On Sunday, No.2 Stanford baseball defeated No.13 Texas State 8-4 to force a Monday night NCAA tournament regional championship game. Had Texas State won, they would have won the regional. With Stanford winning, the regional championship game will now be decided on Monday night as the regional is a double-elimination event. Ty Uber (4-1) was the winning pitcher for Stanford in a starting role while Tony Robie (4-1) was the losing pitcher for Texas State, also in a starting role.
“Yeah, what a game, what a day for us,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “Big shot in the arm to have Carter [Graham] come play game two, obviously. Those two home runs just set the tone for us and Ty Uber was great coming out there with five innings and getting us into the fifth inning and Brand Pancer and Ryan Bruno was electric tonight. So, great win.
“A tough win because that is one heck of a team Texas State has and you never feel safe no matter they have four hits going into the ninth inning and we had a four-run lead. You just never feel safe. So, a great day, a great win. We got a huge test tomorrow and I don’t know who the heck is going to pitch, we’re going to figure out how to get nine innings in there tomorrow and we’re going to have to swing the bats in order to support that.”
Texas State was the first team to strike in this game. In the top of the 1st inning with two outs, Jose Gonzalez hit a home run to center field to make it a 1-0 game. Justin Thompson would then get walked before the top of the inning ended with Wesley Faison striking out.
“Yeah, I think he’s hot,” Esquer said of Gonzalez. “He’s hot, too. He’s tough to pitch to and I appreciate Ty taking the responsibility on that, but the guy’s swinging a hot bat. He’s tough to get out. You may miss down the middle on some guys, but they don’t hit them out all the time. He’s hit a home run to every field so far, right? He went to left, center, and right. So, definitely somebody that we gotta watch out for.”
In the bottom of the 1st inning, Stanford responded quickly. Brock Jones hit a lead-off double to right field after which Carter Graham, who returned to the lineup in the DH spot, homered to left field to bring home Jones. Stanford would not add any more runs the rest of the inning, making it a 2-1 game at the end of the 1st inning.
“Yeah I mean, Esqy’s our fearless leader, so I knew him letting me play that second game, I knew it was meant to be,” Graham said. “So, being able to run into that first one, I wasn’t too surprised, but I was pretty happy to help our team get an early lead.
“Everything’s always worse in the morning. So, woke up pretty tight. The doc and our coaches knew that it was best for me not to play until I got an MRI and make sure that was clear. So, I was able to get one of those in the middle of the first game and that came back good and so that kinda gave me the go ahead to have more confidence in myself and in my body in the second one.”
After both teams went scoreless in the 2nd inning, Texas State tied up the game in the top of the 3rd inning. With two outs, Uber would walk back-to-back batters, resulting in Dalton Shuffield getting on second base while Gonzalez was on first. Thompson then doubled to left field, bringing Shuffield home and advancing Gonzalez to third base. Faison would then ground out to end the top of the inning. This made it a 2-2 game heading into the bottom of the 3rd inning.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Stanford did not score any runs as only Kody Huff got on base by getting walked. One third of the way through the game and it was tied. Both teams had done a nice job of answering the other.
Uber would get three quick outs in the top of the 4th inning after which Stanford started to gain some separation in the bottom of the inning. With Eddie Park on second base and Tommy Troy on third base and two outs, Graham hit his second home run of the game, also to left field. Brett Barrera would fly out to right center to end the inning. 5-2 Stanford lead at the end of the 4th.
In the top of the 5th inning, Texas State would add one run. With two outs, Shuffield homered to left field, making it a 5-3 game. Ben McClain got walked in the previous at-bat and was out at first base as he made a base running error. Had he not gotten out, it would have been a 5-4 game instead. Gonzalez would fly out to right field to end the top of the inning.
Stanford would not score in the bottom of the 5th inning. After Huff got walked with one out, Robie’s day was done as he was replaced on the mound by Matthew Nicholas. After Nicholas struck out Drew Bowser, Troy got walked to advance Huff to second base. This forced another pitching change as Austin Smith came in to get the final out, which he did. Park flied out to center field in the next at-bat.
