On Saturday, #23 Stanford baseball defeated #13 UCLA 11-0 in the third and series-deciding game of their weekend series at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Stanford junior left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews (6-1, 2.15 ERA) picked up the win, pitching 7.0 innings for eight strikeouts and four hits. UCLA freshman left-handed pitcher Gage Jump (1-1, 4.32 ERA) was awarded the loss. Stanford improves to 20-11 overall and 11-7 in the Pac-12 while UCLA falls to 24-11 overall and 9-6 in the Pac-12.
The first two innings of the game were pretty quiet as neither team was able to score. It was looking like it might be a pitcher’s duel early on. Not much progress was made offensively by either team.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Stanford broke the silence by getting on the board. After Drew Bowser lined out to 3rd base, Eddie Park reached first base on a throwing error. Adam Crampton would then fly out to right field for the second out. Brock Jones would then get walked, advancing Park to second base. Carter Graham would then come to the plate and hit a single to bring home Park and advance Jones to third base. Brett Barrera would strike out swinging to end the top of the inning, but Stanford now had a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the 3rd inning, it was more silence from UCLA. Outside of Cody Schrier hitting a single, nobody else on UCLA was able to get on base. The 4th inning would be pretty quiet as well as nobody from Stanford got on base while only Kyle Karros was able to get on base for UCLA by getting walked.
In the top of the 5th inning, Stanford would extend their lead. Bowser hit a single to short stop to get things going after which he would advance to second base thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Park. Bowser would then advance to third base courtesy of a wild pitch. In the next at-bat, Jones would hit a two-run home run to make it a 3-0 lead for the Cardinal. That would be the only runs Stanford would score in the inning, though they almost added more as Graham hit a double and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Barrera was unable to bring him home to extend the lead even more.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, UCLA had a chance to get on the board and trim Stanford’s lead. Ethan Gourson hit a single through the right side and advanced to third base after a double from Darius Perry. JonJon Vaughns then put the ball in play to advance to first base on a fielder’s choice as Gourson was out at home plate while Perry advanced to third base. Schrier would then ground out to first base while Vaughns advanced to second base while Perry stayed at third. Perry had a chance to come home but elected to stay put. After Jake Palmer was walked to load up the bases, Daylen Reyes struck out swinging to end the bottom of the inning. UCLA blew a golden opportunity.
In the top of the 6th inning, Stanford’s offense went bananas, erupting for five runs. UCLA made a pitching change in the top of the inning that didn’t exactly pay off, taking out Jump and bringing in Jake Saum. After Braden Montgomery popped up to second base for the first out, Saum would hit back-to-back batters sending Kody Huff and Vincent Martinez to first and second base. It was at this point that UCLA made another pitching change, bringing in Kelly Austin. In the next at-bat with Austin on the mound and Bowser at the plate, a rather bizarre sequence happened in which Huff stole third. When attempting to get Huff out, UCLA’s catcher threw the ball off the bat of Bowser who wasn’t trying to interfere or anything, causing the ball to ricochet off the bat and to the right of the first base line, causing Huff to score and Martinez to advance to third base. Resuming his at-bat, Bowser then hit a two-run home run to bring Martinez home. 6-0 Stanford lead.
Park would then get walked and after Crampton flied out to right field, Park would steal second base and advance to third base during Jones’ at-bat. With Park on third base, Jones hit a two-run shot to make it an 8-0 Stanford lead. After Jones hit his second two-run homer of the game, UCLA was scrambling for answers on the mound, pulling Austin and bringing in Charles Harrison. Harrison was an absolute disaster on the mound for UCLA as Graham hit a single before advancing to second base on a wild pitch and third base on a passed ball while Barrera was at bat. Recognizing that Harrison was pitching like he was on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, UCLA made another pitching change, this time bringing in Daniel Colwell, who would get the out needed to end the inning as Graham was out at home.
In the bottom of the 6th inning, Mathews continued his dominance as he got two easy ground outs and a strike out. So far all things were going Stanford’s way both from a hitting and pitching perspective. Just all-around dominance.
In the top of the 7th inning, Stanford did more damage to the scoreboard. After Montgomery grounded out, Huff reached first base thanks to a throwing error from third base. After Martinez hit a single through the left side, Huff advanced to second base. Thanks to a double from Bowser down the left field line, both Martinez and Huff scored. 10-0 Stanford lead. Bowser would then advance to third base thanks to Park grounding out to short stop. With Bowser on third and two outs, Crampton singled to right field to bring home Bowser. 11-0 Stanford lead. Graham would then get walked, forcing another pitching change as Colwell was done. Luke Jewett came in and got the out needed as Barrera reached first base via fielder’s choice as Graham was out at second base to end the top of the inning.
Mathews would pitch the bottom of the 7th inning for Stanford, getting a line out, a fly out, and a strike out. He was having a fantastic day on the mound. UCLA had no way to respond to him.
In the end, Stanford would walk out with an 11-0 victory. Jewett would pitch the final two innings for UCLA and to his credit did not give up any runs. As for Stanford, Brandt Pancer came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th and 9th innings and he too didn’t give up any runs. So the game finished as it started with two scoreless innings.
For Stanford, this is a huge win. Their bats really came alive and the pitching was fantastic. They are now tied with Arizona just half a game back of first place in the Pac-12 behind Oregon and Oregon State. Stanford is looking like the team that everyone thought they would be at the start of the season.
Up next for Stanford is a road game at Cal Poly on Tuesday. That game will begin at 6:00 PM PT.
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