweep. “I mean, sweeps are always huge for the team. They boost the team morale. Especially coming off a tough weekend like we had at Washington, this is huge for us and I really hope we can keep it rolling and everybody, I mean like Tommy Troy had a day for himself and so I hope we can keep those guys going and we can really keep this streak going.
“This was an awesome weekend. Especially being a rivalry weekend. Like all the fans here and it was just an awesome environment. Couldn’t ask for anything better to pitch in.”
“This is huge man,” Barrera added. “I mean, yesterday’s game gave us a bunch of momentum going into it. I mean, erasing that 7-0 deficit was great for us. We knew they were going to come out strong today. Maybe a little desperate being down 2-0, but we gave them a couple early punches and came out with the win. So it’s huge for us.”
Ty Uber was sensational in this game and then he got the run support that he needed. Everyone did their jobs including the bullpen. Just an all-around team effort in this game to get the sweep. There’s not a whole lot for Stanford to complain about.
“Just a clutch performance, right?” Esquer said of Uber. “I mean to start for us and give us some length in the game and be able to hand the ball off and have only three innings left to go in the game which was big to get Pancer and Bruno out there to finish it up and our guys did a good job of continuing to score and being a little more relentless offensively, which was big because that offense they have there is capable.”
As for Cal, this loss stings. There’s no other way to say it. Getting swept is not fun. Especially against your rival. They had a chance to win on Saturday to at least avoid the sweep and they had their chances on Friday as well. To leave The Farm empty handed is not how they envisioned this weekend would go.
“That’s one of those games where you go down like six runs in the first inning and then seven in the third and you really just, you figure out a lot about yourself being able to come back from that type of game,” Uber said of Saturday’s comeback. “Get a win out of it, you’re never out of a game. It brings that confidence to the team that no matter what, we can do it.”
“There definitely was momentum on our side,” Esquer said of the impact of Saturday’s victory. “And our guys had to kinda keep building on that. To come out and score and get a five-run lead and then continue to add on was the big part of it.”
Up next for Stanford is a road game at San Francisco on Tuesday. That game will begin at 1:00 PM PT.
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