On Tuesday, #7 Stanford baseball defeated the San Francisco Dons on the road by a final score of 9-7. Stanford wins the season series, improving to 30-14 overall (15-9 Pac-12) while San Francisco falls to 24-28 overall (11-13 WCC). Max Meier (1-0) was the winning pitcher for Stanford while Quinn Mathews (4) picked up the save. Julian Washburn (0-1) was awarded the loss for San Francisco.
“You know, our guys in the dugout, they're just, they’ve kept a calmness about them and a belief that they could do it, right?” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “It wasn’t hey bad start, giving up some runs, maybe this isn’t our day. They don’t ever go there and so I appreciate them being consistent with their approach that they can come back regardless of the deficit and they did that today. It was a great job.”
In the top of the 1st inning, Stanford was unable to get anyone on base as Brock Jones and Carter Graham both grounded out while Brett Barrera was out at first base. In the bottom of the 1st inning, San Francisco didn’t score, either. But, they came a lot closer to doing so. Luke Keaschall singled to left field in the first at-bat after which Stanford starter Drew Dowd hit Harris Williams III to put him on base. Williams III and Keaschall would steal second and third base respectively and put themselves in position to score even though Kyle Knell ultimately struck out to end the inning.
The top of the 2nd inning was quiet for Stanford as only Kody Huff got on base via a single to left field. As for the bottom of the 2nd, San Francisco built on the momentum they were building in the bottom of the 1st inning by actually scoring a couple of runs. What helped San Francisco was the fact that Dowd basically gave them three free bases. He walked Nick Yovetich and then hit both Christian Stapleton and Jake Campagna to put them on base.
With two outs and those three guys in the same spot, Williams III hit a single to bring home Stapleton and Yovetich to give the Dons a 2-0 lead. It was at this point that Esquer pulled Dowd and brought in Tommy O’Rourke to finish the inning, which he did by forcing Gabe Giosso to fly out to end the inning.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Jones hit a single with two outs and stole second base, finally giving Stanford a bit of life. However, Graham flied out to right center to end the top of the inning as the Cardinal were still scoreless. So far things were not going Stanford’s way.
In the bottom of the 3rd, O’Rourke followed in the footsteps of Dowd by walking three straight batters with no outs. It was at this point that another pitching change came for Stanford as Cody Jensen came in with the bases loaded and no outs. Jensen wouldn’t do any better as he hit the first batter he faced (Stapleton) to bring home Mario Demera. After securing the first out of the inning, Jensen hit another batter (Jake Cosgrove) to bring home Knell. Keaschall would then line out to center field to bring home Yovetich after which Williams III singled to left center to bring home Stapleton. Giosso would then strike out to end the inning as the Dons scored four more runs. It was now a 6-0 San Francisco lead.
In the top of the 4th inning, Stanford finally got what they were looking for: They scored a run. Barrera singled to center field to get things going. After Braden Montgomery popped up to first base for the first out, Huff hit a double to advance Barrera to third base. Drew Bowser then singled to right field to bring home Barrera. That would be the only run Stanford would score in the top of the 4th, but they were at least now on the board. 6-1 game. They also forced a pitching change to end the inning as Weston Lombard was done and replaced by Sam Beck.
In the bottom of the 4th, Max Meier came in to pitch for Jensen and did his job by getting three straight outs, all of which were strikeouts. Very smooth sailing for Meier. He was dialed in from the jump.
“Yeah, Max Meier was great,” Esquer said. “We’ve asked a lot of him; I’ve asked him to drop his arm slot down a little bit to give us a little something different out of the bullpen. And he’s willing to do it and did it and it showed up today and so he and Montgomery and Quinn Mathews at the end were great and so I mean, enough to get us the win which was a big win for us.”
In the top of the 5th, Stanford had an inning for the ages as they put up enough runs to actually take the lead. Jones got things going with a triple after which Graham reached first base on an error to bring Jones home. 6-2 game. Then, Barrera hit a home run to left field to bring Graham home. 6-4 game. After Montgomery struck out swinging, Huff was hit by a pitch to get on first base. Then, Bowser hit a home run to left center to bring Huff home. 6-6 game.
It was at this point, that San Francisco took out Beck and brought in Washburn. Eddie Park then hit a single to second base and advanced to second after Tommy Troy grounded out for the second out. With Park on second base, Adam Crampton hit a home run down the left field line to make it an 8-6 Stanford lead. Jones would then single to right field but would subsequently get caught stealing during Graham’s at bat to end the top of the inning.
“Just kinda staying a little relentless there, right?” Esquer said of the 5th inning explosion. “Had a little crack, got some runs, and just kinda kept going. And you gotta do that, we gotta develop that type of offense. It’s a little relentless and we’ve been that a little bit more lately, which is big.”
“I think just keeping it simple,” Bowser said of what allowed them to score so prolifically. “Of course not trying to hit home runs, just trying to square it up and then of course also Brett and Adam Crampton [hit] home runs as well. And so, big hits. And so I think just trying to keep it simple.
“Especially with our lead-off guys of the inning, just when we get a couple guys going on base. I think, even though they were winning, I think we get momentum back on our side just because they feel it, too. They know we’re a dangerous offense and I think that usually works for us.”
Meier would keep the Dons in check as he secured a fly out and two strikeouts in the bottom of the 5th inning to keep it an 8-6 game. Stanford was unable to score in the top of the 6th inning with Owen Stevenson on the mound for the Dons. Stevenson gave up a single to Graham but got the next three batters out.
