On Sunday, No. 14 Stanford Baseball fell to Cal at home by a final score of 6-5 in 10 innings. Cal righty Cole Tremain was the winning pitcher for the Golden Bears in a relief role while Stanford righty Toran O’Harran (1-1) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role. Jarren Advincula and Cade Campbell each had two RBIs for the Golden Bears while Ethan Hott had two RBIs for the Cardinal. Cal improves to 13-10 overall and 5-4 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 15-6 overall and 5-4 in the ACC. Cal wins the series 3-0, getting their first road sweep over Stanford in program history.
BOX SCORE: Cal at Stanford-Sunday, March 23rd
“Yeah, we fought hard,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “Just didn’t have enough to get over the hump and again, they played very inspired, very well and they won that game. They took it from us. You know, that big hit in a big spot right there at the end and we had opportunities to get a big hit, too and just weren’t able to cash it in. You know, fighting ourselves a little bit, just didn’t come out of finals hitting the ground running, just the way it is, you know, we just gotta get through it and reverse it.”
Cal struck first in this game as Cade Campbell homered to left field off Stanford starter Joey Volchko to make it a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning. Stanford then responded in the bottom of the 2nd inning as Ethan Hott hit a two-RBI single off Cal starting pitcher David Shaw. Brandon Larson and Brady Reynolds came home for the Cardinal after both getting walked. That made it a 2-1 lead for Stanford.
“Yeah, yeah, some guys continue to do well and Ethan will get a chance with Charlie being dinged up a little bit with his thumb, little jammed thumb,” Esquer said of Hott. “So, you know, that’s kind of what we’ve done. Next man up and then we need him to play well.”
Stanford added two more runs in the bottom of the 4th inning to lead 4-1 as Trevor Haskins hit a single to right center to bring home Ethan Hott before Jimmy Nati hit a fly out to bring home Tatum Marsh.
Cal then tied the game up 4-4 in the top of the 5th inning with Volchko still pitching for the Cardinal. Carl Schmidt and Jarren Advincula each hit RBI singles for the Bears while a third run was scored courtesy of a fielder’s choice. Aidan Keenan had to finish the inning on the mound for the Cardinal as Volchko’s day was done.
In the 6th inning, both teams traded runs. Cal scored a run with the bases loaded as Advincula got hit by a pitch, making it 5-4. In the bottom of the 6th, Brady Reynolds hit an RBI single up the middle to advance Rintaro Sasaki to second base and bring home Trevor Haskins. That made it a 5-5 game.
In the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, neither team scored. Ty Uber pitched the 7th and 8th innings for Stanford while also getting the first out of the 9th inning while Toran O’Harran pitched the rest of the 9th inning. Stanford had their chances, but they were unable to tack on a 6th run.
As for Cal, they were able to finally break through for a 6th run in the top of the 10th inning as Ethan Kodama hit an RBI single down the left field line off Trevor Moore to bring home PJ Moutzouridis. In the bottom of the 10th, Stanford was unable to respond, making it a 6-5 final score and a series sweep for the Golden Bears.
“Yeah, you know, strength of our team has been the back end of our bullpen,” Esquer said of the pitching. “So, we’re trying to match up pitches with part of their order that we thought matched up well. You know, when some left hand, I thought Toran matches up well with his change up, and then you know, obviously Trevor Moore we thought matched up well with his breaking ball towards the end there in the lineup.”
First off, what a huge weekend for Cal. To sweep a top-15 team on the road is huge. Especially when it’s your rival. While Stanford obviously played below their potential and left a lot to be desired, Cal came to play and made the most of their weekend. They pitched well, they hit well, they played good defense, etc. Just an all-around great weekend for the Bears. It’ll be interesting to see if this propels them to strong second half of the season.
As for Stanford, the is beyond disappointing. I predicted a Stanford sweep, thinking at worst they’d take two out of three. To not get one game in this series is just crazy. Even with Cal playing as well as they did, you gotta at least find a way to win a game in this series and not get swept. The hitting wasn’t there, the pitching for the most part was sub par, and the defense was weak. I don’t know why, but Stanford just didn’t have their head in the game.
At this point all Stanford can do is shake this off and look to bounce back on Monday against San Jose State at Sunken Diamond. Opening pitch will be at 2:05 PM PT on ACCNX. Parker Warner is the projected starting pitcher for the Cardinal.
“I think it helps,” Esquer said of having a Monday game following a tough Sunday loss. “I think, you know, we need to get back to playing free and easy and we’re fighting ourselves a little bit, trying to get back on track. So, I think it’ll help and then we go on the road, play another tough opponent. So, that’s just life in the ACC.”
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