On Saturday, #24 Stanford baseball defeated Washington State 7-1 to take a 2-0 series lead. Stanford junior left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews (3-1) picked up the win for the Cardinal while Washington State redshirt sophomore left-handed pitcher Cole McMillan (1-2) was awarded the loss. Stanford improves to 11-8 overall and 3-5 in the Pac-12 while Washington State falls to 9-13 overall and 1-7 in the Pac-12.
“Quinn was great, right?” Stanford head coach David Esquer said when asked what the difference was from Friday’s nail biter. “Starting pitching and we can’t hide from that. It starts with that and then we got some hits. Barrera’s home run kinda got us going, but it took us still a little time, we had two good executions on first and third plays to give us a couple runs and then those two homers at the end with Huff and Jones. So, piece it together and it was a good solid effort all the way around, but it starts with Quinn Mathews and his outing.”
In the bottom of the 1st inning, Stanford got off to a 1-0 lead as 3rd baseman Brett Barrera hit a solo home run. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Stanford extend their lead 2-0 after right fielder Braden Montgomery scored a run while left fielder Eddie Park was caught stealing to end the inning. Stanford would maintain this 2-0 lead into the 4th inning.
“Brett Barrera with the big swing early in the first put us on the board,” Mathews said. “And then we ended up getting a couple across at first and third plays and then a couple big swings late from Huff and Jones and it makes it easier and easier because the room for error gets bigger and bigger. So, it’s obviously a great team win today and hopefully we can build off it tomorrow.”
In the top of the 5th inning, Washington State manager Brian Green was tossed after arguing a pulled-back bunt that was called a foul ball during center fielder Hylan Hall’s at-bat. Washington State would not add any runs in the inning as Mathews was able to strike out Hall and retire the next two batters.
In the bottom of the 5th inning with two outs, Stanford short stop Adam Crampton singled to right field and advanced to third base after center fielder Brock Jones hit a single of his own. Crampton would then steal home while Jones stole second. The throw to the catcher was off enough that Crampton would be safe. 2nd baseman Austin Kretzschmar was unable to keep the good vibes going as he would fly out to right field. 3-0 Stanford lead.
“Well, his defense is so elite and big for us,” Esquer said of Crampton. “And he does a great job. When he’s playing his game, he chips in offense. He gets a timely hit, he can make contact, and then move runners along and then he can hurt you with an RBI. So his game is to be like that pest at the bottom of the order and just not be an easy out.”
“A lot of focus and playing for the guys on the mound,” Crampton said of his defense. “If anything I want to field ground balls because I want to help them out. It’s really a team effort right there. They’re making pitches for me, so I’m gonna help back them up and make plays for them.”
After Mathews made quick work of three Wazzu batters in the top of the 6th inning, Stanford would add two more runs in the bottom of the 6th. After 1st baseman Carter Graham hit a single, catcher Kody Huff would hit a home run with two outs to make it a 5-0 Stanford lead. Montgomery grounded out to end the 6th inning.
“It starts with the fastball command,” Esquer said of Mathews’ strengths. “He got a lot of mileage out of using his fastball and that makes his changeup even better. As good as his changeup is, it makes it better and his ability, when he’s out of the zone to get back into the zone. He doesn’t stay out of the zone as long as has in years past where it’s been a little bit of struggle to get back in. So his quick adjustments this year are a big difference.”
The top of the 7th inning was more of the same as Mathews had little trouble retiring the Cougars' lineup. Aside from giving up a single, he got three easy outs. In the bottom of the 7th inning, Crampton hit a single followed by a home run from Jones to make it a 7-0 lead with one out. Kretzschmar grounded out and Barrera struck out to end the inning.
“You don’t know when it’s gonna happen but eventually he’s going to be the Brock Jones of old and the game will start coming to him,” Esquer said. “It’s been rough for him, too. And so to see him move in that direction is big.”
“I was just trying to keep it simple,” Crampton said. “Just see the baseball. Get a good swing off and then kind of just pass it on to my teammates has kinda been our big thing as of late. Just making sure you get to the next guy and rely and trust in the guys behind you.
“I love to see that [Brock Jones hit a home run]. I love Brock to death and I think everybody’s happy that he’s getting going. And we all knew it was coming, too. That guy puts in an insane amount of work off the field and so it was a matter of time until it clicked.”
Mathews would be done after seven innings with 11 strikeouts and zero earned runs. From there, Tommy O’Rourke and Justin Moore would carry Stanford the rest of the way. In the top of the 9th inning, Wazzu short stop Kodie Kolden drove in designated hitter Jacob McKeon with Moore on the mound, but in the end, that would be the only run Washington State would score. 7-1 would be the final.
“Didn’t really have my best stuff off-speed wise,” Mathews humbly said of his performance. “Slider wasn’t landing for strikes consistently, which I had had my past couple of outings. But my fastball early and I needed it late and the changeup was good when I needed it also.”
For Stanford, this was a really huge win. After having a real scare on Friday night, to win this game with relative ease and little drama feels good. They really needed to respond in the manner that they did.
“I think so,” Esquer said of the Friday win helping. “I think that helps us. You get through a tough game and we’ve lost tough games and the game is really forcing us to play nine good innings of baseball. Seven innings of good baseball is not enough and eight innings of good baseball has not been enough. Which we found out in Arizona. We played a lot of games. We played seven innings of good baseball. Wasn’t enough to win. So I think the game’s pressing us to play really well and it’ll be make us better in the end, but it’s been a tough road for us.”
“We had a tough weekend last weekend,” Mathews added. “And you know, we had an emotional game last night. We were able to come back from a big deficit early and it’s a good team win overall. Obviously Williams did not have the start he wanted, but the team was able to pick him up and going into today knowing that, I was just like gonna throw up as many zeroes as possible and pitch as deep into the game as possible and go from there.”
The next challenge will be completing the sweep on Sunday. In any sport, sweeping a team is not easy and Stanford knows it. Even if the team is not very good.
“We gotta finish, right?” Esquer said of completing the sweep. “They’re gonna come back. Baseball will tell you that tomorrow’s a hard day to win. Hard to sweep people and win that third game. I call it ‘will day.’ Sometimes you gotta come out and will it because the other team’s gonna play desperate and really try to win.”
“I think it’s really big,” Crampton said of backing up Friday’s win with a sounder victory. “Just momentum’s really fragile and making sure that you come out each day and keep it on’em and I think that’s what we gotta do. Come out tomorrow. Keep the same energy.
“It comes down to will. Sometimes on Sundays just whoever wants it more and whoever comes out with that focus. So at the end of the day it’s just whoever wills it.”
On that note, Sunday’s game against Washington State will be at 1:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio. Drew Dowd is the projected starter for Stanford.
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