On Tuesday, #5 Stanford defeated Santa Clara 5-0. Stanford freshman right-handed pitcher Ty Uber picked up the win in his first career start, giving up zero runs and just two hits. Santa Clara senior right-handed pitcher Alex Reelfs picked up the loss, giving up two earned runs. Stanford improves to 3-1 overall while Santa Clara falls to 1-3.
“I thought it was a good win,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “We left a few more runs on the table, there. But the offense isn’t really coming easy to us yet. But, our pitching and defense has been there. And that’s what’s going to be the foundation of this team. We’ll play with anybody if we can pitch and play good defense and give ourselves a chance. The offense, it can come and go and right now it’s just not coming to us easy. And some guys aren’t getting off to the best start ever. That’s fine. We’ve got an offense there. We‘ve just gotta bring it along slowly.”
From the jump, Stanford’s offense had some life. After allowing just one walk in the top of the 1st inning, Stanford got off to a strong start in the bottom of the 1st inning. 2nd baseman Tommy Troy got a single up the middle and then stole second base when center fielder Brock Jones was at bat. Jones would get walked and then while catcher Kody Huff was at bat, both Troy and Jones would pick up a steal with Troy stealing third and Jones stealing second. With two runners in scoring position, Stanford had a chance to get an early lead. However, Huff would strike out and 3rd baseman Drew Bowser grounded out to end the inning. Left fielder Eddie Park, who was hitting lead off grounded out to open the inning and was the first out.
The 2nd inning was pretty uneventful for both teams. Santa Clara got three quick outs when they were at bat: A pair of strikeouts for 1st baseman Eammon Lance and 2nd baseman Dawson Brigman and a pop up to second base by designated hitter Efrain Manzo. As for Stanford, 1st baseman Carter Graham flied out to left center, right fielder Braden Montgomery grounded out to second base, and short stop Adam Crampton grounded out to third base. It should be noted that designated hitter Brett Barrera got on base via an error, but Stanford wasn’t able to capitalize.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Santa Clara left fielder JonJon Berring hit a bunt to third base to get on first base but got caught stealing second. He was the only Bronco to get on base.
“Really it was just throwing strikes,” Uber said of the key to his success. “I just attacked the hitters from pitch one and my stuff played against them. Usually, I was throwing strikes with my fastball and my slider today and so, when you can keep the hitter guessing, you’re pretty good. So, if I can keep’em guessing, that’s all I’m really trying to do up there.”
In the bottom of the 3rd, Stanford showed more signs of life, but still no cigar. Park singled and was able to advance to third base thanks to Jones getting walked and Huff flying out to right field, but Graham was unable to drive him in.
“Usually earlier in the games, we’ve been a little slow at the bats, which is totally fine,” Uber said. “And as a staff, it’s our job to give our offense the best chance to win. And so I have complete faith in our guys and so when I’m out there all I’m trying to do is give up as little runs as possible, as little hits as possible, and our guys will come through as they did today.”
In the top of the 4th inning, Santa Clara 3rd baseman Matt Jew hit a single, but that was it. Their bats remained cold. As for Stanford, in the bottom of the 4th, this is where they finally broke through. The bases would get loaded for Jones as Barrera, Crampton, and Park all got on base. Barrera with a hit and the other two getting walked.
Santa Clara made a pitching change, bringing in junior left-handed pitcher Nick Sando after Barrera and Crampton got on base. That move didn’t do much good as Sando walked Park before giving up a hit to Jones, which drove in all the guys who were on base. This made it a 3-0 lead for Stanford, a lead they would take into the top of the 5th inning after Huff struck out to end the inning.
“If you watch and pay attention to how they’re pitching to him, they’re pitching to him like he’s Barry Bonds, right?” Esquer said of Jones. “No one’s throwing him a fastball and they’d rather walk him and let the next guy, which is if you see in our lineup right now, Huff and Bowser aren’t going that great. Brock has, how many walks does he have this year? Probably eight walks and three strikeouts. Three or four strikeouts. So he’s two-to-one strikeouts to walks. Which is a good ratio. They’re just pitching him tough and they’re not giving him much. Now, if he can flip the script and the tough pitches they’re throwing, he starts hitting them and putting them in play with runners in scoring position, now they got real problems. So to see him get a big double with the bases loaded where they had to pitch to him and then come back with a triple later in the game. I think the more relaxed he gets and more comfortable in those spots, the better for us.”
“It’s definitely a little bit different than last year,” Jones said of how he’s being pitched to this season. “A lot of times, people didn’t really know that they could just throw in curve balls or whatever and I wouldn’t swing early or whatever it is. It’s definitely different. You have to be pretty mature and be able to take your walks, be able to take your hits wherever they are because you don’t always have to hit a home run, you don’t always have to hit a double, but just being able to get on base and do what you can to score.”
In the top of the 5th inning, Esquer made a switch at pitcher, bringing in sophomore right-handed pitcher Joey Dixon for Ty Uber. The move worked well as Dixon got three quick outs: A double play plus a ground out.
“Well, you know, especially early in the season and those are the guys that we are going to go to coming this weekend,” Esquer said of the keeping the pitching rotation fresh. “It was a tight enough ball game. We hadn’t created enough distance there. Leaving runners at second and third and bases loaded in different innings. And I think we left another runner at second. If we widen the gap a little bit, probably use some different personnel.”
In the bottom of the 5th inning, Stanford added two more runs to make it a 5-0 lead. Bowser got on base via an error and advanced to second. It looked like a double, but Santa Clara bobbled the ball, hence the error. Montgomery would then get a single up the middle and advance to second after the throw, driving in Bowser. Crampton would then drive in Montgomery off a single up the middle. Park striking out would end the inning.
