On Tuesday, #23 Stanford baseball defeated San Francisco 6-5 in a home game at Sunken Diamond. Stanford sophomore left-handed pitcher Ryan Bruno (2-0) picked up the win while San Francisco senior left-handed pitcher Weston Lombard (2-3) was awarded the loss. Stanford improves to 18-10 overall (9-6 Pac-12) while San Francisco falls to 17-18 overall (6-6 WCC).
“Yeah, the message is take any win you can get, right?” Stanford assistant coach Andre Mercurio said after the game. “I mean, they’re not all going to be pretty and we know with our defense and our pitching is going to keep us in games, so we just kind of had the idea of any win, we’ll take it, especially on Tuesdays. Sometimes it can be tough, but we believe in our pitching, our defense can keep us in any game. So we’ll take the win, prepare for this weekend, and tip your cap to USF. They played well, played tough, and they got some good players over there.”
Freshman right-hander Braden Montgomery was on the mound to start for Stanford also batting at the designated hitter spot. As for San Francisco, sophomore right-handed pitcher Kaleb Woltz was on the mound to start for them. The game got off to a rather hot start as both teams scored in the opening inning.
In the top of the 1st inning, San Francisco short stop Luke Keaschall got hit by a pitch, putting him on first base. After right fielder Harris Williams III struck out, 1st baseman Gabe Giosso hit a double down the left field line which brought Keaschall home. 3rd baseman Mario Demera would ground out to second base, advancing Giosso to third base. In the next at-bat with designated hitter Jordan Vujovich at the plate, Montgomery would throw a wild pitch resulting in Giosso scoring. Vujovich would foul out to third base to end the top of the inning. 2-0 San Francisco lead.
“We believe Braden is one of the most talented players in the country,” Mercurio said of starting Montgomery. “And we just need to get him as many innings as possible. So we felt like this was a good opportunity to kinda get him out there and just continue to get those reps. Him and Coach Eager had some really good work yesterday in the bullpen and the catch play and we felt like he was ready for this and we feel like he’s getting better every day on the mound. So we have a ton of confidence on Braden. Whether we throw him in on a Friday night game, Saturday, Tuesday, whatever it is. So, we just need to continue to get him those reps so he can get comfortable on the mound.”
In the bottom of the 1st inning, Stanford did a great job responding. Center fielder Brock Jones got walked to lead things off and then proceeded to steal second base during the at-bat of 1st baseman Carter Graham. All the steal did in the end was just pad the stats for Jones as Graham hit a two-run home run to left field to bring Jones home. Just like that, it was a 2-2 game. In the next at-bat, Montgomery would hit a double down the right field line and advance to third base on a throwing error. Catcher Kody Huff would then hit a single through the left side to bring Montgomery home. 3-2 Stanford lead. 3rd baseman Drew Bowser and sophomore left fielder Eddie Park both struck out to end the inning.
“Yeah, Carter’s unbelievable,” Mercurio said of Graham. “He’s tough as they come, we have a lot of leaders on this team, but he’s definitely one of the leaders and kinda one of the heart beats on this team and he just has such a consistent approach day in, day out. He doesn’t really ever get outside of himself no matter if he’s facing a little leaguer, if he’s facing Clayton Kershaw, we feel like he’d have the same focus in his at-bats and he’s been huge for us. He’s been huge. I mean when he gets up there, it’s like do we try to move a runner? It’s like hey we have the utmost trust in Carter to hit the ball hard and he’s been unbelievable for us. Just as a player, but almost more impactful as a leader for this team and has just tough, just a really really good example for the rest of the guys.”
“Yeah, so wasn’t seeing the ball great today, actually surprisingly,” Graham said of his home run. “But coach talks about competing even when you’re not seeing it. Baseball doesn’t care. So, that first at-bat, fouled off a ton of fast balls and then worked a long count, eventually threw a slider over the plate and I was able to get my barrel to it.”
After Montgomery was able to strike out three batters in the top of the 2nd inning, Stanford went back to the work in the bottom of the 2nd, hoping to add even more to their lead. Things got off to a good start for the Cardinal as short stop Adam Crampton got hit by a pitch, advancing him to first base. Jones would then get walked, advancing Crampton to second base. It was at this point that San Francisco made a pitching change, bringing in lefty Lance Santerre for Woltz, hoping to calm things down. During Graham’s at-bat, Jones would get caught stealing while Crampton advanced to third base. With Crampton just one base away from home, Graham was able to fly out to left center, bringing home Crampton to make it a 4-2 Stanford lead.
In the following at-bat, 2nd baseman Brett Barrera doubled to left center to get in scoring position. Then, Montgomery hit a double of his own bringing Barrera home. It was now a 5-2 Stanford lead. Vincent Martinez, who was playing in right field, grounded out to short stop to end the inning. Stanford was in a good spot.
