On Sunday, No.2 Stanford baseball defeated No.20 UCSB 8-4 to advance to the regional final on Sunday night against Texas State. Quinn Mathews (9-1) was the winning pitcher for Stanford in a relief role while Nick Welch (4-4) was the losing pitcher for UCSB in a relief role. Stanford will take on Texas State tonight at 7:00 PM PT in the regional final. If Texas State wins, they’ll win the regional. If Stanford wins, they’ll play Texas State again on Monday night for the regional championship.
“I mean, that’s a West Coast regional baseball right there,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “That’s just a tough win. That ninth inning they were not going to go down without a fight. I don’t know how many foul balls they hit, but they did not make it easy and the story, I’ve been doing this a long time and what Quinn Mathews has given us this year of himself is without equal of something I’ve ever seen from a pitcher on one of my staffs. I mean, from being a starter to allowing us to use him as a hybrid closer and then whatever pitches he has left on the weekend, just try to use those.
“I think he’s probably right in the middle, people didn’t know where to put him, whether a starter or a reliever. He wasn’t All-League, but I mean his numbers are All-American type numbers and so Quinn Mathews is the story. We had to use him as best we could. We said that the game was going to be decided with him on the mound. If we were not to win with him on the mound, I think we would have accepted our fate and tipped our cap to Santa Barbara. But Quinn’s been just so special this year. It’s really incredible.”
The first team to get on the scoreboard was UCSB, who scored in the bottom of the 3rd inning thanks to a two-run homer to left center from Nick Vogt with two outs. Kyle Johnson would then strike out swinging to end the bottom of the inning.
Stanford quickly responded in the top of the 4th inning. Braden Montgomery hit a triple down the right field line after which Kody Huff hit a single through the right side to bring Montgomery home. Drew Bowser then hit a single to left field to advance Huff to second base. Eddie Park then hit a bunt single to load up the bases. Trevor Haskins would then strike out with the bases loaded. In the next at-bat Adam Crampton flied out to right field to bring home Huff. Brock Jones would then foul out to 3rd base to end the top of the inning. It was now a 2-2 game.
In the bottom of the 4th inning, Quinn Mathews came in to pitch for Drew Dowd, who had gotten the start. Mathews would not allow any runs in the bottom of the 4th, though UCSB did get a man on first and third before Mathews got the third and final out of the inning.
In the top of the 5th inning, Stanford would score one run to go up 3-2. Tommy Troy hit a double to right field in the opening at-bat of the inning. With two outs and Troy still on second base, Huff singled up the middle to bring Troy home. Bowser would then strike out looking to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, UCSB responded with two runs of their own. With two outs, Vogt hit a single to short stop after which Johnson hit a two-run homer to right field to bring Vogt home. The Gauchos would not score any more runs in the inning, making it a 4-3 lead for them at the end of the inning.
In the top of the 6th inning, Stanford went right back to work, scoring three runs. Park hit a single to right field in the opening at-bat, making USCB decide to pull their starting pitcher Ryan Gallagher and bring in Welch. Haskins would then single to right field to advance Park to second base. Crampton would then ground out to third base, advancing Park to third base and Haskins to second. Jones would then hit a double down the left field line that was just inches fair. This brought home Haskins and Park. Troy would then ground out to third base, advancing Jones to third. Brett Barrera would then put the ball in play and reach first base on a fielding error, resulting in Jones scoring an unearned run.
“Yeah, he had been struggling, right?” Esquer said of Jones. “He had been struggling and it had been wearing on him a little bit and I think you know, he just wants to do so badly for his teammates and he was trying to just get anything going. He had the lead-off base hit to start the game. But the biggest hit was right that ground ball down the third base line. I don’t know if he’s hit maybe two ground balls left side of the infield all year long, but that’s how much it meant to him. He was gonna just give his left arm to put the ball in play and try to be productive for the team.”
As a result, USCB pulled Welch and brought in Hayden Hattenbach to finish the inning. Hattenbach would get the final out of the inning without giving up more runs. 6-4 Stanford lead entering the bottom of the 6th.
In the bottom of the 6th, Mathews continued to do his job, not giving up any runs. The Gauchos would get a couple guys on base, but they weren’t able to bring anyone home. 6-4 Stanford lead at the end of the 6th inning.
In the top of the 7th inning, Stanford would add one run. Huff would hit a single after which Bowser was walked. UCSB then pulled Hattenbach and brought in Clayton Hall. Park would hit a sacrifice bunt to Hall in the next at-bat, advancing Huff to third and Bowser to second. Haskins then flied out to right field to bring home Huff. Crampton then flied out to center field to end the top of the inning. 7-4 Stanford lead.
In the bottom of the 7th, Mathews made quick work of the UCSB lineup as nobody got on base. One strike out and two fly outs. With two innings to go, Stanford was sitting pretty.
In the top of the 8th, Jones got things going for Stanford with a single up the middle. Troy then hit a single up the middle to advance Jones to third base. Barrera then grounded into a double play which brought Jones home. This made it an 8-4 Stanford lead. Montgomery then struck out swinging to end the top of the inning.
From there, Stanford would hang on for an 8-4 victory. Mathews finished out the game and was able to get it done. Esquer was prepared for the possibility of having to pull Mathews, but he wanted to give him a chance to finish the game since that’s what he really wanted to do.
“I asked him right before the ninth inning, I said are you good?” Esquer said of his decision to let Mathews pitch the final inning. “And he says yes. I said would you tell me if you’re not? And he said no [haha]. And so, when a guy wants to be out there for his team I think you want to give him the best chance possible. We had a couple guys get loose, you know, Pancer and Bruno. If a guy hits a three-run homer and we’re only up one, I think we may have thought to maybe get him [out].”
Up next for Stanford is Sunday night’s game against Texas State. That game will start at 7:00 PM PT in about an hour from now.
Note: Carter Graham did not play in this game, but Esquer said there is a chance he plays tonight against Texas State either has a designated hitter or pinch hitter.
“He’s doing ok,” Esquer said of Graham. “We may have the okay to use him maybe as much as the DH and as little as a bat off the bench. So he’s gonna do some tests and try to do some running and see what extent we can use him. But, it’s different without him, right? That’s a big cog right in the two hole that makes our top of our lineup really tough. But I give it to our team. It’s kinda the next man up and Trevor Haskins came in and did a good job and Tommy Troy went from the seven hole to the two hole and gave us a good day.”
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