On Saturday, #9 Stanford baseball defeated Washington 6-2 to even their weekend road series at 1-1. Drew Dowd (5-0) was the winning pitcher for Stanford while Brandt Pancer (1) was awarded the save. Calvin Kirchoff (2-3) was the losing pitcher for Washington. Stanford improves to 25-13 overall and 12-8 in the Pac-12 while Washington falls to 17-23 overall and 7-16 in the Pac-12.
Stanford got off to a great start in this game as Brock Jones hit a triple in the very first at-bat. In the next at-bat, Carter Graham put the ball in play and advanced to first base thanks to an error while Jones came home. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs in the rest of the inning as Brett Barrera grounded into a double play while Braden Montgomery grounded out to third base. 1-0 Stanford lead. Dowd would make quick work of the Huskies lineup in the bottom of the 1st inning as he secured one pop up and forced a double play to end the inning, giving up only one hit.
After neither team got on base in the 2nd inning, Stanford went back to work in the top of the 3rd inning. Eddie Park singled to right field to get things going. Adam Crampton then flied out to right field after which Jones singled through the left side to advance Park to second base. After Graham popped up to second base, Barrera singled through the right side to bring Park home and advance Jones to third. Montgomery flied out to right field to end the top of the 3rd. 2-0 Stanford lead.
Dowd gave up a lead-off single to Michael Snyder, who advanced to second base on an error, but that was the only offense that Washington generated in the bottom of the 3rd as Dowd shut down the next three batters. Dowd was off to a very strong start.
In the top of the 4th inning, it was more of the same as Stanford found a way to tack on another run. Kody Huff hit a single to lead things off and with two outs and Huff still on first base, Park doubled down the right field line to advance Huff to third. It was at this point that Washington made a pitching change, taking out Kirchoff and bringing in Case Matter. The pitching change didn’t matter as Matter still gave a up a run by walking Crampton to load up the bases and then walking Jones to bring Huff home. Matter would force Graham to fly out in the next at bat, but it was now a 3-0 Stanford lead.
Dowd didn’t give up any hits in the bottom of the 4th or allow anyone to get on base as his stellar afternoon continued. It wasn’t the most dominating of performances from Stanford, but they just kept finding ways to slowly expand their lead and now they were in a good spot. Just needing to hang on to their lead and perhaps add a couple runs for security.
Neither team would score in the 5th inning, though things got a little interesting in the bottom of the 5th as Dowd hit Coby Morales to put him on first base before later giving up a single to Cole Miller to advance Morales to third base. Dowd would eventually get the job done and not give up any runs, but Washington showed more life in that inning than they had in previous innings.
In the top of the 6th inning, Vincent Martinez was walked in the opening at-bat. Drew Bowser then doubled to right field to advance Martinez to third base. Park then singled to second base to advance Bowser to third base and bring home Martinez. After Crampton struck out looking, Jones flied out to right field to bring home Bowser. Park would then steal second base before Graham struck out swinging to end the top of the inning. 5-0 Stanford lead.
In the bottom of the 6th, Washington started to heat up as Cam Clayton homered to left field off Dowd in the very first at-bat. Dowd was then pulled immediately as Ryan Bruno came in to replace him. Bruno didn’t do so well as he walked Johnny Tincher; the first batter he faced. Tincher would then advance to second base after Will Simpson grounded out to third base. Morales then singled to center field to advance Tincher to third. A.J. Guerrero then flied out to left field to bring Tincher home. Bruno would then have to come out before Tommy O’Rourke secured the final out of the inning against his first batter via fielder’s choice. 5-2 Stanford lead.
In the next two innings, neither team would score as Brandt Pancer replaced O’Rourke from the jump in the 7th inning. O’Rourke did his job and that was that. Pancer likewise did his job by preserving a 5-2 Stanford lead going into the 9th inning.
In the top of the 9th inning, Graham grounded out in the first at bat, but then Barrera hit a single to left field to give Stanford a shot at adding another run. At this point, Stu Flesland III was on the mound for Washington, having pitched two thirds of the 8th inning. Joe Lomuscio came in to pinch run for Barrera after which Montgomery singled to right field to advance Lomuscio to third base. Thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Huff, Lomuscio came home while Montgomery advanced to second base. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning, but now Pancer came in with one more run to play with in the bottom of the 9th. 6-2 Stanford lead.
In the end, Pancer would get the save without much drama as he only gave up one single to Snyder. Stanford walked out with a much-needed 6-2 victory, bouncing back from a Friday night outing in which they just were not able to complete the comeback. While this wasn’t a dominating win, it was still a sound victory all the same. Stanford got the hits they needed, Drew Dowd was solid for most of the game and the bullpen collectively did their job. Not a whole to complain about if you are Stanford after this one.
Up next for Stanford is the series finale on Sunday. That game will begin at 1:05 PM PT on Washington Live Stream-2 and KZSU radio.
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