On Saturday, No. 14 Stanford baseball fell to Cal by a final score of 13-4. Cal righty Gavin Eddy (2-1) was the winning pitcher for the Golden Bears in a starting role while Stanford lefty Christian Lim (2-3) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role. Cal designated hitter Ryan Tayman was the top offensive performer for the Golden Bears going 3-5 for one home run and two RBIs. Cal improves to 12-10 overall and 4-4 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 15-5 overall and 5-3 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Cal at Stanford-Saturday, March 22nd
“You know, Cal’s gone wrong for us,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “They swung the bat really well. They put some pressure on us offensively. They really badly mistreated our pitching; our defense didn’t help our pitching much either. So, you know, slipping in the outfield some and then a couple bad plays on defense, mishandling a couple ground balls. That’s not a recipe to beat anybody and Cal’s played very well. Give them credit. Their pitchers for the last two nights have a done a good job mixing pitches, staying in the zone, bend but not break, so they’ve done a good job.”
This one was another rough game for the Cardinal after getting drubbed 13-3 on Friday in a game that ended after seven innings. Cal added four runs in the top of the 2nd inning as Dominic Smaldino had a two-RBI double in the inning as well as scoring the fourth run thanks to a single by Jarren Advincula. And then in the top of the 4th inning, with Lim still pitching for Stanford, the Bears added two more runs thanks to a fielding error. That made it a 6-0 lead for the Bears.
“Well, you know, you just keep trying to find that magic and that rhythm,” Esquer said of Lim’s rough outing. “Some of those times those lefties it’s really something subtle. I think a little bit, it’s when he has that in your face change up where they know what’s coming, he knows he’s throwing it, and they still can’t hit it. He’s just not quite there yet.”
Cal also scored three runs in the top of the 5th thanks to a two-RBI triple from Jacob French as well as fly out from Seth Gwynn to bring home French. That made it nine runs for the Bears.
Cal added two more runs in the top of the 6th inning as Tayman hit a two-run homer and then two more runs were scored by the Bears in the top of the 9th inning to make it 13 runs as Gwynn hit a grounded out to first base to bring home French after which Smaldino hit a solo home run.
Regarding the four runs that Stanford did score, Stanford added a run in the bottom of the 4th with the bases loaded as Charlie Saum came home on a fielder’s choice. Stanford then hit three solo home runs in the bottom of the 5th (Rintaro Sasaki), 7th (Trevor Haskins), and 8th (Jimmy Nati). They actually found the long ball a decent amount, but they did so without any runners on base. It was just one of the days for the Cardinal.
At this point, all that Stanford can do is try to flush this and not let it carry over into Sunday. If they can at least avoid a sweep on Sunday, that would make it so the weekend wasn’t a total loss. Sunday’s game will be at 1:05 PM PT on ACCNX. Stanford righty Joey Volchko (2-0, 6.27 ERA) is the projected starter for the Cardinal. Cal’s starter is TBD.
“The mantra of all your seasons are when you get an opportunity to sweep somebody and if you get down, don’t get swept, right?” Esquer said. “There’s a little desperation there and that’s kind of how your season will turn. You’ll find out that a lot of seasons are made on Sundays based on if you get an opportunity to sweep somebody, you take advantage of that, winning a series. And then if you’re down 0-2, you find a way to dig one out regardless of how you play. Play poorly and win. Doesn’t matter. Just find a way to win.”
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