On Saturday, No. 18 Stanford baseball defeated Duke by a final score of 11-1 as the game ended after the 8th inning. Stanford lefty Christian Lim (2-2) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role while Duke lefty Andrew Healy (1-2) was the losing pitcher for the Blue Devils in a starting role. Stanford improves to 14-3 overall and 4-1 in the ACC while Duke falls to 12-8 overall and 2-3 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Duke at Stanford-Saturday, March 15th
“It wasn’t easy,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “But you know, we kept adding on there and I thought we got some big hits and you know, Christian Lim was probably struggling through some of the early innings, but not giving up. Bending, but not breaking. I thought we gave him a little cushion there where he could pitch relaxed. I think he found himself towards the end of the game to the last two innings were the best two innings. So, that was good for us.”
Neither team scored in the 1st inning, though both starting pitchers hit a batter to put a runner on base. Outside of that, nobody else got on base, keeping it a 0-0 game at the end of the 1st inning.
In the top of the 2nd inning, Jake Hyde hit a single for Duke after which Andrew Yu got hit by a pitch to advance Hyde to second base. AJ Gracia then grounded into a double play, advancing Hyde to third base. Macon Winslow then got walked after which Kyle Johnson flied out to right field to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Stanford added four runs to go up 4-0. Jimmy Nati hit a home run to left center to get the party started after which Brady Reynolds got hit by a pitch. Temo Becerra would then ground out to advance Reynolds to second base. Charlie Bates then singled to advance Reynolds to third base. With Tatum Marsh at the plate, Bates stole second base, but it didn’t matter as Marsh got hit by a pitch to load up the bases. Trevor Haskins then hit a two-RBI single up the middle advancing Marsh to third base and bringing home Bates and Reynolds.
With Brandon Larson at the plate, Haskins was out at second base being caught stealing while Marsh scored thanks to a throwing error from short stop. After that, Larson struck out looking to end the inning. Stanford now had all the momentum thanks to their four run flurry.
Duke’s lone run would come in the top of the 3rd inning as Tyler Albright flied out to left center to bring home Wallace Clark who was on third base after getting on first thanks to a single. That made it a 4-1 game. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Stanford did not score, keeping it at 4-1.
From there, Stanford would pull away as their bats really came alive. In the bottom of the 4th, Tatum Marsh hit a two-run shot to left center to bring home Charlie Bates. That made it 6-1.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, Rintaro Sasaki hit his first career home run, hitting a mammoth shot over the right field fence. His teammates greeted him with enthusiasm when he came back to the dugout after rounding the bases. Later on in the inning, Brady Reynolds hit a solo homer down the right field line. That made it 8-1.
In the bottom of the 8th inning, Rintaro Sasaki hit his second home run to right center, bringing home Brett Blair and Trevor Haskins. That made it an 11-1 victory for Stanford as the game ended via mercy rule. Sasaki’s teammates greeted him at home plate with high fives and hugs.
“Yeah, you could tell, even after he hit the first one, then he went back and got his hitter’s hit, which is in the left center field, that had gone away for a little bit,” Esquer said of Sasaki’s home runs. “And then now he was looking for a ball out over the plate. So, pretty exciting. Maybe even more exciting is our team’s reaction. They really are a pretty close group, but they really have embraced him and really want to see him succeed.
“For us, we’re just encouraging him and he’s playing fine. He’s doing great and we knew that he is pressing a little bit, that’s what he’s known for, driving the ball out of the park. But he’s been so productive for us as a hitter and playing good defense at first. But you worry a little bit that he was just pressing to get that first one. So glad it happened for him and it made the second one a lot easier.”
“I don’t like talking about me,” Sasaki said with humility. “First, as a team, the team is winning so good. We got two wins against Duke. We’re just going to keep going for tomorrow. About me, it was a nice day. The first home run was a fastball. The second home run, I think the same. Fastball, I think. Inside fastball.”
“Kind of a funny story, the inside joke around the team was we would call him Ichiro, because he hadn’t hit a home run or anything, he would just like slap singles around,” Lim said of Sasaki with a laugh. “But he finally got two [home runs] today, so we can’t call him that anymore. But it’s electric. It’s always awesome to see a guy go yard, but especially Rintaro. Especially since we’re four weeks in, five weeks in, and now he finally gets his first one. It’s really exciting to see.”
For Stanford, this was a great win. They now have a 2-0 series lead over Duke, which means they win the series. Now it’s just a matter of them seeing if they can get the sweep on Sunday. Of course, the big story was Rintaro Sasaki hitting his first career home runs. There has been a lot of hype around the freshman from Japan and his ability to hit home runs. To see him go yard twice is huge because now he can relax more and not try to force things too much. It also gives the Cardinal a weapon that they’ve been waiting to have.
On the pitching side, Christian Lim was fantastic, pitching 6.0 innings and only giving up one run and four hits while striking out two innings. And then in the 7th and 8th innings, righty Ryan Speshyock took over and did a nice job to close out the game, striking out a pair of batters and only giving up one hit. Just an all-around good win for the Cardinal.
“I think he’s just struggling to find his command, you know, I think a little bit, he’s got a little bit better arsenal, but just how do you use that?” Esquer said of Lim. “Last year, you know, may have thrown not as hard, but he was able to make the ball work for him. His change up, you know, he had an in your face change up. He could have told the hitter it was coming. It was difficult to hit. I think it’s just been a little bit in-between , maybe maxing out on some fast balls and maybe being a little bit too fine with his off speed. When he breaks down the hitter and creates contact, that’s when he’s at his best and then sometimes the strikeouts just kind of come naturally.”
“I mean, me personally, I wouldn’t really say I found my command, but it’s just been better than what it has been weeks past,” Lim said of his performance. “I was kind of searching for some internal cues that would help me repeat my delivery a little better and make my pitches more effective and I think today I was able to find it and that’s what really helped me find the success I did.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game on Sunday against Duke at 1:05 PM PT on ACCNX. Righty Joey Volchko (2-0, 4.91 ERA) is the projected starter for the Cardinal.
“It’s Volchko, right?” Esquer said looking ahead to Sunday. “Volchko had a great outing for us and obviously just want him to be consistent and back up a great outing with another good outing and hopefully we can come back and support him with some offense. Our defense has been good. I think Charlie Bates has run down some balls in center field that, makes them look easy, but they’re not easy and then we turned a couple double plays today and the one that we turned was a pretty difficult one. Jimmy had to run a long distance to get to the bag and turn it and so we’ve been playing good defense and again the pitching has been good, too.”
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