On Sunday, #3 Stanford baseball defeated Cal State Northridge 3-2 to take two out of three games in their weekend home series against the Matadors. Stanford sophomore right-handed pitcher Joey Dixon (1-0) picked up the win in a mid-relief role while freshman right fielder/right-handed pitcher Braden Montgomery picked up the save while also hitting a solo home run. CSUN sophomore right-handed pitcher Ryan Wentz (1-1) was awarded the loss. Stanford improves to 8-3 overall while CSUN falls to 6-4.
“Pretty gritty effort from our guys,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “I mean the game is not coming easy to us and it took every bit of grit for us to have. For us to not be really flowing offensively and just find a way to kind of play defense and win, right? And so I thought we got great efforts from, Dowd wasn’t as sharp, but he hung in there and I thought Dixon was excellent, O’Rourke was good, and like I said they weren’t able to score two runs off Montgomery before we got three outs.”
In the first three innings, neither team was able to score and each team was only able to pick up one hit. It was a pretty quiet three innings as neither team was able to establish much of a rhythm offensively. After both teams each had had their day of generating offense, it appeared as though both teams had figured each other out.
In the top of the first inning, CSUN center fielder Kai Moody hit a single to right field with two outs, but right fielder Andrew Sojka struck out to end the inning. In the bottom of the first inning, after Stanford left fielder Eddie Park grounded out to short stop, 1st baseman Carter Graham and center fielder Brock Jones both got walked. Unfortunately for Stanford, catcher Kody Huff grounded into a double play to end the inning.
In the top of the second inning, 1st baseman Joey Kramer got walked for CSUN, but designated hitter Gabe Gonzalez flied out to left center and senior outfielder Bart West lined into a double play. In the bottom of the second inning, 3rd baseman Drew Bowser struck out looking, 2nd baseman Tommy Troy grounded out to 3rd base, and right fielder Braden Montgomery struck out swinging.
In the top of the 3rd inning, catcher Sebastian Garcia flied out to right field, 3rd baseman Brandon Bohning lined out to 3rd base, and 2nd baseman Mason Le grounded out to short stop. In the bottom of the 3rd, designated hitter Brett Barrera grounded out to 3rd base before short stop Adam Crampton singled up the middle. Crampton wouldn’t advance further as Park lined out to center field and Graham lined out to short stop.
In the top of the 4th inning, short stop Ali Camarillo singled to right center to get things going for CSUN. Moody would fly out to right field, but then Sojka would get walked, advancing Camarillo to second base. Kramer would single to left field, driving in Camarillo, and advancing Sojka to second base. It was at this point that David Esquer brought in Joey Dixon to replace Drew Dowd on the mound. Dixon started off a bit shaky as he hit Gonzalez on a 1-2 count, but from then on, he was money. West struck out looking and Garcia would advance to first base on a fielder’s choice as Kramer was out at 3rd base unassisted. 1-0 CSUN lead entering the bottom of the 4th inning.
“I think the main thing is just when you come into the dugout, focus on the team,” Dixon said. “Don’t get too locked in. Because once you start thinking about yourself and your own performance it’s pretty hard to win for the guys that are trying really hard right behind you.”
In the bottom of the 4th, Stanford didn’t generate any offense as Jones struck out looking, Huff lined out to center field, and Bowser grounded out to short stop. Offensively, Stanford was in a rut. They needed to get cracking.
In the top of the 5th inning, CSUN wasn’t able to generate anything as Dixon made quick work of their lineup. Bohning lined out to short stop, Le struck out swinging, and Camarillo flied out to left field.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, that’s when Stanford’s offense finally started to get rolling. Troy singled through the left side followed by Montgomery singling to first base, advancing Troy to second base. Barrera would strike out swinging, but then Crampton singled to left center, advancing Montgomery to second base, and bringing Troy home to tie the game up 1-1. Park would then ground out to first base unassisted, advancing Crampton to second base and Montgomery to third. Graham would then draw contact and get to first base via a throwing error, allowing Montgomery to score an unearned run and put Stanford up 2-1. After that, Jones would strike out to end the inning.
“Well, Adam Crampton had a great game all the way around and had three hits today after struggling with the bat a little bit the first couple games,” Esquer said. “Made some adjustments and then was able to apply them right to the game. So, he was big for us for sure.”
The 6th inning was uneventful for both teams as neither team got a hit or a guy on base. Dixon was doing a great job on the mound for Stanford in his relief role. Esquer definitely brought him in at a good time.
“He’s such a good competitor,” Esquer said of Dixon. “Regardless of if he has good stuff or not, he’s just gonna will himself to be in the zone and to get outs and pitch to the plan that Coach Eager has set for him and so he’s really valuable to us for sure.”
“Well, I think the main thing was just attacking the hitters,” Dixon said of his approach to the game. “My main goal today was just no walks. That’s just all I’m trying to do out there is fill up the zone, see what happens, and give our offense a chance to win.
