On Saturday, #4 Stanford baseball defeated USC 12-5 to win the Pac-12 regular season championship and complete their weekend home sweep of the Trojans. Drew Dowd (6-0) was the winning pitcher for Stanford while Quinn Mathews (5) was awarded the save in another relief appearance. Charlie Hurley (6-2) was the losing pitcher for USC. Stanford finishes the regular season with a 37-14 overall record and a 21-9 Pac-12 record while USC finishes with a 25-28 overall record and an 8-22 Pac-12 record.
In the top of the 1st inning, USC got off to a strong start, scoring three runs off Ty Uber, who was the starter on the mound for the Cardinal. Trevor Halsema hit a three-run homer to right center to bring home Rhylan Thomas and Nick Lopez who both hit singles. It would be a 3-0 USC lead after the top of the inning was over.
Realizing they were in an early hole, Stanford did what they’ve done all year when faced with these situations: They put up runs. In the bottom of the inning, Brock Jones got walked after which Carter Graham got hit by a pitch to advance Jones to second base. After Brett Barrera grounded out, Jones advanced to third base while Graham advanced to second. Braden Montgomery then got intentionally walked. In the next at-bat, Kody Huff doubled down the left field line to bring both Graham and Jones home while advancing Montgomery to third base. Drew Bowser would ground out to short stop to bring home Montgomery and tie the game up.
Huff would then advance to third base courtesy of a wild pitch from Hurley. This allowed Tommy Troy to bring Huff home with a single to short stop. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning, but they now had a 4-3 lead.
After Stanford and USC went scoreless in the 2nd and 3rd innings, things came alive in the 4th inning for one team. And that team would be Stanford. One of the things that helped Stanford calm down USC’s bats in the 2nd and 3rd innings was the decision to pull Uber off the mound and bring in Dowd. Dowd did a great job in relief, not allowing USC’s hitters to find a rhythm.
After holding USC scoreless in the top of the 4th with Dowd on the mound, Stanford went off for six runs in the bottom of the 4th. Huff and Bowser both got walked to get on first and second base. Troy then hit a single to left field to load up the bases with no outs. Eddie Park would then bring home Huff on a fielder’s choice as Troy was out at second base. Adam Crampton then got hit by a pitch to get on first base and advance Park to second base. With Bowser on third base, the bases were now loaded. It was at this point that Hurley got pulled off the mound and replaced by Carson Lambert.
With the bases loaded, Lambert hit Jones to bring home Bowser. Then, Graham hit a grand slam to left center to bring home Jones, Crampton, and Park. After Barrera hit a single, Montgomery lined into a double play to end the bottom of the inning. 10-3 Stanford lead at the end of the 4th inning.
Neither team would score in the 5th inning, though it should be noted that Quinn Mathews came in to pitch in the 5th inning with one out, setting up the save opportunity that he would later complete. In the bottom of the 6th, Stanford added one run courtesy of a solo homer to right field from Jones. 11-3 Stanford lead.
In the top of the 7th, USC added a pair of runs thanks to a double from Johnny Olmstead to bring home Carson Wells and another double from Thomas to bring home Olmstead. 11-5 Stanford lead at the 7th inning stretch.
In the bottom of the 7th, Stanford added one more run as Jones hit a single to bring home Bowser who was on third base while Crampton was on first base. That would be the final run scored in the game. Stanford led 12-5 at the end of the 7th inning and from there, nobody else was able to score. Stanford would not score in the bottom of the 8th inning and USC would not score in the top of the 8th or 9th innings. 12-5 Stanford win was the final score.
For Stanford this win is big. They clinch the Pac-12 title and thus the top seed in next week’s Pac-12 tournament. On top of that, they also get another home sweep. Their bats are on fire, the pitching is starting to settle in, and just all in all, they’re playing their best baseball of the season and it’s happening at the right time.
“Yeah, I think we’re finally at a spot where we’re playing our game,” Jones said on Thursday. “It doesn’t matter who the opponent is or what it is. We’re gonna go out there, we’re gonna have fun, we’re gonna compete, and we’re just trusting the work that we’re doing. We’re playing defense, pitching well, and offense is working. So all cylinders are going right now.”
Up next for Stanford is the Pac-12 tournament, which begins next week in Scottsdale, Arizona. Arizona State will be Stanford’s opening opponent on Wednesday on Pac-12 Networks. It’ll be interesting to see how Stanford does and just in general, how the tournament goes. This will be the first Pac-12 baseball tournament, creating a lot of excitement and unknowns.
“I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” Jones said of the Pac-12 tournament. “But I really think nothing changes. Just take it day-to-day, game-by-game, pitch-by-pitch, and kinda just do what we’re doing and kinda just stay with it.”
“It’s gonna be a really competitive tournament,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said. “And I think even teams that are just gonna make it are gonna be really dangerous, right? And it’s a different format, double elimination, you gotta be able to make it throughout one week and if you get into that loser’s bracket, I think anything can happen and so, it’s gonna be pretty exciting.
“And plus we’re all playing in the same type of atmosphere, right? In Arizona, the game’s faster, so sometimes it plays better to some teams than others and you got teams coming from turf, you got teams coming from California out to Arizona where the ball goes faster and further, so it’ll be interesting.”
Across the diamond: Stanford softball defeated #8/7 Alabama 6-0 to win their second game in the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional, where Alabama was hosting. They’ll play in the finals on Sunday at 11:00 AM PT.
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