On Saturday, #5 Stanford baseball fell to Cal State Fullerton by a final score of 11-0. Cal State Fullerton senior left-handed pitcher Tyler Stultz picked up the win while Stanford junior left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews picked up the loss. Cal State Fullerton improves to 1-1 on the season while Stanford falls to 1-1.
“Yeah, obviously not panicked about, it hasn’t defined our season yet,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “I thought they played a really good game of baseball. They got 16 hits, they kinda played their game. We really haven’t got our offense going at all for two days. I think our hardest hit contact we’ve had come off the bench there in the last two innings. So, we just have a lot of guys who can’t quite find their game quite yet. You don’t get to just jump out and hit mid-season form and obviously we’re not there. We had to pitch a good game yesterday. We played enough defense the last couple days, we just haven’t offensed real well. And I don’t think we pitched particularly well today. But they just kinda had their way. I thought they played a really good game today.”
Through the first two innings the game was tied 0-0. Neither team was able to get on the scoreboard. However, that trend wouldn’t last long as Fullerton would soon begin an offensive explosion that Stanford wouldn’t be able to respond to.
The explosion would begin in the top of the 3rd inning as the Titans scored three runs. Centerfielder Damone Hale singled, driving in shortstop J.T. Nayvac who got on base via singling to right center. Right fielder Nate Nankil flied out to drive in Hale. Designated hitter Austin Schell drove in 3rd baseman Zach Lew, who got on base via a double down the left field line. Stanford now needed to generate some offense.
Stanford showed a bit of life as left fielder Eddie Park and 2nd baseman Tommy Troy both got on base. However, Stanford would be unable to score as Troy was caught between 2nd and 3rd base after centerfielder Brock Jones singled. 3-0 Fullerton up at the end of the 3rd inning.
Junior right-handed pitcher Max Meier came in for Mathews at the top of the 4th inning and that didn’t go so well as Meier would load up the bases. Lew singled to drive in 2nd baseman Jackson Lyon, making it a 4-0 lead for the Titans. Then, Esquer pulled Meier and brought in sophomore right-handed pitcher Brandt Pancer. That didn’t work either as Pancer gave up a grand slam to 1st baseman Caden Connor. Schell then followed with another homer. Stanford was in a world of hurt, trailing 9-0 after the top of the 4th inning concluded.
In the bottom of the 4th inning, Stanford’s bats remained quiet as they were unable to generate much offense. 1st baseman Carter Graham was able to get a single, but it didn’t yield any fruit.
With Pancer having a terrible 4th inning, it was now junior right-handed pitcher Justin Moore’s turn to come to the mound and he did pretty well, getting three straight outs. It was a solid inning from him. Fullerton took a 9-0 lead into the bottom of the 5th inning.
Entering the bottom of the 6th inning, it was still a 9-0 Fullerton lead. Things hadn’t changed, which was fine for Fullerton and not so fine for Stanford, who desperately needed to get something going.
In the top of the 7th inning, Lyon would double to centerfield, driving in catcher Cole Urman and Austin Schell. With an 11-0 lead at the 7th inning stretch, this game was beyond a blowout. Stanford couldn’t get anything going on offense while Fullerton was out there getting hits and driving in runs like they were playing tee-ball.
Things could have gotten even more out of hand in the 8th inning as sophomore left-handed pitcher Ryan Bruno was now in for the Cardinal to relieve Justin Moore. The bases got loaded under Bruno’s watch, but to his credit, he didn’t give up a run. It was still 11-0 at the bottom of the 8th.
In the bottom of the 8th inning, Stanford’s woes continued. Senior infielder Austin Kretzschmar got walked to get someone on base for the Cardinal, but it was all for naught as senior outfielder Grant Burton lined into a double play to end the inning.
“We are waiting for the other guy to kinda relax us,” Esquer said. “We’re waiting for somebody else to kinda relax the rest of the guys. Whether it’s with a home run or something to give us a little breathing room and kinda spark us. We just haven’t had that yet. But I think we’re gonna do ourselves a disservice if we keep waiting to hit home runs. That’s a big part of our offense is just sometimes they don’t come easy and they haven’t come easy yet.
“I think everybody kinda wants to be that guy. I think that’s been a big part of our offense and identity for the last three or four years. As an offense we’ve hit a lot of home runs and so I think we’re hoping to kinda carry that torch and just haven’t been able to do it yet.”
Stanford would not allow any runs in the top of the ninth, needing to score 11 runs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. Of course, no miracle happened for Stanford as they were once again unable to score, resulting in an 11-0 victory for the Titans.
“We just gotta finish innings,” Esquer said. “I thought we had a chance. Even the inning that got three. It was one pitch out and 0-2 count and then we looked up and he’s in trouble and then it’s a three. So, I just think kinda staying on top of them and keeping the pressure on them. But I think we have our hands full because I think they got their feet on the ground offensively. They did what they do. They popped a couple homers, but I think they had like 15 or 16 singles.”
For Stanford, this is a frustrating loss because this is the second game in a row in which their bats were cold. They never really came close to driving in any runs nor did anyone really come close to hitting a home run. It was a terrible outing offensively. On top of that, Fullerton was going wild on offense getting whatever they wanted.
At this point, all that Stanford can do is put this loss behind them and move on to Sunday’s game, which will decide the series. That game will begin at 1:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream-2 and KZSU radio.
“Maybe move a couple guys around,” Esquer said of a possible lineup shakeup for Sunday. “Hopefully somebody can give us a little spark. We haven’t had much in the first two games. So you’d like to stay with it a little bit to give some guy a little continuity to see what’s happening. But, there’s probably a couple spots we could move around and see if someone gives us a little lightning in a bottle.”
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