On Tuesday, #12 Stanford baseball defeated Cal Poly 10-8 on the road. Stanford junior right-handed pitcher Cody Jensen (1-0) picked up his first win of the season while sophomore left-handed pitcher Ryan Bruno (1) picked up his first save. Cal Poly left-handed pitcher Noah Larkin (2-2) was awarded the loss. Stanford improves to 21-11 overall (11-7 Pac-12) while Cal Poly falls to 22-14 overall (9-3 Big West).
Noah Larkin got off to a strong start for Cal Poly in the top of the 1st inning, quickly retiring the first three Stanford batters: Brock Jones, Carter Graham, and Brett Barrera. After Larkin held Stanford scoreless in the top of the 1st inning, Cal Poly went to work in the bottom of the 1st inning as Ryan Stafford hit a lead-off single off Braden Montgomery, who got the start for Stanford. After Stafford got the single, Brooks Lee would get walked putting two men on base for the Mustangs.
Joe Yorke then advanced to first base via fielder’s choice as Stafford got to third base while Lee was out at second base. Thanks to a wild pitch from Montgomery, Stafford would score while Yorke advanced to second base. 1-0 Cal Poly lead.
Collin Villegas would then strike out looking for the second out. It was looking like things might calm down for Stanford and Montgomery would find his way out of the inning. However, after Montgomery gave up a single and walked a batter, the bases were loaded, forcing Stanford head coach David Esquer to pull Montgomery off the mound and bring in Cody Jensen to secure the final out of the inning. Jensen would get the job done and keep it a 1-0 game. Montgomery would remain in the designated hitter spot the rest of the game.
Stanford would then explode for six runs in the top of the 2nd inning. Montgomery got things going with a single to left field. After Kody Huff flied out to center field, Drew Bowser doubled to right center to bring home Montgomery. 1-1 game. In the next at-bat, Tommy Troy would get walked after which Eddie Park got hit by a pitch to load up the bases. With the bases now loaded Adam Crampton hit a double to right center to bring home Park, Troy, and Bowser. 4-1 Stanford lead.
It was at this point that Cal Poly pulled Larkin and brought in Zach Button to calm the waters. That move didn’t work out as Stanford scored two more runs before the top of the 2nd was over. Jones hit a single to advance Crampton to third base. Thanks to a throwing error off a failed pick-off attempt, Jones would advance to third base while Crampton scored. 5-1. Graham would then ground out to second base to bring home Jones. 6-1. Barrera grounded out to second base to end the inning. Stanford was in a good spot.
After Jensen kept Cal Poly scoreless in the bottom of the 2nd, Stanford went right back to work in the top of the 3rd inning. With one out, Huff singled up the middle before Bowser singled through the left side to advance Huff to second base. Thanks to a double from Troy, Huff scored and Bowser advanced to third base. 7-1 Stanford lead. Park would then fly out to left field to bring home Bowser. 8-1 Stanford lead. Those would be the only runs Stanford would score in the top of the 3rd, but they were really cooking with gas now.
In the bottom of the 4th inning, Stanford took out Jensen and brought in Justin Moore as they were now going with a pitch by committee approach. Cal Poly had done the same in the top of the 4th, taking out Button and bringing in Bryce Warrecker. After Warrecker held Stanford scoreless, Moore in turn held Cal Poly scoreless. It was an 8-1 game heading into the 5th inning.
Stanford added a run in the top of the 5th inning as Troy homered off Warrecker to make it a 9-1 Stanford lead. Stanford’s offense continued to dominate as Cal Poly didn’t appear to have an answer.
In the bottom of the 5th, Moore quickly loaded up the bases with no outs as Esquer had to pull Moore and bring in Brandt Pancer. Pancer would get two quick outs but wasn’t able to stop the dam from breaking as a triple from Brett Borgogno brought home two runners before a home run from John Lagattuta brought Borgogno home as well. After those four runs were scored it was now a 9-5 Stanford lead. Cal Poly wouldn’t add any more runs in the bottom of the 5th, but they were now creeping their way back into the game.
Nobody would score in the 6th inning as both teams had new pitchers for both innings. Cal Poly had Kyle Scott pitch the top of the 6th while Stanford had Drew Dowd pitch the bottom of the 6th. It was a pretty quiet inning, which was ok for Stanford as they were just hoping to hang on for the win.
In the 7th inning, both teams would score one run. In the top of the 7th, Huff singled to third base for Stanford and advanced to second on a throwing error. Thanks to Bowser hitting a single, Huff would advance to third base. After Troy fouled out, Park reached on a fielder’s choice, resulting in Huff scoring as Bowser was out at second base. 10-5 Stanford lead.
In the bottom of the 7th, Reagan Doss singled down the right field line to bring home Nick Marinconz who was on third base, and advance Matthias Haas to third base. Marinconz was hit by a pitch from Dowd while advancing to second base thanks to a single from Haas also hit off Dowd. Tommy O’Rourke was on the mound for Stanford when the runs were scored as Dowd was pulled, but the move didn’t matter. It was now a 10-6 game. Stanford also made another move in the bottom of the 7th for defensive purposes, taking out Troy and bringing in Joe Lomuscio. An interesting move considering that Troy hit a home run earlier in the game.
It would remain a 10-6 game at the end of the 7th inning. In the top of the 8th inning, Stanford would not score, setting up a golden opportunity for Cal Poly to close the gap in the bottom of the 8th. O’Rourke would load up the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 8th and end up giving up two runs in order to get the three outs, making it a 10-8 Stanford lead at the end of the 8th inning.
After Stanford failed to score in the top of the 9th inning, it was now up to Ryan Bruno to save the day for Stanford after O’Rourke clearly wasn’t up to the task of closing out a game that he nearly blew. Bruno did what he was supposed to do, striking out all three batters he faced in the bottom of the 9th inning to get the save and secure a 10-8 Stanford win. After looking like the bottom of the 9th might be dramatic, Bruno took care of business and ensured that Cal Poly wouldn’t get a chance to win the game or force extra innings.
For Stanford, this is a game where they just have to be happy to have won. Their hitting was fantastic and the bullpen bended but didn’t break. Ryan Bruno was excellent much like last Tuesday against San Francisco, doing what needed to be done in crunch time. Cody Jensen was also huge early on, bailing out Montgomery who once again struggled in a starting role. It wasn’t pretty, but in the end it’s a win and that’s all that matters.
Up next for Stanford is a trip to San Diego to face Grand Canyon and San Diego State. Up first will be Grand Canyon on Friday. That game will begin at 1:00 PM PT.
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