On Sunday, #24 Stanford baseball defeated Washington State 8-3 to complete a three-game home sweep. Stanford sophomore left-handed pitcher Drew Dowd (4-0) picked up the win for the Cardinal while junior left-handed pitcher McKabe Cottrell (1-5) was awarded the loss for the Cougars. Stanford improves to 12-8 overall and 4-5 in the Pac-12 while Washington State falls to 9-14 overall and 1-8 in the Pac-12.
“Yeah, hey it’s big to sweep,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “In our league, kinda the rule is if you got an opportunity to sweep someone you need to do it and if you can avoid it, avoid getting swept. Find a way to get one. So it was big to come back this weekend. That team is going to win their share of games. They beat Oregon State once, they’ve had spurts where they played well. So, it was a great job by our guys to be able to win that third one.”
Washington State was the first team to strike in this game, getting on the board in the top of the 3rd inning after two scoreless innings from both teams. Short stop Kodie Kolden hit a single to left field to get things going and would advance to second after 3rd baseman Elijah Hanline hit a ball in play that resulted in Hanline getting out at first base. Following 2nd baseman Kyle Russell popping out for the second out, 1st baseman Jack Smith hit a single that drove Kolden home. Smith would later get caught stealing to end the top of the 3rd. 1-0 Washington State lead.
After Stanford was unable to generate any offense in the bottom of the 3rd inning, Washington State added another run in the top of the 4th inning. Right fielder Collin Montez would get on first base via fielder’s choice as left fielder Justin Van De Brake was out at second base for the second out of the inning. Center fielder Nate Swarts would then hit a single but advance to second base thanks to a throwing error by 3rd baseman Drew Bowser. Montez would score as a result. That would be the only run scored in the inning for Washington State, who now was up 2-0. Stanford would fail to score in the bottom of the 4th inning as would Washington State in the top of the 5th. Neither team was able to do much offensively in either half-inning.
As for the bottom of the 5th, that would be a whole different matter as Stanford exploded for all eight of the runs they would score in the entire game. Right fielder Braden Montgomery got hit by a pitch to get on first base after catcher Kody Huff grounded out in the first at-bat. Bowser would then single up the middle and advance to second base on the throw. Montgomery would advance to third base before scoring thanks to a throwing error by Hanline. 2-1.
After short stop Adam Crampton flied out to center field, there were now two outs. Center fielder Brock Jones was then walked to keep the inning alive. Thanks to a wild pitch, Jones would advance to second base while Bowser advanced to third before scoring thanks to a throwing error by catcher Will Cresswell. 2-2.
Then, left fielder Eddie Park would get walked before stealing second base. 2nd baseman Brett Barrera would get walked to follow. Thanks to a wild pitch, Jones scored while Park advanced to third base and Barrera advanced to second. 3-2. Following a single to left center from 1st baseman Carter Graham, Barrera and Park both scored. 5-2. After designated hitter Vincent Martinez hit a single to advance Graham to third base, Huff hit a home run to left field to make it an 8-2 Stanford lead. Montgomery would hit a double, but Bowser flying out in the next at bat ended the inning. After trailing 0-2, Stanford was now sitting pretty up 8-2.
“Yeah, we kinda forced them into a couple mistakes and then came through after those mistakes with some big hits,” Esquer said of the 5th inning. “Carter Graham and then Kody Huff obviously finished it off for us with some big hits that inning.
“He [Huff] has done a great job behind the plate and then to come through with a big hit right there. I know he’s, not struggled, but had some days that would have been tough on him. Hit some balls hard for outs and to see him get one to fall was big.”
“For me personally, I think this whole weekend I was really just trying to work on maybe getting out a different way or just seeing a little bit of different ball flight,” Huff added. “So really felt good to get a couple barrels. Just happened to get a mistake pitch with two strikes and was ready for it right there. I think what we did really well today that we maybe haven’t done so far this year is offensed a little bit. Bunts, first and third plays, things like that. We were able to put a lot of pressure on their defense and I think that sped some guys up and it worked out in our favor.
