On Sunday, #9 Stanford baseball defeated Oregon State 5-4 to complete a three game weekend home sweep over the Beavers. Stanford junior left-handed pitcher Drew Dowd (2-1) was awarded the win in a relief role while junior right-handed pitcher Brandt Pancer picked up his first save of the season. Jaren Hunter was the losing pitcher for the Beavers in a starting role. Stanford improves to 13-5 overall and 4-2 in the Pac-12 while Oregon State falls to 12-8 overall and 1-5 in the Pac-12.
BOX SCORE: Oregon State at Stanford-Sunday, March 19th
“Hey, what a great win,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “That was a high level win against a good team that was playing desperate to win and really proud of our guys because it didn’t come easy. We had a couple opportunities there, hitting into a couple double plays, and they weren’t willing to give in and just kinda give in that it was gonna be a rough day for us and we’ll take the series and move on. They played to win, so I’m proud of our guys.”
Joey Dixon got the start on the mound for the Cardinal and got off to a strong start by getting the first three batters he faced out with little trouble. Micah McDowell flied out to center field, Travis Bazzana flied out to right center, and Mason Guerra struck out swinging.
In the bottom of the 1st inning, Eddie Park hit a lead-off single to short stop and was advanced to second base after Tommy Troy grounded out to second base. However, Carter Graham struck out swinging after which Braden Montgomery flied out to left field. Park was left stranded on second base.
In the top of the 2nd inning, Garret Forrester singled up the middle to give the Beavers some life after which Ruben Cedillo struck out looking. Mikey Kane would then ground into a double play as he hit the ball to short stop, ending the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Malcolm Moore grounded out to second base after which Alberto Rios struck out swinging. Jimmy Nati then flied out to center field. Still a 0-0 game at the end of the 2nd inning.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Oregon State had little luck as Brady Kasper struck out swinging, Tanner Smith struck out looking, and Kyle Dernedde grounded out to short stop. In the bottom of the 3rd, Stanford didn’t score, but had a bit more life. After Trevor Haskins grounded out to second base, Owen Cobb got hit by a pitch and then stole second while Park was at bat. Park then got walked while Cobb stole third base. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, Troy then grounded into a double play to end the inning. It remained a scoreless affair after three innings.
In the top of the 4th inning, Oregon State finally hit pay dirt as Forrester hit a two-run shot to left center to bring home Bazzana. Bazzana was walked with one out and then stole second base with two outs. Cedillo then grounded out to Dixon to end the top of the inning. 2-0 lead for the Beavers.
In the bottom of the 4th, Stanford’s offense remained stagnant as Graham and Montgomery both grounded out after which Moore lined out to second base. Still a 2-0 game at the end of the inning.
In the top of the 5th inning, Oregon State added two more runs. Kane got walked and was advanced to third base after Kasper hit a double down the right field line. Smith then grounded out to short stop to advance Kasper to third base and bring home Kane. After Dernedde struck out looking, Kasper scored on a wild pitch by Dixon. McDowell then grounded out to end the top of the inning. 4-0 lead for the Beavers.
In the bottom of the 5th, Stanford finally got on the board. After Rios struck out swinging, Nati singled to right field after which Haskins got hit by a pitch to advance Nati to second base. Cobb then singled to right field to load up the bases. With the bases loaded, Park then singled to right field to advance all runners one base, bringing Nati home. At this point, Aiden Jimenez came in to pitch for Hunter. Troy then grounded out into a double play to end the inning. 4-1 lead for Oregon State.
In the top of the 6th inning, Dowd came in to pitch for Dixon and got three straight outs as Bazzana and Guerra struck out swinging while Forrester grounded out to first base. In the bottom of the 6th, Graham grounded out to short stop, Montgomery was out at first base, and Moore struck out looking. It remained a 4-1 game entering the 7th inning.
“I think he did well,” Esquer said of Dixon. “Probably not the, obviously four runs, he’s probably not completely happy, but it’s a couple pitches. It’s probably just a couple pitches here and there as a couple walks, just a mislocated fastball in. But the first four innings were really strong and I thought more positive to come away from than anything else.”
In the top of the 7th, Dowd made quick work of the Oregon State batters again as Cedillo struck out swinging, Kane flied out to right field, and pinch hitter Gavin Turley grounded out to short stop.
After the 7th inning stretch, Stanford’s offense went to work. Rios got hit by a pitch to lead things off after which Nati singled through the left side to advance Rios to second base. Then, Jake Sapien, who was pinch-hitting for Haskins, was walked to load up the bases.
With the bases loaded, Cobb hit an infield fly to first base for the first out. Park then singled to center field to bring home Rios and advance all other runners one base. 4-2 was now the score. Then, after Troy lined out to third base, Graham hit a clutch double to left center to bring home all remaining runners on base, making it a 5-4 lead for the Cardinal. Montgomery would then be out at first base to end the inning. While the Cardinal would have liked to have added more runs, they at least had a one run lead at the end of the 7th inning.
“So, obviously Tommy right before me squared a ball up and third baseman made a good play, so my one goal was to pick him up and help score a couple runs for the team,” Graham said of his game-winning hit. “Been seeing the ball well, first pitch slider and squared it up, hit into the gap and that was it.