“You know it’s weird, I usually just throw two-seams, but today they were kinda cutting a little bit so I was just throwing them right down the middle to see what happened and it ended up working, but slider was good today as well. So, I was happy to have both of them.”
After Dixon recorded two strikeouts in the top of the 7th inning and allowing no men on base, Stanford was hoping to extend their lead in the bottom of the 7th and give their pitching staff some cushion. They would get what they were looking for as Montgomery went yard to right field, in the first at bat, making it a 3-1 Stanford lead. Graham and Park were able to get on first and second base with two outs, but Jones flied out to right field to end the inning.
“I knew I wanted to come into the box and be ready to hit any pitch in the strike zone,” Montgomery said. “Just because they’re a team that can throw any pitch in any count. So I knew I’d have to be ready for any pitch and he decided to test me on the fastball and I knew I could get the barrel out and clear it.”
The 8th inning was very similar to the 6th inning. Neither team got a hit and nobody got on base. This set up a dramatic 9th inning in which Stanford just needed to hold on to a 3-1 lead and record the three outs that they needed. It should be noted that Tommy O’Rourke came in to relieve Dixon in the 8th inning for Stanford, doing a fantastic job. He didn’t get any strikeouts, but the name of the game is to simply get outs and he got the job done.
In the top of the 9th inning, Stanford made a couple of adjustments. Montgomery moved to closer, replacing O’Rourke and Joe Lomuscio came in at right field. It wasn’t the easiest of situations to put a freshman pitcher in, but Esquer was confident that Montgomery would deliver the goods.
Things got off to a good start for Montgomery on the mound as Moody flied out to right field to get the first out. But then Sojka and Kramer both walked. Then, Gonzalez singled to right field to load up the bases. Montgomery would get the second out thanks to left fielder Drew Porter fouling out to Kody Huff, who did a great job of tracking the foul ball to secure the out.
Things got a little hairy when Montgomery threw a pitch into the dirt that got past Huff, resulting in Sojka scoring. It was now a 3-2 game, bases loaded, and two outs. It can’t get more high pressure than that. Nathan Barraza came in to pinch hit for CSUN at this point, hoping to make some magic happen behind the plate. Instead of making magic, Barraza grounded out to short stop, ending the game. It was a 3-2 Stanford victory in the end. Dixon getting the win and Montgomery getting his second save of the season.
“I just stay with teammates,” Montgomery said. “I know they’re behind me, I know the coaches are behind me a hundred percent, I just trust them and I know that I’ve got a job to do for them and for us.”
“You know with him, his stuff is so electric you just gotta keep going,” Dixon said of Montgomery. “Keep staying on his back, he knows that we’re gonna make plays behind him and I’m just happy he was able to get through it.”
For Stanford this was a really nice win. After losing on Friday, they were able to pick up two wins in a row to win the series. CSUN came in hot with a lot of confidence and after getting popped at the beginning, Stanford settled in and found a way to get the job done.
“I think it’s a big deal that we were able to do that,” Montgomery said of coming back to win the series. “I mean it’s not an opponent that has stuff that we’d typically face and so it was different coming in and facing them being the underdog and just having that persona to want to beat us and so we had to respond after getting punched in the mouth and I think we did great and it’s just a steppingstone to continue through the season.”
“You know it’s pretty hard to lose a Friday game and then come back both games,” Dixon said. “And I think it all started out with Quinn Mathews on Saturday just starting really well. Showing like, they’re not going beat us every single day and we know that we’re the better team. So I think it was just passing the baton on after Quinn and then just keep going on from there.”
Braden Montgomery once again was a major storyline of this game for the Cardinal. He hit a home run and recorded a save in the same game. This game perfectly encapsulated his unique talent. He’s a guy who can do damage behind the plate, in the outfield, and on the mound. He’s evolving into the Shohei Ohtani of this Stanford club. Guys like that are what the Japanese call 珍しい (Mezurashī), meaning rare or unusual. You just don’t find many guys who are able to pitch and hit an elite level.
“Well, he’s a special talent and we’re putting him in a tough spot,” Esquer said of Montgomery. “You know, closing games as a freshman doesn’t come easy and so hey if there’s a few bumps in the road, they’re gonna happen, and we’ve gotta be willing to go through them with him. The bottom line is they didn’t come back and they didn’t tie the game and we were able to help him out with a really good defensive play there at the end by Adam Crampton.”
“Yeah, definitely it’s difficult sometimes just having to separate the game and treat it as two different entities on its own,” Montgomery said. “And then obviously my bodily fatigue without me really putting any mind into it and so sometimes that can affect other facets of the game like coming into pitch after playing a full game, but just going forward I feel like I’ll be getting more comfortable with it and I’ll just be ready to go every game.”
Up next for Stanford is a home series against Oregon to open up Pac-12 play. That series will begin on Friday at 6:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio.
“Well, Oregon is well coached, they’ve got talent, they’re gritty,” Esquer said of the Ducks. “They’re much like Northridge. They’re gonna battle us, they’ve got really good pitching, and we’ve got some things to figure out during this week of practice just to kinda get a little sharper and get ready for that weekend.”
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