On Monday, No. 8 Stanford baseball defeated Texas A&M 7-1 to win the Palo Alto regional and advance to a Super Regional against Texas in the NCAA Tournament, which they will host. Quinn Mathews (9-4) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role while Nathan Dettmer (1-4) was the losing pitcher for the Aggies in a starting role.
BOX SCORE: Texas A&M at Stanford-Monday, June 5th
“Yeah, what a performance tonight by our pitching staff,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “Just an unbelievable job from Matt Scott and Drew Dowd, Quinn obviously was incredible and then Ryan Bruno to finish and every year when we pieced a few games together Coach Eager and myself, and I feel like he has to be here with us to get a lot of the credit for what we were able to do at the end. We had to do two games in a row where we didn’t know how we were piece together twenty seven outs and he does just a great job of mapping it out and making it happen. I love seeing him in those big games. Just so focused and really just trying to get us 27 outs somehow.
“Saborn Campbell’s here and I thought he set the tone for us. Really getting after the game. When he takes that extra base and makes a double into a triple, we weren’t going to sit back and wait for anything and we had the right guys in there just willing to in the moment, just really kinda give our team the feeling that we’re gonna go after the win. We’re not just gonna hope it happens for us or sit back and take it conservatively. And I thought that was a big play and he’s played great stepping in the lineup over the last couple games and sometimes you put players who maybe haven’t had a great opportunity in big games and they just rise to the occasion. Quinn obviously is one of those and Saborn and Temo Becerra have both done great jobs to help us here right down the stretch.”
Matt Scott got the start on the mound for the Cardinal and had a strong first inning by not allowing anyone to get on base: Hunter Haas grounded out to third base, Jack Moss struck out swinging, and Trevor Werner flied out to right center.
In the bottom of the 1st inning, Nathan Dettmer had a similar start for the Aggies as he too didn’t allow any batters to get on base: Eddie Park grounded out to Dettmer, Tommy Troy struck out looking, and Carter Graham struck out swinging.
In the top of the 2nd inning, things changed as Jace LaViolette hit a solo homer to right field for the Aggies, making it a 1-0 game. The Aggies did not score any more runs the rest of the inning, keeping it at a one run game entering the bottom of the inning.
The first batter for the Cardinal in the bottom of the 2nd inning was Braden Montgomery, who homered to left field to tie the game up 1-1. Nobody else for Stanford got on base the rest of the inning, keeping it tied up at the end of the inning.
In the 3rd and 4th innings, neither team scored, keeping it at a 1-1 game entering the 5th inning. Stanford did make a pitching change in the top of the 4th inning, though as Matt Scott was replaced on the mound by Drew Dowd. Dowd gave up a single to LaViolette, but settled down from there.
After Dowd walked Brett Minnich, Quinn Mathews came in to pitch. There was some question about what Mathews’ status would be going into the game, but pretty early on in the game, Mathews headed to the bullpen, making it clear that we were likely to see him at some point in the night. Mathews immediately forced a double play. After a bunt from Haas and a single from Moss to advance Haas to third base, Mathews struck out Werner, keeping it at a 1-1 game entering the bottom of the 5th.
In the bottom of the 5th, Saborn Campbell tripled down the right field line with one out and was then brought home as Temo Becerra grounded out to second base. It was now a 2-1 game. Stanford would not score any more runs the rest of the inning, keeping it at a 2-1 game at the end of the inning.
“Well first off, he had a lot of sink on his ball, so I just moved up in the box just to erase that sink and just pretty much just hit the ball hard,” Campbell said of his triple. “Like, that was my plan. That was the whole team’s plan. Just find barrels. So I moved up, it was an outside pitch, and I just drove it the other way and just ran. I mean, that’s what I do, so…Oh yeah [I thought it was a triple out of the box]. Once I get going I get going.”
“I did not think it was triple out of the box,” Esquer said with a laugh. “You usually you gotta rattle in that corner a little bit to be a triple on our field, but that’s where the triple is: down the right field line and he didn’t hesitate and he put pressure on them to make a play and it was a great play.”
Mathews held the Aggies scoreless in the top of the 6th inning. With two outs and runners on first and second base, Minnich flied out to left field to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 6th, Stanford added two runs. With one out, Braden Montgomery singled to center field and then stole second base with Alberto Rios at the plate. After Rios struck out swinging, Malcolm Moore went yard to right field, making it a 4-1 lead for the Cardinal. Drew Bowser then grounded out to third base to end the inning.
After Mathews kept the Aggies scoreless in the top of the 7th inning, the Cardinal added one run in the bottom of the inning as Dettmer was replaced on the mound by Shane Sdao. Campbell would hit a single to the pitcher to get things started after which a sacrifice bunt from Becerra advanced him to second base. Park then singled to short stop, advancing Campbell to third base. Troy would then put the ball in play, reaching on a fielder’s choice as Park was out at second base while Campbell scored. Graham would fly out to center field to end the inning. 5-1 lead for the Cardinal.
