On Friday, #12 Stanford baseball defeated Grand Canyon 11-1 in the first game of a two-game series in San Diego. Stanford senior right-handed pitcher Alex Williams (5-1) picked up the win, giving up just one run in 8.0 innings pitched. Williams gave up seven hits and had five strike outs. Grand Canyon freshman right-handed pitcher Daniel Avitia (4-4) was awarded the loss, giving up eight earned runs in 4.0 innings pitched. Stanford improves to 22-11 (11-7 Pac-12) while Grand Canyon falls to 26-13 (15-3 WAC).
After a quiet 1st inning in which neither team scored, things got active in the 2nd inning. With one out, Elijah Buries hit a single in the top of the inning for Grand Canyon to get on base. The next batter Tayler Aguilar got walked, advancing Buries to second base. After Dustin Crenshaw struck out swinging, Cade Verdusco singled up the middle to advance Aguilar to third base and bring Buries home to make it a 1-0 Grand Canyon lead. During the next at bat, Aguilar would get caught stealing home to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Stanford responded soundly with four runs. Kody Huff and Vincent Martinez both got hit by a pitch to get on first and second base respectively. Avitia was clearly having some issues with his command. Drew Bowser would then strike out swinging as it looked like maybe Avitia was settling in. However, the next batter Eddie Park singled up the middle to bring home Huff and advance Martinez to second base. Adam Crampton would then fly out for the second out, so Grand Canyon hoped that they could exit the second inning with a 1-1 tie.
Unfortunately for Grand Canyon, Brock Jones hit a single for Stanford to bring home Martinez and advance Park to third base. Jones would go on to second base on the throw, putting himself in scoring position. It was now a 2-1 Stanford lead. Thanks to a double from Carter Graham, Jones and Park both came home. It was now a 4-1 Stanford lead. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs in the rest of the inning, but they were now in firm control.
After holding Grand Canyon scoreless in the top of the 3rd inning, Stanford added two more runs in the bottom of the 3rd. Braden Montgomery got things going with a solo home run to center field. Huff would then hit a double after which Martinez hit a single to advance Huff to third base. After Bowser struck out swinging, Park flied out to left field to bring home Huff. It was now a 6-1 Stanford lead.
Alex Williams continued his dominance in the 4th and 5th innings as Grand Canyon wasn’t able to get going offensively. In the bottom of the 5th inning, Stanford had a repeat of their 3rd inning. Montgomery hit a solo home run while Park hit into a double play to bring home Huff, who was on third base. After Montgomery hit a home run and Huff hit a double in the next at-bat, Avitia was done for the day as Grand Canyon brought in R.J. Elmore to pitch the rest of the inning. Elmore was unable to prevent Park from bringing in Huff, though the earned run was credited to Avitia. 8-1 Stanford lead.
After Williams held Grand Canyon scoreless in the top of the 6th inning, Stanford gave Elmore two earned runs. After Jones was hit by a pitch in the first at-bat, Graham jacked a home run to center field to make it a 10-1 Stanford lead. The hits just kept coming and Grand Canyon didn’t know how to stop it.
After holding Grand Canyon scoreless in the top of the 7th inning, Stanford added one more run in the bottom of the 7th as Ryan Schiefer was now on the mound for Grand Canyon. The pitching change didn’t do much good as Schiefer hit Martinez to lead off the bottom of the inning. Bowser then hit a single to advance Martinez to second base. After Park flied out, Schiefer threw a wild pitch, advancing Bowser to second base and Martinez to third. Crampton would then fly out to bring Martinez home and advance Bowser to third base. Jones grounded out to end the inning. It was now an 11-1 Stanford lead after seven innings.
Alex Williams would pitch the top of the 8th inning for Stanford before Nathan Fleischli pitched the top of the 9th inning in a non-save situation. Fleischli wouldn’t give up any runs in the top of the 9th, making it an 11-1 victory for Stanford.
For Stanford, this is a big win just because Grand Canyon was projected as the tougher opponent of the two opponents they have this weekend. If they can sweep Grand Canyon, odds suddenly look solid that they’ll win all four games this weekend. The pitching by Alex Williams was fantastic and the hitting was just as impressive. Just an all-around beautiful performance by Stanford.
Stanford will return to action on Saturday at 1:00 PM PT against Grand Canyon before facing San Diego State immediately afterwards at the conclusion of the game. The earliest the San Diego State game can start is 6:00 PM PT.
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