On Thursday, #23 Stanford baseball defeated #13 UCLA 9-1 on the road to take game one of their three game series. Senior right-handed pitcher Alex Williams (4-1) picked up the win while UCLA sophomore right-handed pitcher Jake Brooks (5-3) was awarded the loss. Stanford improves to 19-10 overall and 10-6 in the Pac-12 while UCLA falls to 23-10 overall and 8-5 in the Pac-12.
In the top of the 1st inning, Stanford got two hits courtesy of Brock Jones and Carter Graham. Brett Barrera, Braden Montgomery, and Kody Huff all struck out to end the inning, leaving Jones and Graham stranded, but the good news was they forced Brooks to throw 20+ pitches, doing a nice job of tiring him out.
In the bottom of the 1st inning, after Cody Schrier flied out to right field, Jake Palmer got hit by a pitch, getting him on first base. Thanks to a single from Ethan Gourson, Palmer advanced to second base before reaching third on an error. Palmer would then get driven home by a fly out courtesy of Kyle Karros. 1-0 UCLA lead. That would be the lone run UCLA would score in the inning and ultimately the game.
After both teams were held scoreless in the 2nd inning, Stanford got to work in the top of the 3rd inning. Adam Crampton got things going with a single to right field after which Jones was walked. Graham would then hit a home run to make it a 3-1 Stanford lead with no outs. Barrera and Montgomery both then struck out after which Huff fouled out to first base.
In the bottom of the 3rd inning, UCLA had a chance to strike back as they got the bases loaded with one out thanks to two walked batters plus Tommy Beres hitting a single. However, Karros would then strike out looking after which Daylen Reyes grounded out to third base.
Stanford would strike again in the top of the 5th inning. Crampton hit a single to right field to get things going. Then, Jones hit a bunt single to third base, advancing Crampton to second base. Thanks to a wild pitch, Jones advanced to second base while Crampton advanced to third. Graham would then draw contact and get to first base on fielder’s choice as Jones was out at third base while Crampton came home to score. 4-1 Stanford lead. Barrera would ground out while Montgomery flied out to center field to end the top of the 5th.
Stanford’s next run came in the top of the 6th inning as Drew Bowser singled to left field with two outs. Bowser then got brought home thanks to a double from Eddie Park. 5-1 Stanford lead. Crampton flied out to right field to end the top of the inning. In the bottom of the 6th inning, Stanford made a pitching change as Joey Dixon came in for Williams. Dixon did a nice job in the bottom of the 6th, getting two fly outs plus a strike out.
The highlight of the night came in the top of the 7th inning. Jones would get walked to lead things off only to get picked off at first base afterwards. Graham would then get walked as well. It was at this point that Brooks came out and Charles Harrison came in to pitch for UCLA. The first batter Harrison faced was Barrera, who got a single, advancing Graham to second base. The following batter was Montgomery, who on a 3-1 count crushed the ball so far nobody even saw it come down. It was as if he hit the ball to Universal Studios only for it to get carried to the moon by E.T. on his bike. Montgomery was all smiles in the dugout as he came back in, giving Stanford an 8-1 lead. UCLA then made another pitching change as Chris Aldrich was now coming in for Harrison, whose night was abruptly over. Aldrich wouldn’t allow any runs in the rest of the inning, but the damage had already been done. Stanford was sitting pretty.
In the top of the 9th, Stanford would add one more run for good measure as Tommy Troy hit a single to bring home Barrera who had advanced to third. Stanford would take a 9-1 lead into the bottom of the 9th and with Cody Jensen on the mound, closed it out with no issue.
For Stanford, this is a huge win. I said coming in it would be tough for them to take two out of three in this series and they made quite a statement in game one. Just dominated the Bruins, scoring nine unanswered runs. They hit two home runs which resulted in six of their nine runs. Power hitting was a focus coming into this series and Stanford delivered the goods big time.
The only bad part of the night for Stanford was seeing Carter Graham leave the game in the 8th inning during his at-bat with an apparent cramp/hamstring issue. He said post-game he was fine and that he should be good to go on Friday, so that’ll be something to watch for.
Up next for Stanford is a Friday night game at UCLA. That game will begin at 7:00 PM PT on ESPN2 and KZSU radio. Drew Dowd (4-0, 4.00 ERA) is the projected starting pitcher for Stanford while Max Rajcic (4-3, 2.95 ERA) is the projected starter for UCLA.
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