On Tuesday, #4 Stanford baseball defeated Santa Clara on the road by a final score of 20-17. Yes, you read that correctly. In a game that resembled the kind of "constant speedy action" that the late Hunter Thompson always wanted the game of baseball to have, Stanford came out on top and improved to 32-13 overall while Santa Clara fell to 27-16. The winning pitcher of this high scoring affair was Stanford junior lefty Drew Dowd (7-2) while the losing pitcher was Santa Clara sophomore lefty Brandon Gomez (4-3).

BOX SCORE: Stanford at Santa Clara-Tuesday, May 9

“Oh, it was a crazy game,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “Ball was flying out of here and no lead was safe, we proved that. Proud of our guys, though. You know, it was a game that we were playing. It’s not the one maybe we planned on or hoped that it would be, but it was the game that we were in and I thought our guys responded and played to the last pitch and excited to win and it was good.”

“I think there’s a lot of good things to take away for sure,” Stanford junior first baseman Carter Graham said of the win. “Offensively and defensively I think we played a much better game than we have been recently. A lot of great at-bats up and down the lineup. I mean pitching, there was some great things, too. A lot of guys definitely came out a little amped and had stuff. So there’s a lot of good things to take away. Obviously there’s some things we can clean up that we’re gonna this next week, but yeah.”

The only scoreless inning in this game was the 5th inning. All the rest of the innings had at least one run scored. This was a game where no lead was safe and it truly took all 27 outs for the Cardinal to put the Broncos away.

The top of the 1st inning went well for Stanford as Carter Graham hit a two run shot to left field to bring home leadoff hitter Eddie Park, who was walked and then advanced to second base via an error. Stanford didn’t score any more runs the rest of the inning, giving them a 2-0 lead entering the bottom of the inning.

“Just felt good,” Graham said of the game he had. “Been working all year, making good adjustments to kinda be able to get into my game and be able to impact the ball the way I want to and found some stuff over ASU and just try to build off of it and keep going forward.”

Nicolas Lopez got the start for the Cardinal on the mound and that did not go well at all as he failed to record as single out. Dawson Brigman, who was hitting leadoff, was walked to get things going for the Broncos after which Michael O’Hara hit a single to left field to advance Brigman to second base. Efrain Manzo then hit a double to center field to bring home Brigman and advance O’Hara to third base for the first run. This ended Lopez’ day on the mound as Toran O’Harran came in to pitch.

O’Harran didn’t do any better as he too failed to record a single out. The struggle was real for the Cardinal pitchers. O’Harran walked Robert Hipwell after which Coleman Brigman, who is Dawson’s younger brother, singled to left field to bring home O’Hara and Manzo and advance Hipwell to second base. Malcolm Williams then singled to center field to load up the bases after which Eamonn Lance was hit by a pitch to bring home Hipwell and keep the bases loaded.

This ended O’Harran’s day on the mound as Nick Dugan came in to clean things up. Dugan got off to a much better start as JonJon Berring popped up to right field after which Ben Steck flied out to left field to bring home Coleman Brigman. Dawson Brigman then reached on a fielder’s choice as Williams was out at third base to end the bottom of the 1st. 5-2 lead for the Broncos.

“He did, he did,” Esquer said of the tough situation Dugan was put into. “I didn’t do, O’Harran any inning, I brought him in probably the spot that I probably should have waited [until] he had a clean inning. We needed to see him pitch and second and third nobody out, isn’t necessarily his best. Dugan probably was better suited with his pitch sequencing that he could have probably been better in that job. So I feel bad that I probably used O’Harran probably a little early. But that’s ok. We can learn from that and yet Dugan came in right after him and did a good job and got us a couple innings.”

Stanford responded in the top of the 2nd inning as Jake Sapien singled up the middle with two outs after which Owen Cobb drilled one deep and over the left field fence, making it a 5-4 game. Park then struck out swinging to end the top of the inning.

The bottom of the 2nd inning was quiet as nobody for Santa Clara got on base. Dugan got back-to-back strikeouts after which Hipwell as out at first base. 5-4 lead for Santa Clara at the end of the 2nd inning.

In the top of the 3rd inning, Stanford added three runs thanks to two home runs. After Tommy Troy got walked, Carter Graham homered to center field to make it a 6-5 lead for the Cardinal. After Braden Montgomery struck out looking, Alberto Rios went yard to center field to make it a 7-5 lead for the Cardinal. Stanford nearly added another run as Drew Bowser was on third base while Jake Sapien was on first with two outs, but Owen Cobb flied out to center field for the third out. In the bottom of the 3rd, Santa Clara did not score any runs, keeping it a 7-5 game at the end of the 3rd.