“[I’m] just kinda relaxing. Relaxing, yeah. Remembering who I am, how I play, and just learning to kinda do that every day. Yeah, so coming back at the start it was hard for me, but I mean, through time and through good conversations with our coaches and stuff, it’s kinda starting to feel like myself again.”
“Well, and there’s somebody who’s working his way back from an early season struggle,” Esquer said of Graham. “And to come up big like that, I mean that’s just, the guy’s been an important part of our offense and regardless of how his season has started, he’s ready to go and have that big at bat and I think this is his best weekend and I hope it kick starts him the rest of the way.
“He’s been working hard with Coach Rodriguez in the cage just to iron out a couple things and then when you start off and you struggle a little bit, you just press a little bit and then things kinda go haywire some. I think he’s just got those things ironed out in the cages and gets back to relaxing and being a piece of the offense, not trying to have to be all of the offense.”
From there, Stanford would go on to win 5-4. Dowd got three straight batters out in the top of the 8th inning while Pancer came in to close the 9th inning, getting three straight batters out as well. The game was as close as it can get, but if you’re Stanford, you’ll take it. Especially since it clinched a sweep.
“I think it’s really been the guys around me,” Pancer said of the key to his success this year. “I mean it’s easy to say, but a lot of those guys, the work they’ve put in, and just the situations they put me in. It’s put me in for success and along with Eager. Just putting me in situations he knows I’ll be successful and those guys have just done an awesome job of everybody keeping each other up. Keeping each other in the right head space whether it’s after a bad outing, good outing, so it’s really been the guys around me that have kept me in a great spot mentally and physically.
“[Today] I just came in pumping strikes. I knew after Drew Dowd throwing three innings perfect, he looked amazing, I knew they would be on their heels, I knew I could just fill up the zone and attack with my stuff and I would get the job done and that’s exactly how it went.”
“Yeah, so I mean, our pitchers pitched their ass off this week,” Graham added. “I mean, just today, between Brandt, Dowd, and Joey Dixon, them giving us a chance to come back and win a game like that, I think that’s been the biggest difference for us. So when we have those guys shoving and those guys can rely on our offense to kinda play a little more comfortable, we’re not on defense as long, and then we kinda pick them up and they pick us up.”
For Oregon State, this loss is a major bummer. They were hoping to at least avoid a sweep and they failed to do so. They’re a good team and know they were capable of at least getting a game off the Cardinal in this series. Had they not given up that double to Graham, they likely would have won this one.
“I think those guys have played us tough ever since I’ve been here for three years,” Pancer said of the Beavers. “I mean, they’re a great team, great program, and I could definitely hear them chirping me a little bit. In the last inning I knew they were on their heels a little bit, but they had that little, had to get a little energy going, see if they could push us a back a little bit and as we were kinda holding the door down, see if we could keep them back, but yeah, I think it’s just always competitive with them, but we played amazing all this weekend and I felt it was pretty overmatched for us against them this weekend.”
“The whole series kinda felt like our first playoff series in terms of playing an opponent like Oregon State who, not to take anything away from anybody we’ve previously played, but a national championship winning program like them, you kinda elevate your game,” Graham added. “And the atmosphere elevated. It means a lot to everybody. So, it felt great to get that win.”
As for Stanford, this is a huge win. They get the sweep and did so after losing two out of three at USC. Carter Graham came up big in crunch time, Brandt Pancer got the save, and Drew Dowd was effective in his mid-relief role. The pitching is starting to settle in and that’s making a huge difference. Everyone is starting to figure out their role and get comfortable with what that role is. That’s clearly helping the entire pitching staff out.
“We’re getting better,” Esquer said of the bullpen. “I knew all along we were going to have to grow into it a little bit. And sometimes there’s some bumps in the road and some bruises we’re gonna take, but as long as we just consistently get better and our offense can buy us a little bit of time, we’re gonna end up where we wanna be.”
“Yeah, I think it’s, like you said, it’s been tough this year, but I think we’re slowly moving in the right direction, which is good," Pancer added. "Getting into this Pac-12. The heart of Pac-12 and we’re starting to move in the right direction. So, having a game like this just boosts confidence for all of our guys and knows that just everyone can be in the right spot at the right time and we’ll do our thing and we’ll come out with wins like these.”
Up next for Stanford is a three game home series against Utah. That will begin on Saturday at 2:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio.
“What I like about that is that’s what our program has represented for the last four or five years,” Esquer said of coming from behind to secure the sweep. “We’re never out of it and we can win games like that and hey you don’t wanna turn the page to a new team and have them not know how to do that. So, showing that they’ve kinda taken that baton on staying in every game and having a couple games they can pull out late, that’s what we’ve done for the last four or five years.”
“I think that’s just been the story for us all my time here, all three years I’ve been here,” Graham chimed in. “We’ve been a team that no matter how much we’re down or how late in the game it is, we’re never out and we take pride in that. So, even though we were down 4-0, I don’t think there was any panic and we just knew we were going to keep going.”
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