On Friday, #7 Stanford baseball defeated Utah 5-0 in the first game of a three-game series in Salt Lake City. Alex Williams (7-1) was the winning pitcher for Stanford pitching 8.0 innings while giving up three hits and zero earned runs. Matthew Sox (4-4) was the losing pitcher for Utah, pitching 6.0 innings for three earned runs. Stanford improves to 31-14 overall and 16-9 in the Pac-12 while Utah falls to 25-22-1 overall and 10-15 in the Pac-12.
In the 1st inning, neither team was able to score as both starting pitchers got into a nice groove early on. Carter Graham was able to hit a single for Stanford in the top of the inning while Landon Frei hit a double to right center for Utah in the bottom of the inning. But aside from that, neither team was able to generate much offense.
In the top of the 2nd inning, Stanford would strike courtesy of a solo home run from Kody Huff to left field. It was the first at-bat of the inning. Eddie Park (single up the middle) would be the only other Stanford batter to get a hit the rest of the inning, but Stanford at least was now on the board with a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, it was pretty smooth sailing for Stanford. Williams secured a fly out for the first out and after Alex Baeza hit a single to left center, Williams quickly forced a double play with Davis Cop at the plate.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Stanford had a repeat of the 2nd inning. This time with Brock Jones hitting a solo home run to right center. Stanford would get two more guys on base as Brett Barrera was walked and Huff hit a single to the left side to advance Barrera to second base, but Drew Bowser would strike out to end the top of the inning. 2-0 Stanford lead.
After a scoreless 4th inning from both teams in which nobody got on base, Stanford added another run in the top of the 5th inning. With two outs, Barrera got hit by a pitch after which Braden Montgomery hit a double to right center, advancing Barrera to third base. Huff then reached first base on a throwing error as Montgomery advanced to third base while Barrera came home. After Huff stole second base, Bowser flied out to right field to end the top of the inning. 3-0 Stanford lead.
In the 6th inning, neither team scored. In the top of the 6th, Sox struck out all three Stanford batters he faced. In the bottom of the 6th, Williams didn’t allow any Utah batter to get on base for three quick outs securing one foul out to first base and two fly outs, one to right field and one to left field.
In the top of the 7th inning, Jones hit a solo homer for Stanford to left field after which Graham hit a single to left center. It was at this point that Sox was done for the day, getting replaced on the mound by Bryson Van Sickle. Van Sickle would do his job, not allowing any more runs the rest of the inning. Graham was out at second base on a fielder’s choice as Barrera reached first base for the first out. Montgomery struck out for the second out. After Huff hit a double to advance Barrera to third base, Bowser struck out swinging to end the top of the inning. 4-0 Stanford lead.
In the bottom of the 7th, Utah once again failed to score. After walking Frei and giving up a single to Chase Anderson to advance Frei to second base, Williams secured three straight outs, forcing a ground out followed by back-to-back strikeouts.
In the top of the 8th inning, with Van Sickle still on the mound, Park got things going with a single up the middle. Tommy Troy would advance Park to second base by way of a sacrifice bunt. Adam Crampton then flied out to right field to bring home Park. Jones would subsequently strike out to end the top of the inning 5-0 Stanford lead.
In the bottom of the 8th, Williams got three quick outs: Two ground outs and one fly out. He was still in the zone.
In the top of the 9th inning, Bransen Kuehl came in to pitch for Van Sickle. Kuehl did his job as he didn’t give up any runs. After Graham reached first base on a fielding error, Barrera grounded into a double play for two outs. In the next at-bat, Montgomery flied out to left field to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 9th, the big question was whether or not Williams would go for the complete game shutout. Stanford head coach David Esquer decided Williams’ day was done as Brandt Pancer came in to replace him on the mound. Pancer gave up two quick singles with no outs, forcing Esquer to bring in Quinn Mathews, who has been converted to the role of closer.
Mathews would secure a fly out for the first out, advancing Kai Roberts, who was on second base, to third base while Frei remained on first base. Mathews would then walk TJ Clarkson to load up the bases with one out. Things were getting a little dicey now for Stanford. However, Jayden Kiernan would hit into a double play to end the game, making it a 5-0 Stanford victory.
For Stanford, this is a really nice win to get. Especially with Williams on the mound. Every time he goes out to pitch, they should feel like it’s their game to lose. He was once again fantastic and while the bats didn’t explode as much they would have liked, they did a nice job of hitting home runs and taking advantage of the altitude in that way. Overall a good night for the Cardinal.
Up next for Stanford is Saturday’s game. That will begin at 1:00 PM PT on Utah Live Stream and KZSU radio.
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