Montgomery would pitch the 3rd inning for Stanford without giving up a run though things got a little bit adventurous. Keaschall got hit by a pitch before getting caught stealing second base. Williams III would then strike out swinging before Giosso got hit by a pitch as well. Fortunately for Montgomery, he was able to force Demera into a ground out to end the top half of the inning. In the bottom of the 3rd, Santerre made quick work of the Stanford line up as Huff flied out to right center while Bowser and Park both struck out.
In the top of the 4th inning, Stanford decided to take Montgomery off the mound and have him stay in the designated hitter spot the rest of the night. It was the seldom-seen Nathan Fleischli who came in for relief, hoping to keep the Dons’ batters at bay. Fleischli ultimately failed to accomplish this task despite striking out the first two batters. The third batter Fleischli faced was center fielder Nick Yovetich, who hit a single through the right side. After that single, catcher Lane Oliphant got hit by a pitch, moving Yovetich to second base. Left fielder Darius Foster then singled to short stop to load up the bases.
With the bases loaded Fleischli committed the cardinal sin of walking a batter (Keaschall), resulting in Yovetich coming home to score. 5-3 Stanford lead. It was at this point that Stanford pulled Fleischli and brought in Brandt Pancer, who secured the final out by forcing Williams to fly out to right field. Pancer came in during a high pressure situation and did a great job getting out of a jam. He saved the game and also helped save Fleischli’s ERA from skyrocketing higher than Hoover Tower.
In the bottom of the 4th inning, San Francisco made a pitching change of their own as Sam Beck came in for Santerre. Crampton would get to first base via throwing error to lead things off and eventually steal second base, but that would be all the action Stanford would have as nobody else was able to get on base.
In the top of the 5th inning, Stanford made a defensive change as Austin Kretzschmar came off the bench for Bowser, moving to 2nd base while Barrera moved to 3rd base. With Pancer still on the mound, San Francisco went right back to work as Giosso doubled down the left field line before advancing to third base on a wild pitch. After Demera stuck out looking, Vujovich would reach on an error resulting in Giosso coming home. That would be the only run the Dons would score in the inning, but it was now a 5-4 game.
After Stanford was unable to get anyone on base in the bottom of the 5th inning, San Francisco entered the top of the 6th inning, hoping to tie up the game. In the top of the 6th, Stanford made another pitching change, this time Joey Dixon coming in for Pancer. Initially things got off to a good start for Dixon as Oliphant grounded out and Foster struck out. However, Keaschall would single to short stop and then advance to second base on a balk.
With Keaschall in scoring position, Williams III tripled to right center to bring Keaschall home. It was now a 5-5 game. After Williams’ at-bat, Giosso would get hit by a pitch to advance to first base. Now things were getting hairy for Stanford. To Dixon’s credit, he got the out he needed to keep the game tied as Demera struck out looking.
In the bottom of the 6th inning, Stanford was hoping to re-take the lead, but they were not able to do so. Kretzschmar flied out to right center and then Park lined out to short stop for two quick outs. Crampton would get walked and steal second base, but Jones struck out looking to end the inning. After Crampton got walked, San Francisco made a pitching change as Weston Lombard came in to relieve Beck.
In the 7th inning, neither team scored as Dixon got three quick outs in the top of the inning while Lombard got three outs in four batters in the bottom of the inning. Aside from Barrera doubling to right center, nobody else was able to get on base for the Cardinal in the bottom of the 7th.
In the top of the 8th inning, Stanford made another pitching change as Ryan Bruno came in for Dixon. Bruno would walk Michael Campagna in the opening at-bat, who was pinch hitting for Oliphant. Foster would then pop up on a bunt, killing some of San Francisco’s mojo. Keaschall would then get hit by a pitch, creating a little more drama. Williams III hit an infield fly while Giosso flied out to center field to end the top of the inning.
“Yeah, RB was awesome,” Mercurio said of Bruno. “RB was awesome. Similar, he has his stuff, he has big league stuff. So him just kinda getting out there and giving him a little bit of a comfortability. Sometimes he has such good stuff and we just need to get him to understand how good it is. Sometimes I don’t know if he knows how good it is.
“So, he was unbelievable tonight. Walked a guy or two, but like we talked about, our defense is so solid and he was able to kinda refocus and show a ton of maturity there and just fill up the zone and trust his defense and their offense scrapped away. So yeah, RB was unbelievable tonight and really really gonna be good in the back end for us. Especially this weekend.”
The bottom of the 8th was very similar to the bottom of the 7th. Stanford got a double, this time from Park, but aside from that, nobody could get on base. Stanford’s bats were cold.
