On Tuesday, #9 Stanford baseball fell to Sacramento State at home by a final score of 15-13. Sacramento State freshman right-handed pitcher Benjy Tucker (1-0) was the winning pitcher for the Hornets in a relief role while senior right-handed pitcher Jack Zalasky (8) was awarded the save. Stanford sophomore right-handed pitcher/outfielder Braden Montgomery (1-2) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role. Sacramento State improves to 19-18 overall while Stanford falls to 23-11.
BOX SCORE: Sacramento State at Stanford, April 18th
“Ah, just poor performance by us,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “All the way around. That was a team effort. The losing was the team effort, right? I mean, it was a little bit of pitching a little bit of defense. Even though we did offense some. Not enough. Not enough. There’s a couple of opportunities we had there as well. Hey, they did a good job. They got off a bus and traveled for a couple hours and they took it to us pretty good. So, we didn’t look as prepared for them as we should be and that’s on me.”
Sacramento State got off to a hot start in this game. In the top of the 1st inning with two outs, Jeffery Heard hit a double to right center to bring home Martin Vincelli-Simard and Wehiwa Aloy who were on second and third base. Sacramento State wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning, leading 2-0 entering the bottom of the 1st.
In the bottom of the 1st, Stanford added one run. After Carter Graham grounded into a double play with Eddie Park on base, Tommy Troy hit a solo home run to left center. Montgomery then grounded out to short stop to end the inning. It was now a 2-1 game.
In the top of the 2nd inning, the wheels came off for Stanford. Montgomery loaded up the bases with one out and then gave up a single to Aloy, making it a 3-1 game. At this point, Montgomery’s day was done on the mound as Ty Uber came in to replace him. Uber then hit Vincelli-Simard with the bases loaded, making it a 4-1 game. Then, JP Smith hit a grand salami to left field, making it an 8-1 game. Heard then followed that up with a solo blast to right field. It was now a 9-1 lead for the Hornets. Sacramento State would not score any more runs the rest of the inning.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Stanford did not score at all. The only player who got on base was Alberto Rios, who was walked with two outs.
In the top of the 3rd inning, the Hornets added four more runs. Josh Rolling got things rolling with a double to left center after which Jacob Cortez was walked. Then, Jorge Bojorquez was walked, loading up the bases. This ended Uber’s day on the mound as Toran O’Harran came in to pitch. With O’Harran on the mound, Rolling then scored on a passed ball while Bojorquez advanced to second base and Cortez advanced to third. Aloy then got walked. The bases were loaded again.
Up next to the plate would be Vincelli-Simard, who singled to left field. This brought home Cortez and Bojorquez while advancing Aloy to second base. Smith then singled to right center, bringing home Aloy and advancing Vincelli-Simard to second base. Sacramento State would not score any more runs the rest of the inning, making it a 13-1 lead for them entering the bottom of the 3rd.
“Big hole,” Esquer said of getting down by 12 runs. “Big hole. I thought at least it was able to test our will a little bit. And we showed a little will to get back into the game and get it close and just not enough. Eventually you got the game to their better pitchers who they count on weekends, so getting down by that much makes it that much tougher.”
In the bottom of the 3rd, Stanford added one run as Troy hit a single to center field to bring home Park who was on second base. Troy later stole second base after which Montgomery got walked. Malcolm Moore then got walked, loading up the bases with two outs. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, Drew Bowser then grounded out to short stop to end the bottom of the inning. This made it a 13-2 game at the end of the 3rd.
In the top of the 4th, Sacramento State added two more runs. Cortez singled to right center and then advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Bojorquez then was walked. Aloy then struck out swinging after which Vincelli-Simard struck out looking. Smith then reached on an error that occurred in right field, bringing home Bojorquez and Cortez. Smith then advanced to third base on a wild pitch before Heard lined out to right center to end the top of the inning. 15-2 lead for the Hornets.
Stanford would go on to lose the game 15-13, not quite able to complete the comeback. Those two runs in the 4th ended up looming very large in the end. To Stanford’s credit, they didn’t give up and made it a game all the way until the very end.
In the bottom of the 4th, Eddie Park doubled down the left field line to bring home Owen Cobb and Alberto Rios. Montgomery later doubled to left center to bring home Troy and Park. Stanford would not score any more runs the rest of the inning, making it a 15-6 game.
In the bottom of the 5th, Stanford scored four more runs. Owen Cobb singled to center field to bring home Alberto Rios and advance Saborn Campbell to second base. Graham then hit a homer to left field to bring home Cobb and Campbell. It was now a 15-10 game.
In the bottom of the 6th, Trevor Haskins homered to left field to make it a 15-11 game. And then in the bottom of the 7th, Graham hit a two run blast to left field to bring home Park. This made it a 15-13 game.
In the final two innings, Stanford was not able tie up the game or take the lead. 15-13 would be the final score.
“A lot of teachable moments for sure,” Esquer said. “And hey, sometimes with a big deficit there’s some guys that without the pressure of having to do it in close games, maybe they can find their game a little bit. Maybe Carter Graham relaxed down and found his stroke in just trying to just have good at-bats versus feeling pressed to try to have an influence on a close tight game.”
Pitching wise, Max Meier pitched the top of the 5th and 6th innings as well as getting the first two outs of the 7th inning before Brandt Pancer came in to secure the final out of the 7th as well as pitch the top of the 8th. Ryan Bruno then pitched the top of the 9th. These Tuesday games have been tough for them due to the pitching situation, but they still don’t want to use that as an excuse.
“Well, probably a difference from many other years, we’ve had an established Tuesday starter many other years,” Esquer said. “Brendan Beck was a Tuesday starter. He pitched Tuesdays and Alex Williams pitched on Tuesday. It was his game to go run with and win. We’ve been bullpenning it a little bit. Maybe trying to work some guys in there who can help us on the weekend. It just hasn’t come together, but I think some guys actually are getting better in the bullpen. The Drew Dowds of the world and Toran wasn’t good today, but he had shown to be better. Max Meier’s had a couple good outings and Pancer and Bruno are bullpen pieces. Hey, I think we made things way tougher on a couple pitchers with some poor defense.”
For Stanford, this is a disappointing loss. Esquer spoke to the team for a while afterwards, really trying to send a message that they are capable of so much more.
“Well, we’re not the team we want to be yet,” Esquer said. “Not yet. So, in order to beat the teams we want to beat to go to where we want to go, we’ve got a little bit more of a hill to climb to get there to try to be that team that can walk in a stadium and almost feel like we can’t be beat. We’re not there yet. Someone plays good against us, the breaks go the other way, it leaves it up to chance. And that’s not the type of team you want to be.”
At this point, all that Stanford can do is put this behind them and look ahead to a really important home series against Washington. That will begin on Friday at 6:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio.
“Well, we’re heading right into the teeth of the, there’s no breathers,” Esquer said. “It’s gonna be a battle every weekend for the next five weekends, which will determine our fate for the year and Washington is much improved and Jason Kelly is a really tough pitch caller and good pitching coach and he’s gonna have them ready to go. They’re gonna be motivated to win and be as motivated as Sac State is to beat us. We don’t get any breathers on any weekend. So, we’re going to have to figure out how to be at our best to beat some of these teams.”
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