In the top of the 4th inning, Santa Clara made a pitching change as Brandon Gomez came in for Nick Sando, who had gotten the start on the mound for the Broncos. Stanford did not score any runs in the top of the 4th, keeping it a 7-5 game entering the bottom of the inning.

In the bottom of the 4th, Santa Clara tied things up as Efrain Manzo homered to left field with two outs to bring home Dawson Brigman, who had singled to left field. At this point, Nick Dugan’s day on the mound was done as Matt Scott came in for relief. Scott did not give up any runs in the bottom of the 4th, keeping it a 7-7 game at the end of the inning.

The 5th inning was quiet on both sides as nobody scored and nobody even got on base. On top of that, no pitching changes. It remained tied 7-7 entering the 6th inning.

In the 6th inning, both teams traded runs. Stanford did make a pitching change in the inning as Scott was replaced by Dowd after Scott hit Dawson Brigman with no outs to put him on base.

“Yeah, you know, we just didn’t want to extend anyone too much there,” Esquer said of how they approached the pitching. “Even Ryan Bruno there going into the 9th. He and Dowd, the innings before they came out, just took too long and the sit down. It’s just not worth it to run them out there and risk them. So we just used everyone we had in the pen and so Trevor Moore did a good job there at the end and got us in and we’ll take it.”

In the top of the inning, Park grounded out to short stop to bring home Sapien in the top of the inning for the second out to give the Cardinal an 8-7 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Robert Hipwell returned the favor by hitting a single to center field to bring home Dawson Brigman with two outs. Coleman Brigman then doubled to left field to advance Hipwell to third base, but Williams struck out looking to end the bottom of the inning. It was now an 8-8 game entering the 7th inning.

At this point, it was already a high scoring game, but in hindsight, the scoring hadn’t even really begun! In the final three innings, Stanford scored 12 more runs to get to 20 while Santa Clara scored another nine runs to get to 17. Truly incredible.

“Yeah, I think we have a deep team,” Graham said. “We all get fired up when we see a guy like Cort MacDonald out there in right doing his thing. That kid is working his ass off and you got Trevor Moore who hasn’t pitched much this entire year in a game when a situation of win or lose. So, I think in games like this, we kinda come together as a team and are just excited to see whatever happens and put our guys who we know work hard on the side out there.”

Stanford scored eight runs in the top of the 7th without hitting a single home run. Bowser hit a single to short stop with one out to bring home Montgomery to make it 9-8; Sapien hit a single to left field to bring home Malcolm Moore and Rios while advancing Bowser to second base to make it 11-8; Cobb singled to left field to advance Sapien to second base and bring home Bowser who was now on the third base after a passed ball to make it 12-8; Park advanced to second base on a passed ball with two outs while Cobb advanced to third base and Sapien scored to make it 13-8.

Graham who was at the plate as Sapien scored then doubled to center field to bring home Park and Cobb to make it 15-8 and then after Montgomery got walked, Rios singled up the middle to bring home Graham and advance Montgomery to second base to make it 16-8. Moore would fly out to left field to end the top of the inning. During this inning, Santa Clara did make a pitching change as Gomez was pulled and replaced by Jeffrey Heinrich after loading up the bases with no outs.

“Oh, it was great,” Esquer said of Graham’s performance. “You know what and we needed it. He had a big at-bat there at the end of the Arizona State series and just rolled right into this series.”

In the bottom of the 7th, Max Meier came in to pitch for Dowd, but was replaced by Brandt Pancer with one out after loading up the bases before any runs were scored. O’Hara singled to left field to bring home Lance after which Manzo singled to center field to bring home Dawson Brigman and Steck. Santa Clara did not score any more runs the rest of the inning as it was now a 16-11 game at the end of the inning.

Santa Clara made another pitching change at the top of the 8th as Heinrich was replaced by Caden Wooster. Wooster did not give up any runs, keeping it a 16-11 game entering the bottom of the 8th. In the bottom of the 8th, Santa Clara added one run as Dawson Brigman singled up the middle to bring home Berring with two outs. Pancer then got replaced on the mound by Ryan Bruno, who was able to close out the inning. 16-12 at the end of the 8th.

Santa Clara made another pitching change in the top of the 9th and it didn’t go so well as Nico Stanley came in for Wooster. Park hit a solo shot to open things up for the Cardinal to make it 17-12. Troy then got walked after which Graham doubled to bring home Troy. 18-12. Montgomery then jacked one to right field to make it a 20-12 lead for the Cardinal. Stanford did not score any more runs the rest of the inning, giving the Broncos three outs to score eight runs or more.