In the bottom of the 6th, Stanford went with another pitching change, taking out Meier and bringing in Nathan Fleischli. Fleischli gave up a double to Williams III right away. Williams III would then advance to third base after Giosso grounded out. Thanks to a single from Demera, Williams III came home to make it an 8-7 game. Fleischli would force Knell to ground out for the second out, but Esquer didn’t have enough faith in Fleischli to get the third out as he brought in Montgomery to pitch for that final out. Montgomery did as he was supposed to, forcing Yovetich to pop up to short stop to end the inning.
Stevenson and Montgomery would remain the pitchers in the 7th inning as neither team would score. Both pitchers did their jobs well. This made it an 8-7 Stanford lead going into the 8th inning.
In the top of the 8th, Stevenson would walk Jones after which he’d advance to second base thanks to Graham grounding out. Barrera then singled through the left side to advance Jones to third base. Up next to bat was Montgomery who singled to left field to bring Jones home. That would be the only run Stanford would score in the top of the 8th, but they now had a 9-7 lead to preserve. A little more cushion.
In the bottom of the 8th, Montgomery got all three batters he faced out with no trouble: A fly out, a ground out, and a strikeout. After some shaky outings on the mound in previous games, he was lights out in this game and Stanford really needed it from him.
“Yeah, two, a couple good innings,” Esquer said of Montgomery’s performance on the mound. “And we need pieces there at the end, so there’s a couple guys that will get hot for us at the end of the season and that’ll be big for us.”
After Stanford was unable to score in the top of the 9th, it all came down to this: Quinn Mathews coming in to get the save and preserve a 9-7 lead. Mathews would walk Demera, the first batter he faced to give San Francisco some hope. Then, Knell struck out. The next batter Yovetich singled to left center to advance Demera to second base. Stapleton would then fly out to center field for the second out. Rather than getting the third out right away, Mathews walked Zach Griffin before forcing Brandon Griem to pop up to end the game.
“Yeah, he’s just been consistently good no matter when we put him on the mound,” Esquer said of Mathews. “And so he’s our, arguably him and Williams are our best two pitchers. So to be able to have our one of our best guys at the end of the game, we’ll take winning or losing with them on the mound.”
“I mean, it’s definitely a little bit of a change,” Mathews said of adjusting to the closer role. “I would say full-time reliever role now, full-time closer role, whatever you wanna call it, throwing my third time in five days for the first time this year, I mean, I dunno. Nothing really changes. Maybe try to be a little more intense early just because I tend to start a little slow.
“So now you know that leeway isn’t really there, you know, going into a zero-zero game, now it’s like a nine seven game in the ninth and every base runner matters. Every pitch matters, every swing matters. So, I mean for me, it’s just trying to start a little bit faster than I would say I normally do. So maybe hyping myself up a little bit more, but I mean, nothing really changes. I was just trying to go out there and execute pitches.
“Honestly, unfortunately nothing was really working for me today. It was just sort of a grind. Had to really kinda go into the bag there to try to make some pitches, get some outs, I mean, Huff framed up a really nice pitch for that strike out that I didn’t know if I was gonna get or not. I mean, their lineup just put up pretty composed at-bats, pretty patient, trying to see pitches, working deep into counts. Not really helping me out with any free swings. So, I mean it’s a good baseball team, we’ve already played them once this year, so playing them a second time, it’s a good team over there. So you know, always a tough challenge.”
For Stanford, this is a big win. San Francisco played them tough on The Farm and played them tough again in The City. I predicted a 9-6 Stanford win and while I didn’t see Stanford getting down 6-0, this one went about as I thought it would go. Their bats delivered the goods while San Francisco put up a very valiant effort.
“They make you play a good game of baseball, right?” Esquer said of the Dons. “They throw enough strikes, they threw more strikes than we did today, but they throw enough strikes, they’re gonna make you make contact, you’re gonna have a good solid approach and you’re gonna have to play a good game of baseball to beat them and we were able to do that today. So, it was a quality win. Make no mistake about that.
“We talk about that we’re gonna have to be good on the road, right? You never know what’s gonna happen post-season and if we get those opportunities. The tournament is on the road, post-season may be on the road, you’re gonna have to develop that you can bring your game on the road no matter where you play. Different conditions, different fields, we gotta be able to do that.”
The pitching admittedly wasn’t a bright spot as whole for Stanford, but there were pitchers who came up big for them: Meier, Montgomery, and Mathews. All three of those guys were fantastic on the mound and did a great job of keeping the Dons bogged down until the bats came alive.
“I think just that we’ve done it before,” Bowser said of the key to making the comeback. “Multiple times this season and last season. So even when we go down, we’re still really confident even happened just this past weekend against Cal. So we’re just confident in what we can do.”
As for San Francisco, this loss definitely stings because they had an early lead and weren’t able to put Stanford away. At some point, losing becomes a pattern and it doesn’t matter how close you get. Their record speaks for itself and they have to do some serious soul searching on what they need to do to not just hang with tough teams, but actually beat them. The talent does appear to be there. It’s just a matter of maximizing the talent that they do have and finishing the job.
Up next for Stanford is a road trip to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Utes. Game one will be on Friday at 5:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Insider and KZSU radio.
“Four straight wins is always a good thing,” Mathews said looking ahead to the Utes. “I don’t know if it’s more than that as we speak, but obviously four in a row that I can think of. And you know, going in with a little bit of momentum into Utah who’s extremely good, they got a really good Friday night guy, a lineup that can really swing it, especially at their ballpark, a little bit of elevation, so it’ll be a good challenge going back on the road and playing a good Utah team and hopefully keep the train rolling.”
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