With a 5-0 lead entering the top of the 6th inning, it was just a matter of Stanford hanging on and not allowing Santa Clara to have any life. Aside from Berring getting hit by a pitch, Santa Clara’s offense didn’t generate anything in the top of the 6th, paving the way for Stanford to add even more runs on the scoreboard. Stanford wouldn’t capitalize as Troy, Jones, and Bowser all struck out.
In the top of the 7th inning, right-handed pitcher Cody Jensen came in for Dixon. Santa Clara’s hitters had no luck against Jensen as it was two ground outs plus a fly out. As for the bottom of the 7th, Stanford got off to a promising start as Graham singled through the left side while Montgomery got hit by a pitch, putting two men on base. That would be the end of it though as Barrera fouled out to 1st base, Crampton struck out looking, and Park grounded out.
The 7th inning was all Jensen would pitch as left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews came in at the top of the 8th. Mathews did great as he got three consecutive strikeouts, mowing down the Broncos’ hitters.
“And sometimes a guy just needs to be out there more,” Esquer said of Mathews’ performance. “And when you’re a once a week pitcher, sometimes that’s not enough because you only get out there and tested once a week to see if you’re finding it a little bit. So, we’ve been thinking about giving him a few more outings and getting him a little bit more looks as he may pitch better, the more often we pitch him. So, we’ll see. I know we’re still planning on starting him this weekend. But, down the line, the more he pitches, the better he may get.”
In the bottom of the 8th inning, Jones got a triple with one out following Troy striking out. Once again, it looked like Stanford might extend their lead. But it was not to be as Huff struck out and Bowser lined out to right field.
“I saw that it kicked off the fence,” Jones said of the triple. “Pretty much all the way up until the way the ball gets behind you. That’s when I use the base coach to send me or to stop me. So I kinda knew I was gonna go three as soon as I saw that it kicked off the fence and it was a little bit deeper than I thought. But then I just kinda look at Steve and Steve take care of the rest and I just get there.”
In the top of the 9th inning, the Broncos had one final chance to make the comeback, but they came up short, failing to even get one man on base. Montgomery came in to pitch in a non-save situation and he delivered the goods. First was a strikeout, then a fly out to Huff, and then another strikeout. Ball game. 5-0 Cardinal victory.
“He is probably one of the most electric people I’ve ever been on a baseball field with,” Jones said of Montgomery. “I mean just again, is naturally gifted, and works hard and is a good team guy. I mean he can hit homers from both sides of the plate and he can throw a hundred miles an hour. So, it doesn’t get much better than that and I think he’s going to be really good for us for sure.”
For Stanford, this game went about as I thought it would, though I did think Santa Clara would score at least a couple of runs. Stanford didn’t have the offensive outburst they had on Sunday, but they got enough hitting to win comfortably and at the end of the day, that’s all they needed.
“It’s definitely big,” Jones said of winning a couple games in a row. “We’re going to grow into our offense, no problem. We have a very dynamic offense as we will see here this weekend. We just got to put all the pieces together. We’re working really hard and we’re really close and I think this weekend we’ll show it.”
For Brock Jones, it was nice for him to get rolling after having a quiet weekend. His three RBIs really made the difference. If he hadn’t had the night he had, this one would have gotten a lot more interesting.
“It was definitely time,” Jones said of coming alive. “Spent a lot of time out here yesterday. Just getting some work in and working through some mechanics and stuff. We found something small in the swing that was gonna be an easy adjustment and seeing that come alive tonight was awesome and just kind of confidence booster going into this weekend.
“Offense is very contagious. It’s one of those things where you can kinda fall into a lull, but all you need is one little spark, we call it lightning in a bottle, to get things rolling again and as soon as that is, it’s contagious, and that’s momentum and momentum is fragile and we take care of that.”
As for Ty Uber, picking up a win in his first career-start as a freshman is huge for his confidence. And he did so without having much run support. It wasn’t until after he was done pitching that Stanford’s offense came alive. He had to be patient and just give Santa Clara his best stuff and it paid off in the end.
“I thought he got better as the innings went on,” Esquer said of Uber. “I thought early on, he was a little, not shaky, but just off. Even his first outing versus Fullerton although they didn’t get much. And I thought he started the same way, but I thought he started getting more rhythm. I thought his pitches were more precise by the third and fourth inning here, which is what we’ve seen in practice and how we’ve seen him compete beforehand.”
“So I’m coming in the Tuesday role and usually for a lot of teams, it’s kind of more of a lax day, but I’m choosing to really embrace that role,” Uber said. “And just try to win every Tuesday possible and so it feels really great to just get the first one out of the way.”
This win was also nice because Stanford has a tough road trip coming up this weekend at the Karbach Round Rock Classic in Round Rock, Texas. They’ll face Louisiana, #4 Arkansas, and Indiana. To enter that road trip with some momentum is huge. Especially since their hitting has now started to find a bit of a groove.
“Yeah, we got three quality opponents, so we’re going to learn a lot about ourselves,” Esquer said of the upcoming trip. “We’re going to play three good ball clubs. I think the weather is going to be similar to tonight. I think it’s going to be pretty cool and they changed some times on us. The games are a little bit earlier than we would like and that’ll test our resolve a little bit, too because it’ll be pretty early West Coast time even though it’s like 11:00 in Round Rock.”
On that note, Stanford’s next game will be on Friday against Louisiana at 10:00 AM PT in the Round Rock Classic. All three games this weekend will air on FloBaseball.
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