In the top of the 8th inning, Mathews stayed on the mound for the Cardinal and once again kept the Aggies scoreless. Mathews gave up a single to LaViolette, but aside from that nobody got on base.
“Yeah, it was a pretty straight forward conversation,” Mathews said about what his status was going into the game. “I told them I was pitching. Didn’t really leave it up for option. I didn’t come back this year to have an opportunity like this not be accepted and challenged. For myself, like I said, I came back to win and an opportunity like this, I wasn’t going to pass it up because of, I mean if you want to talk about the draft and future opportunities and stuff like that, that stuff all comes later. I want to play next weekend no matter what and I thought if I can help the team win tonight, give us a chance to play next weekend, then I would do that and like I said if not, I would have regretted it.”
In the bottom of the 8th, Stanford added two more runs. With one out, Rios singled up the middle. With two outs, Bowser singled to right field, advancing Rios to second base. This ended Sdao’s day on the mound as Evan Aschenbeck came in to pitch.
Campbell then singled to third base, bringing home Rios and advancing Bowser to third. Becerra then singled to left field, advancing Campbell to second base and bringing home Bowser. After Becerra stole second base and Campbell stole third, Park flied out to left field to end the inning. 7-1 lead for Stanford.
In the top of the 9th inning, Ryan Bruno came in to pitch for Mathews and finished off the Aggies. Like a great white shark that has found a wounded seal floating in the waters of Monterey Bay, it was easy pickings for Bruno. Sometimes a great white shark will toy with its prey. Make them think that maybe there is a chance only to crush and end their chance for survival. That’s what Bruno did. He walked Minnich and allowed him to advance to second base with two outs after throwing a wild pitch, but then he closed the door with an emphatic strike out as Moss struck out swinging. 7-1 was the final.
For Stanford, this is a huge win. They keep their season alive and they did so in relatively dominant fashion. The pitching staff only gave up one run and the offense pulled away down the stretch. There’s not a lot for them to be unhappy about with this one.
While the hitting has been good all season long, the pitching has been another story. Stanford pitching coach Thomas Eager said they had a plan coming into the game and that for the most part, things went exactly as they hoped it would. That really helped make things a lot easier though if you ask Eager, he won’t sugarcoat things. It was a stressful night making sure it all came together.
“It’s stressful,” Eager admitted. “It’s extremely stressful. And we talked about it actually in our pitchers meeting a little bit and Coach Esquer talked about it. Every game, every time there’s going to be a hero. And yesterday I thought Nick Dugan was our hero in what he was able to do and what he wanted to do and then tonight like I told the guys here, it was all four of these guys that threw. Even Brandt Pancer, who we had up in the second inning, he was hot, right? And not one of these guys questioned what role they were going in and not one of the guys asked like how many innings am I throwing or how many pitches. It was never that. It’s just like hey I’m ready to go and then take me out when you take me out.
“I’ll be honest with you, we actually had this dialed in pretty dang close to what we drew up. We thought about Matt Scott and maybe Brandt Pancer and Drew Dowd. Somewhere in that order, but with certain things. I thought Drew Dowd had a perfect spot coming in facing a lefty to lead off. Didn’t get that guy out, had to work and then with Quinn, he went six pitches over what I wanted him to go to be honest with you and I told him that. 60 was my cap for him, he went 66, but hey, he earned it. There’s no way I would have taken the ball from him. He would have told me to leave the mound and when you have a senior like that, that comes back and that’s the reason why he wants to win. You let them do those things. We had that last year with Alex Williams and we had that the year before with Brendan Beck. I think they’ve set a pretty good standard here and like I said, I appreciate Quinn and everything he’s done and what he stands for, for this program.”
As a result of this win, Stanford has now won 12 straight elimination games at Sunken Diamond. When their backs are against the wall at home, they just know how to win. It’s in their DNA and the huge crowds seem to help them find that extra gear.
“I mean, you live for that moment,” Campbell said of playing in front of a packed crowd. “I mean, obviously once you get on the field and you just play with your guys just back to practice, it’s just normal. Just like an intersquad. But you look up in the stands and you see all those people, it gives you more adrenaline and gives you more pump up and you just get going. So, we love the moment when we win.”
“And kinda building off that, it’s unusual on the West Coast where you sell games out and you got standing room only,” Mathews added. “For us, like the hills are full and stuff like that. So just kinda adds to the atmosphere, adds to the adrenaline factor. I mean, instead of having 2500-3000 of the super diehard Stanford fans, now we’ve got 5500-6000 fans coming out to support us and maybe a little more to boo us, too. Which is awesome at the end of the day.”
Up next for Stanford is their Super Regional against Texas at Sunken Diamond. That will begin on Saturday at 3:00 PM PT on ESPN2. It will be a best-of-three series with the winner advancing to the College World Series.
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