On Thursday, #4 Stanford baseball defeated USC 7-1 to win the first game of their three-game weekend series. Stanford senior right-handed pitcher Alex Williams (8-1) pitched another complete game, totaling four strikeouts along with just one earned run. Jaden Agassi (3-2) was the losing pitcher for USC. Stanford improves to 35-14 overall and 19-9 in the Pac-12 while USC falls to 25-26 overall and 8-20 in the Pac-12. This win also is Stanford’s 10th straight win and it moves them into a tie for first place in the Pac-12 with Oregon State.
“Well, I thought we did a great job of not giving them any momentum,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “I thought we pitched great. Alex Williams was outstanding again today and showed why he’s probably the Pac-12 pitcher of the year. I thought we played good defense, so we didn’t allow any momentum any time they did hit the ball and then I thought our offense was pretty relentless tonight. We had a couple big swings by Montgomery and Jones and kind of a well-rounded game and I thought we played really well.”
Stanford was in command of this game from the jump. After Williams held USC scoreless in the top of the 1st inning, giving up just one single, Stanford added two runs in the bottom of the inning. Brock Jones got things going with a lead-off single after which Carter Graham singled to left center, causing Jones to round second base and be out at third base as he wasn’t able to get there in time. After Brett Barrera fouled out for the second out, Braden Montgomery hit a two-run shot over the right center fence to bring home Graham, making it a 2-0 Stanford lead. A lead they would have at the end of the inning as Eddie Park was unable to advance Kody Huff, who was on first base.
After a scoreless 2nd inning from both teams, Stanford added more runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Williams once again held USC scoreless in the top of the 3rd, allowing Stanford to increase their lead. After Graham got on first base courtesy of a throwing error, Barrera hit a double down the left field line to bring home Graham. Montgomery then hit a ground-rule double to right field to bring home Barrera. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs in the bottom of the 3rd, making it a 4-0 lead after three innings of play.
“Honestly I wasn’t feeling my best, but the other team was just swinging at pitches in the zone and I was able to throw a lot of strikes,” Williams said. “Defense was helping me out and they were able to get through the games quick and I threw like less than a hundred pitches, so yeah, just big defensive night and then getting themselves out.
“My best one was my changeup today. It’s usually my best one. Didn’t have the heater, slider was there at times, but I dunno, I just think I was able to throw the changeup in there a lot today.”
USC would not score in the top of the 4th inning, though they came within inches of doing so. Garret Guillemette hit a ball down the left field line and over the fence that was called foul, though USC thought it was fair. Guillemette wasn’t able to respond with a hit and instead grounded out to end the top of the inning. That really seemed to cause a major momentum shift in Stanford’s favor.
“Well, there’s certainly some momentum there, right?” Esquer admitted. “Because that’s one swing two runs and it goes from might have made it a 5-3 game at that point [would have been 4-2] and so you want to stay out of those danger territories with one base runner or one swing can change the game. That was big, but it was foul [smiling].”
In the bottom of the 4th inning, Stanford would add another run. With Brock Jones on first base and Adam Crampton on second base and two outs, Brett Barrera hit a single up the middle to bring home Crampton. Montgomery would then ground out to end the inning. 5-0 Stanford lead. The 4th bottom of the 4th inning was also rough for Guillemette, who plays the catcher position. He went down with an injury behind the plate and did not return for the rest of the game. Ethan Firestone manned the catching duties the rest of the way for the Trojans.
After both teams were scoreless in the 5th inning, USC finally got on the board in the top of the 6th inning. Johnny Olmstead hit a single and then advanced to second base courtesy of a wild pitch during the at-bat of Rhylan Thomas. Thomas would then drive Olmstead home by hitting a single through the right side. That would be the only run USC would score in the inning and ultimately the game, but being down 5-1, they had a little life. For the time being.
And I need to stress “for the time being” because in the bottom of the 6th inning, Brock Jones responded for Stanford with a two-run homer to bring Crampton home, who was walked. That made it a 7-1 game. Right when USC thought they had a chance, Brock Jones was like “Nah.”
“Honestly, I’m kinda just in that zone right now where the ball looks like a beach ball,” Jones said. “I’m kinda just trying to stay with it and just trust the work that we’re putting in as a team and kinda just stick to the approach.”
After Jones hit that homer to make it a 7-1 game, Agassi was done for the day and replaced by Nate Clow on the mound, who would finish the game for the Trojans. As for Stanford, Alex Williams, who was having a very efficient outing would go on to finish the game as well, completing another complete game. He was once again excellent.
“Well, I think he was at 68 pitches going into the 9th, so that’s a pretty low pitch count for him,” Esquer said of the decision to let Williams go for the complete game. “So he had a little bit of rope to go ahead and finish it and he wanted to and he’s feeling good and creating a lot of contact, so we were going to watch him closely because he obviously will be our lead guy going into any tournament.”
“He always dominates,” Jones said of Williams. “Nobody can match his mentality and that’s what I love about him. He always goes out there and competes no matter like you said, whether he’s feeling his best or he has his stuff or he doesn’t. I mean, he always goes out there and throws up a bunch of zeroes and just throws strikes and gets outs.”
For Stanford this is a really nice win to get as it means they take the first game of this three-game series. A loss in this one would have been really bad and to their credit, they won with little drama. At this point, they just gotta keep grinding and find a way to sweep the Trojans this weekend. If they do, they’ll be sitting really pretty for the Pac-12 tournament and beyond.
“There’ve been a lot of individual performances,” Esquer said of the key to their winning streak. “From Alex Williams obviously leading us on Friday night. I think Quinn Mathews and his work in the bullpen, being the closer for us and then picking us up with the innings that he has left over on Sunday. It has just been a huge help for us. So, those two pitchers have just been godsends for us and then our offense has picked up.
“We’ve just been better hitting the fastball as the weather got warmer and average breaking balls aren’t beating us anymore. So, I think we’ve been better there and then we’ve had some of our best players just to continue to incline. Brock Jones is finishing with a flourish and Brett Barrera and Carter Graham have continued to stay hot and freshmen phenom like Braden Montgomery doing what he’s doing.
“Everyone’s chipping in and reminds me of the old years at Stanford when we would win big there would be a different hero every night. That’s kind of one of our mantras is we want to pitch, play defense, and have a different hero every night. And I think we’ve been living up to that lately.”
Up next for Stanford is Friday night’s game against USC. That game will be at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and KZSU radio.
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