On Friday, #24 Stanford baseball defeated Washington State 8-7 in 12 innings. Sophomore left-handed pitcher Ryan Bruno (1-0) was the winning pitcher for Stanford while redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Caden Kaelber (0-1) picked up the loss for Washington State. Stanford improves to 10-8 overall and 2-5 in the Pac-12 while Washington State falls to 9-12 overall and 1-6 in the Pac-12.
“Well, we had to dig pretty deep to get that one,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “The game was not coming easy at all and the game is demanding that we play nine innings of good baseball because one inning of baseball could have beat us today, right? The seven runs in the second, that could have been the difference in winning and losing, so the game is hard enough now where it is demanding we play nine good innings of baseball for us to win because eight good innings of baseball, it was tied after nine and we’re playing extra innings.”
Stanford got off to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning as center fielder Brock Jones drove in Carter Graham who was on second base and 1st baseman Brett Barrera drove in Jones after that. Things were looking good at the very beginning for the Cardinal.
Alex Williams was the starting pitcher for Stanford in this one, but things did not go his way at all as Washington State pounced on him to score seven runs in the top of the 2nd inning to go up 7-2, immediately erasing Stanford’s early lead. A three-run home run by Bryce Matthews highlighted the inning for Washington State. As a result, David Esquer felt like he had to pull Williams before the end of the 2nd inning, putting in Joey Dixon right before Matthews’ at bat. Down 7-2 after two innings and Williams already done for the day, things were not looking good at all for Stanford.
In the 3rd inning, that’s when Stanford’s incredible comeback started. Stanford would add one run in the bottom of the 3rd inning as Jones was walked before advancing to second base on a balk. Barrera would drive Jones in to make it a 7-3 game. That would be the only run Stanford scored in the 3rd.
Dixon would pitch for Stanford all the way until the end of the 6th inning at which Nicolas Lopez came in to relieve him in the top of the 7th inning with the game still 7-3. Lopez didn’t do so hot, forcing Brandt Pancer to quickly come in to relive him with the bases loaded and one out. Fortunately for Stanford, Pancer found a way to get out of that jam and not have Washington State extend their lead.
After finding a way to keep Wazzu from scoring in the top of the 7th, Stanford would add a pair of runs in the bottom of the 7th to make it a 7-5 game. Graham would reach on an error by the right fielder and get to third base before scoring on a passed ball. Jones would get walked again and a triple from Barrera would drive him in. In the 8th inning, neither team would score, making it a 7-5 game entering the 9th inning.
In the top of the 9th inning, with two outs and a man on first and second base, Cody Jensen came in to pitch for Brandt Pancer, hoping to keep it a 7-5 game. Jensen would get the out he needed, making it such that Stanford needed just two runs in the bottom of the 9th to keep the game alive.
“Oh man, they did a great job,” Esquer said of his bullpen. “And obviously once Dixon got settled in, unfortunately wasn’t throwing strikes, had to send one down the middle and guy hits a three-run homer. But, once he got settled in, Dixon did a nice job, Pancer, everybody came in. Even Cody Jensen, who’s given us good outings and then Ryan Bruno was unhittable, right? That was huge for us. Well, they put one ball fair, ground ball to second, but a lot of swing throughs. So, he was good.”
In the bottom of the 9th, Stanford found a way to get the runs they needed as Eddie Park hit a single to get things going before advancing to third after Graham hit a single of his own. After Jones struck out, Joe Lomuscio, who was pinch running for Graham, advance to second base on a wild pitch. After Barrera grounded out to short stop, Park would score. 7-6. After Drew Bowser hit a single through the left side, Lomuscio scored. 7-7. Stanford would be unable to win the game in regulation, but they at least were able to force extra innings.
After Jensen made quick work of the Cougars lineup in the top of the 10th inning, it looked like Stanford might win it in the bottom of the 10th. With one out, Austin Kretzschmar got walked before advancing to second base on a wild pitch after Owen Cobb flied out to center field for the second out. Park would be walked and Kretzschmar would advance to third on a wild pitch. During Lomuscio’s at bat, Park would advance to second base, but it ended up not mattering as Lomuscio struck out swinging.
In the top of the 11th, Washington State would load up the bases with two outs, but Ryan Bruno, who was now pitching for Cody Jensen, found a way to get Stanford out of the jam as he forced a hit that resulted in the third out being called at second base to keep it a 7-7 game. In the bottom of the 11th, Jones got to third base for Stanford with two outs, but Vincent Martinez was unable to drive him in.
