On Tuesday, #2/3 Stanford baseball fell to Cal in their home opener by a final score of 8-4. Cal senior right-handed pitcher Joe Williams (1-0) was the winning pitcher for the Golden Bears while Stanford freshman right-handed pitcher Toran O’Harran (0-1) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal. Cal improves to 3-1 overall while Stanford falls to 2-2. This was a non-league game.
BOX SCORE: Cal at Stanford-February 21st
“I thought they played really well,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said of Cal after the game. “I really did. They came out and they kinda, they took it to us. I thought they kinda beat us easily tonight. Like, I hate to say that, but I think we had some opportunity to make it a better game and we had opportunities, bases loaded one out, we only get one run. Second and third one out, we don’t get any runs, and then I think we had first and second you know, we just didn’t do enough. They hit more balls hard, I thought they pitched better, I just thought they played a better game.”
Cal got off to a hot start in this one as center fielder Rodney Green Jr. hit a single to right field with one out to be the first person on base for the Bears in the top of the 1st inning. Peyton Schulze then singled down the right field line, advancing Green to 3rd base. Tucker Bougie then got walked, loading up the bases with just one out. Carson Crawford then hit a grand slam to left field, making it a 4-0 lead for the Bears. Cal wouldn’t score any more runs the rest of the inning as Jack Johnston grounded into a double play to end the top of the inning. Cal would have liked to have kept it going, but they were very happy to be the first team to strike and to do so in this manner.
Neither team would score in the 2nd inning, but Stanford did make a pitching change. In the top of the inning, Jag Burden hit a single, officially ending O’Harran’s day on the mound as Joey Dixon came in to replace him. Dixon would then get three quick outs to end the top of the inning, keeping it at a 4-0 game. In the bottom of the 2nd, Stanford’s offense once again stalled as Malcolm Moore grounded into a double play after Braden Montgomery was walked for two quick outs. Then, Drew Bowser grounded out to 3rd base to end the inning.
The top of the 3rd inning was quiet as Green struck out swinging, Schulze flied out to center field, and Bougie struck out swinging. The Bears were not able to get anything going offensively this time.
As for the bottom of the 3rd inning, Stanford would finally get on the board. Cal made a pitching change as Austin Turkington came in to replace Joe Williams on the mound. Alberto Rios would first get walked for the Cardinal. With one out, Owen Cobb singled through the left side to advance Rios to 2nd base. Eddie Park then singled through the left side to load up the bases.
With the bases loaded, Tommy Troy was walked to bring home Rios after which Carter Graham flied out to center field to bring home Cobb. Montgomery would then be out at 1st base to end the inning. It was now a 4-2 game.
In the top of the 4th inning, Cal’s offense once again was quiet. Crawford was able to get to 1st base despite striking out swinging as it was a wild pitch. But outside of that, nobody else from Cal was able to get on base or advance Crawford.
In the bottom of the 4th, Rios doubled down the left field line to advance Bowser to 3rd base with one out. Stanford looked hopeful to perhaps tie up the game. However, Cole Hinkelman struck out swinging after which Cobb popped up to 1st base. Still a 4-2 game at the end of the 4th.
In the top of the 5th inning, the Cal offense went back to work. Dom Souto hit a single to center field to lead things off after which Caleb Lomavita went yard to left field, making it a 6-2 lead for the Bears. In this cold, windy night, the Bears were doing just fine. At this point, Dixon’s day was done on the mound for the Cardinal as Nick Dugan came in to replace him on the mound. Dugan did his job as Green and Schulze both struck out after which Bougie grounded out to 1st base.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, Stanford was unable to score despite Troy hitting a single to left field before advancing to 2nd base on a wild pitch. Stanford’s offense just wasn’t coming through like it had been over the weekend. 6-2 lead for Cal at the end of the 5th.