“At the end of the day, I try and make defense my priority for just our staff as a part of the team, but I work just as hard if not harder on my offense, too. I’m always working at both. I think there’s a balance you need to find between the two and I think a lot of what I’ve worked on this season and leading up to the season was being able to separate offense and defense and kinda have them be their own thing and not let the two affect each other and I think that’s helped me a ton this year and I think it’ll help me a lot moving forward.”
In the top of the 6th inning, Washington State added another run as Montez hit a double to drive in designated hitter Jacob McKeon who got to second via getting walked and a wild pitch. Stanford would lead 8-3 going into the bottom of the 6th. Thanks to two errors and a wild pitch, Park was able to get to third base with two outs in the bottom of the 6th, but Barrera was unable to drive him home.
In the final three innings, no team would score as Stanford went on to win 8-3. Drew Dowd would pitch the 7th inning before Brandt Pancer relieved him in the 8th inning. Cody Jensen would relieve Pancer in the 9th. Dowd’s pitching was really solid and played a big role in Stanford’s victory. On top of that, even though they came in with a comfortable lead, Pancer and Jensen did their part to hold onto the lead and not blow it.
“Really proud of him,” Esquer said of Dowd. “That’s two weekends in a row that he may not have had his best stuff: Location, fastball, complete mix; and he just found a way to be competitive and hang in there and keep getting outs and give us seven innings. He’s done that two weekends in a row, which says a lot for him because that’s not to say that he comes out and he’s dialed in with all pitches and he can’t just roll, too.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I had my best stuff,” Dowd added. “Especially at the start. Just kinda had to work some things. I found my fastball throughout and curveball was kinda good, but it was really just a two-pitch mix today and I kinda just worked with that and I think it was good that I was able to, when I didn’t have my best stuff, just be able to compete and give my team a chance to win and I think I was able to do that.”
For Stanford, this win is huge because it completes the sweep over Washington State and gives them some momentum after a rough couple of weeks. Stanford could have been content to just win the series, but they wanted to get the sweep this weekend and to their credit, they dug deep enough to get it. They really came alive in the bottom of the 5th inning, their bullpen held firm, and Washington State simply was unable to respond.
“I think all weekend, our bullpen has been good,” Esquer said. “I think from Friday night and the whole weekend, our bullpen has done a good job and probably the only blip on the radar was maybe Williams on Friday had a little bit of a rough go to it. But since then, I thought we pitched very solid and it’s good to see because we gotta have that be consistent for us.”
“As a Sunday starter, I try not to really look at what happened the first two days,” Dowd added. “Because I’ve pitched in games this year where it’s the deciding game, I’ve pitched in games where we’re down 0-2, and this was the first one this year where I pitched on a Sunday where we’re 2-0 going into it. I mean, I just try to keep the same thing there every single time. Just the same mentality of I’m going to try to give my team a chance to win. Get to the fifth or sixth or seventh and try to have a lead or tied when I’m coming out of the game.
“It was huge [to get the sweep]. I mean, I think obviously we have the capability to sweep any team and I think especially when we win those first two, I take it personally to try to get that third win. But I think it’s huge, especially going into next week against Oregon State who is a good team and Wazzu is a good team as well. It’s just, when we’re up 2-0, we have to finish it off, because every game matters especially at Pac-12. We’re trying to win a Pac-12 championship, so every game matters.”
Up next for Stanford will be a road trip to Corvallis to face Oregon State. The first game will be on Friday at 6:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Oregon and KZSU radio.
“Well, we gotta play complete, right?” Esquer said of the matchup with the Beavers. “I mean, we’re gonna have to play nine innings and that’s what’s baseball’s kinda telling us like we talked about the other day that baseball is demanding we play nine good innings of baseball. Seven or eight innings has not been enough to win. And so, Oregon State is a good enough team and talented, they’re tough to beat, they’re probably the front runners and the favorite to win the league at this point. So, we’re gonna go into Corvallis which is pretty tough to play. So we’re gonna have to be up for it.”
To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Twitter, click here.
To connect with Ben Parker, click here.
