Recap: #11 Stanford dominates UC Davis on Tuesday night
On Tuesday, #11 Stanford baseball defeated UC Davis 16-6. Brock Jones and Carter Graham each hit two home runs for the Cardinal combining for 10 RBIs. Joey Dixon (3-3) was the winning pitcher for Stanford while Kaden Riccomini (1-5) was awarded the loss. Stanford improves to 26-14 overall (12-9 Pac-12) while UC Davis falls to 4-24 overall (3-15 Big West).
“Yeah, you know, I thought we came out and swung the bats well,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “Hey, they’re capable and baseball is baseball. I don’t take anything for granted and our group hasn’t proved yet that we can go out and just roll anybody just on command. So, it was good to actually come out and swing the bats well and hold them down and get a good convincing win for sure.”
Joey Dixon got the start for Stanford and did a good job in the top of the 1st inning, securing two fly outs and striking out one batter. He did walk a couple of batters, but he didn’t allow anyone to score. Considering how Tuesday pitching has been an issue for Stanford, it felt good for them to get off to a strong start on the mound.
In the bottom of the 1st, Jones got walked in the opening at-bat and then stole second before advancing to third base on a wild pitch. Graham would then ground out to short stop to bring Jones home. That would be the only run Stanford would score in the bottom of the 1st, but they were the first team to strike, possessing a 1-0 lead.
Neither team would score in the 2nd inning. In the top of the 3rd inning, Braden Montgomery came in to pitch for Dixon and didn’t allow any runs, picking up two strikeouts.
“Yeah, trying to get some guys out there, we’re going to need some big innings,” Esquer said of the pitching strategy. “You know, those innings that we are looking for on the weekend. We need a couple guys to step up and be able to give us quality innings against quality opponents. So, Braden Montgomery, it was good to see him come out there and have a clean inning and we’re going to need a couple guys to step up and give us some help against some quality opponents.”
In the bottom of the 3rd, UC Davis pulled Riccomini and brought in Bryan Green to pitch. After Jones grounded out in the opening at-bat, Graham hit a home run to left center to make it a 2-0 Stanford lead. Brett Barrera would then hit a single after which Montgomery homered to left field to make it a 4-0 Stanford lead. That would be the only runs Stanford would score in the inning as Kody Huff grounded out and Drew Bowser struck out to end the inning.
“Been consistent the whole year,” Esquer said of Graham. “Every time we’ve needed him, he’s answered the bell and had a big game on Sunday at Washington pick us up and put us in position to win the game. So, he’s been key for us. He and Barrera have probably been the most consistent part of our offense the whole year.”
“Yeah, just sticking with it,” Graham said of his success. “I’ve made some good adjustments the last couple of weeks that have helped me feel a little more comfortable in the box. And then when you got protection from guys like Brock hitting after you or Barrera hitting behind you, you just get good pitches to hit because those guys are so good. So yeah.”
Cody Jensen came in to pitch for Montgomery in the top of the 4th inning. Montgomery would bat in the designated hitter spot the rest of the game. Jensen did well in the inning as he held the Aggies scoreless with little trouble. In the bottom of the 4th, Stanford continued to heat up. With one out, Tommy Troy hit a double down the right field line after which Adam Crampton hit a single to bring him home. 5-0 Stanford lead. Crampton would then steal second base after which Jones homered to right field to make it a 7-0 Stanford lead. Graham would then ground out after which Barrera struck out swinging to end the inning.
“He’s worked really hard,” Esquer said of Jones. “He’s worked really hard and had to go through those pains early in the season and he deserves every bit of the hot streak that he’s heading into. So, we need him down the stretch just like we need Drew Bowser and Tommy Troy and those guys seem to be heating up, too. So that’s big for us.”
“Yeah, it’s just been a lot easier to kinda trust the work that I’ve been putting in and kinda not thinking so much about the swing,” Jones added. “But just going in there and competing a little bit.”
The top of the 5th inning wasn’t good for Jensen. After getting Kyler Arenado to line out to 3rd base, Jensen gave up a ground rule double to Raul Sandoval before hitting J.D. Mico to put him on base. In the next at-bat, James Williams homered to right field to bring in Sandoval and Mico. 7-3 game. UC Davis wouldn’t add any more runs in the top of the 5th as Jensen was pulled off the mound and replaced by Ty Uber, but they were now back in the game. For the moment.
That moment did not last long as Stanford put the game away in the bottom of the 5th inning. UC Davis made a pitching change at the start of the inning, taking out Green and bringing in Carson Seeman. Montgomery got things going with a single to right field before advancing to second base after Huff fouled out to right field to advance him. Thanks to a passed ball, Montgomery advanced to third base. Bowser would then hit a single to left field to bring Montgomery home. Eddie Park would then ground out to advance Bowser to second base. Troy then hit a single to advance Bowser to third base. Crampton then hit a single to advance Troy to second base and bring Bowser home.
At this point, UC Davis pulled Seeman and brought in Andrew LaCour to see if he could find any magic. LaCour was not any better as he immediately gave up a three-run homer to Jones to right center after which Graham tacked on a solo homer to left center. Barrera would fly out to right field down the right field line to mercifully end the inning. 13-3 Stanford lead.
Uber would pitch the top of the 6th inning for Stanford and not give up any hits or allow anyone to get on base. It was smooth sailing for him. In the bottom of the 6th, UC Davis finally had a smooth inning on the mound as Nolan Meredith got three quick outs. Still a 13-3 game heading into the 7th inning.
In the top of the 7th, Uber didn’t allow any runs, though the bases did get loaded. The Aggies blew an opportunity to even gain some ground. In the bottom of the 7th, Stanford went back to work. This time with Daniel Carrion on the mound. Park and Troy hit back-to-back singles to get things going after which they’d advance to second and third base on a passed ball. After Trevor Haskins struck out pinching hitting for Crampton, Jones doubled down the right field line to bring both Park and Troy home. Jones would eventually be driven home by Grant Burton before the inning ended. 16-3 Stanford lead.
In the top of the 8th inning, Nathan Fleischli came in to pitch for Stanford and gave up three runs, one of which was courtesy of a wild pitch. Brandt Pancer had to come in to get the final out, striking out Nick Leehey.
In the end, 16-6 would be the final score. UC Davis padded their stats a bit at the end, but Stanford was still too much for them across the board. For Stanford, this win was a must-win and to their credit, they won rather handily. I predicted a 10-3 Stanford victory, so this one was more high scoring than I thought, but the end result was basically the same. A comfortable, dominating win. Being back at home for the first time in nearly a month felt really good for them.
“It was good to play at Sunken Diamond for sure,” Esquer said. “It’ll be nice to be home this weekend as well.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely a little bit different,” Jones said of being back. “We were actually talking today about how it still felt like it was an away game because we just haven’t been here in so long. So it’s definitely good to be back and we’ll have a few good days of work before Cal.”
The bats once again were fantastic for Stanford, but the pitching was a little dicey. Six runs is probably too much to give up against a weak sauce team like Davis. Had they not been playing one of the worst teams in America, they could have lost tonight. So by no means should they be jumping up and down about this. They did their job and now it’s time to focus on the next opponent.
“Huge, coach always talks about how momentum is fragile,” Graham said of the importance of this win. “So after this last weekend being a tough one, getting a big win today, a lot of guys getting their best swings off. That’s big heading into Cal. They got a decent pitching staff over there. So, feeling good going into that will be huge for us. “
As for who that next opponent will be, that will the California Golden Bears. Stanford will welcome their Bay Area rival to The Farm this weekend for a three-game series. Game one will be on Friday at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Bay Area and KZSU radio.
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