Stanford had Montgomery pitch the bottom of the 9th and that did not go well at all. Hipwell homered to centered field after which Lance hit a three-run homer to left field after Montgomery gave up back-to-back walks. It was now a 20-16 game. Trevor Moore then came in for the Cardinal to do some damage control and get them out of the game with the win as Montgomery’s time on the mound was over. With two outs, Moore walked Hipwell with the bases loaded to make it 20-17 as the Broncos had some momentum. But then, Coleman Brigman struck out swinging to end the game. The Cardinal escaped with a 20-17 victory.

“Yeah, I thought he threw the ball well,” Esquer said of Moore. “The ball was coming out of his hand pretty well and he actually got four outs that inning, right? Struck a guy out and the ball got by the catcher. So, that was good. That was good and sometimes you get in those playoffs where you get down there pretty deep in your bullpen.”

“Well you know, I’ve just been waiting my turn,” Moore said. “And I know all my best friends behind me are my teammates and I trusted that and I was ready to go...I’m just putting my stuff over the plate and trusting my team. So, I don’t know if there’s any particular pitch that I was really humming with tonight. But, again trying to get my job done.”

For Stanford, this was quite a victory. While the pitching had a lot of issues, there were some pitchers like Dowd, Bruno, Moore, and Dugan who actually did pretty well given the circumstances. And then the offense itself was phenomenal. Playing in a game like this is always an adventure, but it’s a lot more fun when you are the team that comes out on top.

“Well, we’re up by eight going into the ninth and I knew it wasn’t gonna end up by eight,” Esquer said. “Things were just going; it was too crazy. And then when strike three gets away, you’re like somehow they’re gonna have the tying run to the plate. You just knew it was gonna happen. But you know, just as long as our guys kinda hung in the fight and finished it.”

“Well usually they’re pretty fun,” Graham added of playing in such a high scoring game. “Especially when you’re the team that’s scoring a lot of runs. It’s a little less fun when the other team is, too. But I mean games like that are kinda what you live for. Close games, 9th inning, lot of pressure. You got your guys versus theirs and we came out.”

Going back to Trevor Moore, this is a game that is definitely a step in the right direction for him. He came into the game in a high pressure situation and to his credit, he found a way to bend but not break. This is a game that he can learn a lot from and take a lot of confidence from as well.

“This is certainly a step in the right direction,” Moore said. “This is a big win for me and my team as well. But like I said, I’m here to help my team. I’m here to help my best friends. So yeah, I had a lot of fun tonight.”

As for the other Moore on this team, Malcolm Moore, his catching abilities were really key in helping Stanford close out this game. Trevor Moore had nothing but high praise for the way Malcolm manages things behind the plate.

“He’s amazing behind the plate,” Trevor said of Malcolm. “Absolutely amazing. Having him behind the plate is a confidence booster in itself. I spiked one of those curveballs pretty bad in that at-bat and he totally saved my butt. So, a lot of my work, a lot of my success is a good portion because of him. He’s an amazing catcher.”

As for Santa Clara, this loss is frustrating, but they have to feel good about the way they battled against a top five team. They showed why they are having an improved season from last year. Their bats are excellent and on top of that, they’re also playing on a really nice field that got remodeled during the offseason. Stanford was really impressed with the field and had a lot of fun playing on it.

“Oh, they’ve got a good team,” Esquer said of the Broncos. “They won nine in a row and that wasn’t a fluke. They beat, in baseball you win nine games in a row you’re doing something right and you got some momentum with you. And they believed right until the last batter. So, I give them a lot of credit. They played a great ball game. It was a crazy game because it was so high scoring and the pitching on both sides didn’t really matter all that much, but I give them credit. They’re gonna go to their conference tournament and they got a good chance to do some damage.”

“Oh, this field is awesome,” Graham said. “They did an unbelievable job. Compared to what this field once was, I’d say that this is one of the nicest fields we’ve played on for sure. I think they did a great job; it was definitely a new level of excitement coming out here.”

Up next for Stanford is a three-game home series against Arizona. Game one will be on Friday at 5:35 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and KZSU radio.

“You know what, it comes for us, we’ve gotta worry about how we play, kinda that nameless, faceless opponent,” Esquer said of the Arizona series. “They’re good. They match up well with us to be honest with you. They’re a very offensive team and I think they match up well. So we’re gonna have to play well to win.”

“Just keep playing our game,” Graham added. “I mean, if we, every man plays for each other and up and down the lineup doing what we need to do and get behind our star pitcher like Quinn Mathews, I think we’re gonna have a good start.”

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