In the top of the 6th inning, the Cal offense went back to work. Crawford reached 1st base courtesy of an error by Cobb at short stop, who was filling in for Trevor Haskins. After Kade Kretzschmar successfully completed a sacrifice bunt, Crawford advanced to 2nd base with one out. Johnston then flied out to right center field to advance Crawford to 3rd base after which Burden was walked. With Souto at the plate, Burden stole 2nd base before Souto was walked on a wild pitch, bringing home Crawford. After Lomavita hit a single to center field, Souto advanced to 2nd base and Burden came home. 8-2 lead for the Bears.
At this point, Stanford took Dugan off the mound and brought in Nicolas Lopez. Lopez was able to get Green out in the next at-bat as he popped up to short stop. Cal was looking strong entering the bottom of the 6th.
In the bottom of the 6th, Stanford did not get on the board as Moore, Bowser, and Rios all failed to get on base. The Cardinal were running out of trips to the plate both figuratively and literally. Their offense needed to wake up.
“We just didn’t square up many balls,” Esquer said of their offensive struggles. “We didn’t hit enough high balls high into the left of that Stanford sign (chuckling). The conditions were prime for that. You know, they did. They hit two of them. Grand slam and a two-run homer. Those were big.”
The top of the 7th inning would be pretty quiet as the only Cal player to get on base was Crawford, who was hit by a pitch. Aside from that, nobody was able to get on base and advance Crawford.
In the bottom of the 7th inning, the bats came alive a bit for the Cardinal. Jimmy Nati came in to pinch hit for Hinkelman and was able to get on base by drawing a walk. Then, Cobb homered to left center, making it an 8-4 game. Stanford appeared to have some life. However, Stanford would not score any more runs the rest of the inning. After Park reached 1st base on an error, Troy flied out to center field after which Graham grounded into a double play to end the inning. With two innings to go, the Cardinal needed to find a way to score four runs.
“Yeah, he’s played great,” Esquer said of Cobb. “He’s stepped up. Trevor Haskins was the starting short stop and just got sick and Cobb gets an opportunity to play and he’s done great. He’s really stepped in the lineup and given us a spark.”
While Stanford’s offense can never be counted out, it wasn’t able to do much in the 8th or 9th innings. In the bottom of the 8th, Montgomery hit a single to center field after which he was advanced to second base as Moore was walked. But beyond that, their offense stalled in the final two innings. It just wasn’t the Cardinal’s day as the Golden Bears walked out with a much-deserved 8-4 win.
“Just being resilient, right?” Esquer said of what his message to the team was after the loss. “We just gotta make sure we’re really just attention to detail and come out. We just gotta play a better game. I think in general, we just got beat tonight. That happens every now and then. You don’t like that to happen, you don’t want that to happen, we don’t want to make it a habit, you know, we’ve got a lot of really good players that played at a very high level, and we’re trying to bring some other players along to kinda keep up and play at that level, we’re just not there yet consistently.”
For Cal, this is a huge win. To defeat their rival on the road is always nice. Especially when they are ranked number two in the nation. This is the kind of win that should give Cal some hope that they might turn a new leaf this year. They braved the cold and wind better than Stanford did and deserved to win this game.
As for Stanford, all they can do is shake this one off, learn from it, and not let it fester. These Tuesday games are always strange and tough to win and when you lose one, you just have to move on and play better going forward. If there’s one lesson they learned, it’s that they can’t keep expecting the offense to bail them out. Given the elements, this was a game that was shaping up to be a lower scoring game, which means the pitching needed to deliver. With their pitching not coming through, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Stanford wasn’t able to pull this one out.
“They had to pitch a Tuesday night game, too,” Esquer said when asked about the challenges of pitching on a Tuesday. “I still think we’re trying to figure out who’s gonna help us. What pieces are still gonna help us and maybe what configuration we were gonna play some certain guys. So, just in learning that, we’re taking a little bumps and bruises.”
Up next for Stanford is a home series against Rice. Game one will be on Friday at 2:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and KZSU radio.
“Well, I’m anxious to see us play,” Esquer said of the upcoming weekend. “We gotta play better. We gotta play better. You know, we gotta put it all together. We gotta get some starting pitching, play defense behind them. And kinda get our offense going a little bit.”
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