On Saturday, No. 8 Stanford baseball fell to Texas at home in game one of their super regional by a final score of 7-5. Ace Whitehead (4-0) was the winning pitcher for the Longhorns in a relief role while Zane Morehouse (7) picked up the save. Matt Scott (5-4) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role.

BOX SCORE: Texas at Stanford-Saturday, June 10th

“Hey, what a ball game,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “I mean, it was a tough way to lose and I’ve been a part of a lot of games on the other end, so every now and then you gotta take a punch yourself and experience one of those.

“Hey, hats off to Texas. They hung in there and came up with the one big hit when it counted. They only got one in that last inning. And hey, Ryan has done a great job for us the whole year. So, we’re willing to go down with our guys and yeah, when it comes right down to it, if they beat our guys, then that’s all we can ask. They played a good ball game and hung in there until the end and came up with really obviously the big hit when it counted. Malcolm did a great job for us with a couple big hits to get us a lead and get us in the 9th, so if you tell me I’m going to have a three-run lead in the 9th inning with my guy on the mound, I would probably take it a hundred out of a hundred and we may even probably win 98 or so of them out of a hundred, but not today.”

Joey Dixon got the start on the mound for the Cardinal and got off to a strong start, only giving up a single to Peyton Powell in the top of the 1st inning. In the bottom of the 1st, Stanford would be the first team to score as Malcolm Moore got walked with the bases loaded with two outs to bring home Tommy Troy. 1-0 lead for the Cardinal at the end of the 1st inning after Drew Bowser flied out to right center.

In the 2nd inning, neither team scored, keeping it a 1-0 lead for Stanford at the end of the inning. The only player to get on base in the inning for either team was Eddie Park, who singled down the right field line.

In the top of the 3rd inning, nobody got on base for Texas, keeping it a 1-0 game entering the middle of the inning. In the bottom of the inning, Braden Montgomery doubled to right center with one out and with two outs, Moore doubled to left center to bring Montgomery home. Bowser then grounded out to Lucas Gordon on the mound to end the inning. 2-0 lead for the Cardinal.

In the 4th inning, nobody got on base for either team, keeping it a 2-0 game. There also wasn’t a pitching change. Dixon remained on the mound for the Cardinal while Gordon remained on the mound for the Longhorns.

In the top of the 5th inning, Texas evened up the game. Porter Brown singled to center field after which Eric Kennedy hit a two-run blast to right field, making it a 2-2 game. Texas did not score any more runs the rest of the inning, but Stanford did make a pitching change to end the top of the inning as Drew Dowd came in to get the final out, ending Dixon’s day on the mound. In the bottom of the 5th, Stanford did not score any runs as only Montgomery got on base by hitting a single to center field. It remained tied at the end of the 5th.

In the top of the 6th inning, Dowd got three straight batters out keeping it a 2-2 game entering the bottom of the inning. Stanford would take the lead again in the bottom of the inning. After Moore was out at first base, Bowser hit a solo shot to left field, making it a 3-2 lead for the Cardinal. Stanford did not score any more runs the rest of the inning, but Texas did make a pitching change to end the inning as Charlie Hurley came in to get the final out.

In the top of the 7th inning, Texas did not score any runs as Dowd kept the Longhorns scoreless. The Longhorns did have runners on first and second base with one out, but Dowd was able to force a fly out and then a ground out to end the top of the inning.

In the bottom of the 7th, Stanford added two more runs. With two outs, Alberto Rios doubled to left field after which Moore homered to center field. 5-2 lead for the Cardinal.

In the 8th inning, neither team scored, though there were some pitching changes on both sides. Bruno came in for Dowd in the top of the 8th to get the final out of the inning while Whitehead came in for Hurley in the bottom of the 8th, pitching the entire inning for the Longhorns.

In the top of the 9th inning, the wheels came off the Cardinal. Kennedy got walked after which Jalin Flores got hit by a pitch. Jack O’Dowd then got walked, loading up the bases with no outs. At this point, Bruno was taken off the mound and replaced by Matt Scott.

“Well, it was [throwing] balls,” Esquer said of what Bruno’s issue was. “I mean, they weren’t swinging. They were going to take and so if that was the plan, they caught him on the right day to just kinda take and take and take until he improved with those strikes and so that was kind of what was his chink today...I did not feel like he was missing by much. But you know, I haven’t seen the tape. Malcolm won’t comment, either on whether he was missing or not. But, that’s the hand we’re dealt.”