The game entered the 9th inning tied 5-5, looking like it could go into extra innings. In the top of the 9th, San Francisco was able to get a runner in scoring position as Vujovich got walked after which Ryan Martinez came into pinch run for him before stealing second base. Unfortunately for the Dons, nobody was able to advance Martinez and Stanford entered the bottom of the 9th with the game tied, hoping to finish off the game in regulation.
Things got off to a good start for Stanford in the top of the 9th as Jones got walked to lead things off. It was at this point that San Francisco pulled Lombard and brought in freshman righty Adam Shew. Shew got off to a good start as Graham struck out swinging and Barrera flied out to center field for two quick outs. In the next at bat, Montgomery hit a clutch single through the right side, advancing Jones to third base.
“Braden poking that knock, finding a hole on a little run and hit was huge,” Graham said. “Brock getting to third and then with a runner on third, two outs. In that type of game a pitcher’s gotta be thinking in the back of his mind can’t spike a ball.”
Now at bat for Stanford was Joe Lomuscio. During Lomuscio’s at-bat, Shew would throw a wild pitch and Jones took off for home plate, where he was called safe before the Dons could tag him out. It was a 6-5 walk-off win for the Cardinal as Jones tamed Shew.
“With two outs we’re gonna be a little bit more aggressive,” Mercurio said. “With zero outs or one out, maybe we won’t be as aggressive, but with a guy with the speed like Brock has, two outs, ball in dirt, I mean we’re gonna be green green. We’re gonna be aggressive there, take a chance, make that other team play catch. So, Brock did a good job. It was kind of a tough read, because he was on the other side of the catcher, but with Brock’s speed and his ability to read the baseball and get a good jump, we at that point saw it skirt away and it was over. So, aggressiveness for sure in that situation.”
“As soon as I got on base, I told everybody when they called the timeout, I went over here and I was like I’m gonna score right here and I’m gonna run away from you guys when I do,” Jones added. “So it was kinda funny right there at the end. But, just kinda knew how important it was just to get into scoring position and then obviously get to third base and I kinda was feeling a passed ball there just because he’s a big off-speed guy, so I knew there was gonna be something in the dirt and just kinda read it and went.
“I think it kinda depends on the game a little bit. Just in that specific moment, two outs there, as soon as you see down angle from the pitch, you gotta be aggressive and be ready to go. I mean there’s obviously gonna be slight hesitation to see if he blocks it or keeps it close or not, but I trust my speed there to kinda just be aggressive whether it’s pretty far away from him or pretty close to kinda get in there and score the run.”
For Stanford, this win is huge. After having a disappointing outing in their previous Tuesday outing against St. Mary’s, to win this one feels really good. Especially to do it in the way that they did. They could have given up and said here we go again, but they dug deep and found a way to pull it out without having to go to extra innings. The night was cold, the environment wasn’t most conducive to offense, but that didn’t stop Stanford from getting a much-needed win.
“It’s definitely huge,” Jones said of the victory. “We’ve kinda struggled on some mid-week games and it was good for us. We knew it wasn’t going to come easy, we knew we weren’t just gonna come out here and blow’em out even though we kinda started hot. We knew it was gonna be a dog fight and it’s definitely good to get that momentum going into this next weekend.
“It’s definitely a big confidence booster and definitely makes going into travel days like tomorrow a lot more fun and we can relax a little bit and like I said just have that confidence factor going into this week and dog fights are fun. We love dog fights and that was kinda the reputation we built last year was just always find a way to win. So whenever we can, just do that.”
“Obviously the cold, it changes the whole game,” Graham said of the atmosphere. “I mean, you can’t really hit balls in the air anymore once the sun goes down. Actually, like I think the hardest ball hit of the entire night today I thought was gonna be a homer to right, but just got eaten up by the force field cold air. Sucks it down, so you kinda gotta adjust your approach to the plate, try to hit the ball a little harder, a little lower. And then defense for sure, just knowing that it’s not gonna carry, trust in your outfielders and then just try to play as good of infield as you can.”
Up next for Stanford is a road trip to Los Angles to play UCLA in a three-game series that will be played Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Thursday’s game will begin at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
“It’s gonna be tough,” Mercurio said of the upcoming matchup with UCLA. “UCLA’s playing well, obviously coached by one of the best coaches in the country, John Savage. One of our assistants Steve [Rodriguez] has a lot of familiarity with that field and he was just telling us, it’s gonna be a force field at night. So we need to work on keeping the ball low and hard, making them play defense, and again, we know our pitching and defense gonna keep us in the game.
“So if we could find a way to scrap some runs, keep the ball low and hard and really just be ourselves like we were this weekend and tonight, we feel like we’ll have a good chance. But yeah, we’ll have our work cut out for us for sure with a good team, but we’ll take our chances with this group.”
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