“I think it was a good performance,” Bruno said of his outing. “As a team, especially, the way things have been going, I think it was an absolutely huge turning point for us. Just come back like that and especially after giving up a seven spot in the second. So, I think it’s a huge turning point for us and I’m really excited to get going now.”
After keeping Washington State scoreless in the top of the 12th inning despite a man getting on third base with two outs, Stanford finally got the reward they were looking for in the bottom of the inning. Braden Montgomery would get walked and then advanced to second base after Kretzschmar grounded out via sacrifice bunt. Grant Burton would then come in to pinch run for Montgomery. After Cobb struck out, Park would be intentionally walked, bringing up Lomuscio. Lomuscio would then get hit by a pitch to load up the bases with Jones to bat. After a pitching change from Washington State, it all came down to this. Will Sierra was on the mound trying to figure out how to best pitch to Jones. In the end, he would walk Jones, which resulted in Burton coming home for the game-winning run. 8-7 Stanford win in 12 innings.
“I was definitely kinda, I knew I was gonna be pitched around a little bit,” Jones said of his final at-bat. “Kinda just the story of the day. So I was pretty much just sitting off speed there and was just gonna take my walk or kinda take whatever they gave me. And kinda just be patient. I knew once I kinda got in a leverage count I would just see the ball deep, see it well, and kinda wait even if it got to 3-0 when it got back to 3-2 I wasn’t really gonna swing the bat until 3-2 anyway and just trust myself there and kinda just do anything to score that run.”
“Yeah, you don’t wanna just lay one in there and I think that a guy comes in cold off the bench and he doesn’t wanna just lay one right down the middle,” Esquer added. “So he’s gotta be a little fine and cause him to make some mistakes.”
For Stanford, to call this win huge is an understatement. After getting swept at Arizona last week and only taking one game of the home series against Oregon, they really needed to bounce back against Washington State and get a jump on the series by taking the first game. It wasn’t pretty, but if you’re Stanford, you’ll take it.
“Huge, I mean absolutely huge,” Esquer said of getting this win. “And like I said, I knew baseball, when you’re in that kinda rut, baseball doesn’t just let you win. It’s gonna make you earn it and that’s what we had to do tonight. Dig deep and use our whole roster and just try to find a way to win because we’re still not playing like we can play, but we got tonight’s win, which was big.”
“This win means a lot more than most probably think,” Jones added. “Just kinda trying to dig ourselves out of a little bit of a hole. So I think this is gonna be huge for us moving forward and kinda just allows us to get some momentum and allows us to feel good and have some fun tonight. I think we’re kinda finally starting to move in the right direction and get things rolling.”
What made this win impressive for Stanford was all the different people who contributed. The bullpen stepped up, guys came off the bench to pinch run or field, etc. It was truly an all-around team win that involved a lot of people. This seemed to give the team extra juice after the win and a little more of a bounce to their step.
“Oh yeah, I mean you see guys all on the rails cheering for each other when you’ve got substitutions going in and everything,” Bruno said. “I think it’s huge. Really big opportunities for some guys to make their mark and really excited for what’s to come now after that.”
As far as Alex Williams is concerned, while this wasn’t the kind of outing he was hoping to have, Esquer wasn’t too worried after the game. It was simply a matter of Williams just not having his best stuff but having confidence that he’ll be able to bounce back.
“I told him we would play better defense behind him today than we had in the past,” Esquer said. “But like everything, we got him. He’s allowed enough not to be perfect and have a great outing every time. He’ll have better days and we’ll play better behind him.”
Expanding more on Brock Jones, he knows he’s not off to the kind of start he’d like to be off to. He’s still adjusting to being pitched in a way that he’s never experienced before. But rather than getting frustrated by that, he’s just focusing on helping the team in whatever way he can and that mindset paid off for him in this game.
“I think it’s kinda just bigger than me,” Jones said. “At the end of the day, it’s not whether I hit well or I don’t hit well. It’s kinda just me wanting to lead these guys to a W and just kinda stack up Ws in that win column. But yeah for me, for the most part I know I’m gonna be pitched a little bit differently. So I gotta be patient, gotta be able to take my walks and kinda just take whatever they give me like I said and whether that means I hit a ton of home runs or not very many, I just wanna get on base as much as I can and score as much as I can to help us win.
“I think we’re kinda just passing the baton a little bit and I think it takes each and every one of us inside that dugout whether we’re on the field or not to get Ws. So I think we know that as a team that we all need to be together and be one and we can kinda just go from there.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game on Saturday against Washington State. That game will begin at 2:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio.
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