Texas State would add one run in the top of the 6th inning as Brandt Pancer came in to pitch for Uber. With two outs and two men on base (Wesley Faison on second base and Daylan Pena on first base), Peyton Lewis singled to center field, bringing home Faison and advancing to Pena to second base. Because Faison got on base via a fielding error, it was scored as an unearned run. 5-4 Stanford lead. In the next at-bat, Lewis would be out at second base to end the inning as Cameron Gibbons reached first base via fielder’s choice.
In the bottom of the 6th, Stanford would not score any runs as only Graham got on base via single to center field. With two outs, Barrera would ground out to the Smith on the mound to end the inning.
In the top of the 7th inning, Pancer did his job by not allowing any runs. The only Texas State player who got on base was Gonzalez. Outside of that, it was smooth sailing for Pancer.
In the bottom of the 7th, Stanford would extend their lead. Braden Montgomery grounded out for Stanford in the first at-bat after which Huff singled to left center. With Huff on first base, Bowser hit a two-run homer to center field to bring Huff home. It was now a 7-4 Stanford lead. As a result, Texas State made a pitching change, taking out Smith and bringing in Jonathan Martinez. Troy would then get walked after which Park hit a single to center field to advance Troy to third base. In the next at-bat, Adam Crampton hit a bunt single to bring Troy home and advance Park to second base. Jones and Graham would then fly out to end the inning, making it an 8-4 Stanford lead with only two innings to go.
“You know, we just came up with bigger hits,” Esquer said of the difference in his team’s offense in this game. “We had the same opportunities in game one. We just didn’t get the hit and obviously they out-homered us in game one and we weren’t able to get one on the board and we had three today. Bowser’s home run was big and then Adam Crampton, some of those defensive plays that he makes and then also hits down a safety squeeze bunt to get us a run. I mean, we’re having to find different ways to win.
“We’re not relying just on home runs. But, guys are chipping in and we need everybody. Up and down the line. Everybody. Tommy Troy has had a great regional, but I think you can look up and down the lineup and somebody has done something at some time to help us. Not just relying on one guy. We need that. We’re playing against a heck of a team and it’s not gonna be one guy that’s gonna be able to beat them.”
From there, Stanford would hang on for the win. Pancer walked Faison in the top of the 8th inning in the first at-bat, prompting Esquer to bring in Ryan Bruno. That move paid off as Bruno took Stanford the rest of the way, not giving up any runs. 8-4 would be the final score after Bruno pitched two shutout innings in the 8th and 9th innings.
This is obviously a huge win for Stanford as their season was on the line. It was win or go home and they delivered the goods. What made this win all the more impressive is this was their second win of the day. They defeated UCSB earlier on Sunday and found a way to win this one as well.
While Quinn Mathews was the hero for Stanford in the win over UCSB, Carter Graham was definitely the hero for Stanford in this win over Texas State. Graham had two home runs for five RBIs. He was simply sensational behind the plate and really was a game changer. He sat out the UCSB game but was good enough to play in this one and boy did he come up big.
Looking ahead to Monday’s game, it’ll be interesting to see how the pitching rotation goes for both teams. Both coaches have some decisions to make and are not yet sure how they’ll roll. That definitely adds a little more drama and spice. The season will be on the line for both teams as the winner will advance to a super-regional while the loser will see their season come to an end. Monday’s game will begin at 7:00 PM PT on ESPN2 and KZSU radio. Stanford will be the “home” team.
“Well I think myself and Coach Trout are probably gonna dig pretty deep on figuring who to throw, right?” Esquer said looking ahead to Monday. “It’s gonna be just a great game, but it’s gonna be one that there’s gonna be some unsung heroes, right? There’s gonna be some guys on the mound that are gonna have to come through for both teams that are gonna be maybe not they’ve count on them throughout the year, although I know they want to get that ball to Stivors somehow and that’ll be something we’ll try to avoid at all costs.”
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