The first batter Scott faced was Mitchell Daly, who hit a ball deep into right field and got on base as Eddie Park and Saborn Campbell had a miscommunication, failing to secure the out. As a result, Texas had two runners come home, making it a 5-4 game. If there were angels in the outfield, they did nothing to help Stanford in that sequence.

“I haven’t heard,” Esquer said when asked what led to that breakdown between Park and Campbell. “I saw it out there. It looked like both of them arrived and both were capable of catching it and maybe miscommunication or not having played with each other long enough. But it looked like both of them made some long runs and were at full speed and that was a tough one to drop. But, just things happen.”

The next batter would be Jared Thomas, who grounded out to short stop, advancing Daly to third base and bringing home Jayden Duplantier, who was pinch running for O’Dowd. It was now tied 5-5.

Powell then got walked after which Dylan Campbell got intentionally walked, loading up the bases. After Garret Guillemette struck out swinging, Brown singled to right field, bringing home Powell and Daly. Texas would not score any more runs the rest of the inning, but they now had a 7-5 lead entering the bottom of the 9th.

In the bottom of the 9th, Stanford was not able to score any runs to even up the game or close the gap as Morehouse came in and got the save for the Longhorns. Montgomery, Rios, and Moore each struck out swinging. Dominant stuff from Morehouse in crunch time. 7-5 was the final score.

“For us, it’s just about supporting him,” Esquer said when asked about Bruno’s collapse. “And his teammates were supportive of him. Again you know, hey up and down the lineup we’ve all, guys have made mistakes. We’ve gotta pick each other up and that wasn’t the reason that we lost. We probably, hey if you want to look at the outcome, maybe we could have had a couple more run lead with a couple hits here and there and not been in that spot. But, you know the guy that has the ball in his hand at the end of the game seems to get all the attention and that’s not always fair.”

“You just gotta be a leader,” Moore added about his role in keeping the pitching staff locked in after a tough loss. “I mean, we’re a resilient team and we’re looking to go get’em tomorrow and the next day. I mean, that’s really what’s important is looking ahead and bouncing back and we’ve played with our backs against the wall before in the regional and I mean, we’re just looking to stay together as a team and play for one another.”

For Stanford, this loss really hurts because they had a lead late and blew it. Bruno is normally a bit shaky but finds a way to close out the game. This time, his wild tendencies did the Cardinal in. Scott was placed in a tough situation and given how inconsistent he’s been, it’s no surprise he struggled in that moment.

“Yeah, you know what, it’s hey recover and respond,” Esquer said of his message to the team. “We gotta kinda take this punch and then recover and come out tomorrow and respond and what we can’t do is come out and just feel like Quinn Mathews has gotta win the game by himself tomorrow. We’re gonna have to be present as a team and we’re gonna have a tough game ahead of us because that’s a quality team. Pretty evenly matched and they’re pretty tough minded as you saw.”

As for Texas, this is a huge win. If they wanted any chance to win this super regional, they were going to need to strike first and while Stanford gifted them this win, they still had to go out and take it. They could have given up in the 9th inning, but they kept believing and also did a nice job of trusting their scouting report about Bruno by staying patient, knowing he would give them opportunities.

“Well, I think their confidence just comes from really putting the work in and trusting each other,” Texas head coach David Pierce said of his team. “And when they have success, it just continues to build more confidence. But, we got a lot of baseball to play here. So, we just gotta be thankful that we got game one and be ready to go tomorrow.”

“Yeah, we knew Bruno is a heck of a pitcher, but we knew he’s wild at times,” Kennedy added. “So, we knew we had to be disciplined with him and get him in the zone and luckily we were able to lay off tough pitches there and he gave us a few free passes and then we did a good job of capitalizing on that and then we also talked about just putting pressure on their defense. We felt like we could expose them at times and the discipline and putting pressure on them really played into our favor there in the ninth.”

Up next is game two on Sunday. That will begin at 6:00 PM PT on KZSU radio and presumably one of the ESPN channels.

To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook and Twitter, click here.

To connect with Ben Parker on Facebook and Twitter, click here.

Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com

Join the conversation on CardinalSportsReport.com