On Saturday, #11 Stanford baseball came back from an 0-7 deficit to beat rival Cal by a final score of 8-7. Quinn Mathews (7-1) was the winning pitcher for Stanford while Josh White (1-6) was awarded the loss for Cal. Stanford improves to 28-14 overall and 14-9 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 22-24 overall and 11-15 in the Pac-12.
Cal did most of their damage in the top of the 1st inning, where they scored six of their seven runs. After Nathan Martorella grounded out in the first at-bat, Dylan Beavers doubled to right center. Hance Smith then hit a single up the middle to bring Beavers home. 1-0 Cal lead. Caleb Lomavita then singled to center field to advance Smith to second base. Keshawn Ogans then doubled down the right field line to bring both Smith and Lomavita home. 3-0 Cal lead.
Dom Souto then got walked, putting him on first base. During Rodney Green, Jr.’s at-bat, Stanford starting pitcher Drew Dowd threw a ball passed Kody Huff, advancing Ogans to third base and Souto to second base. Green would then get hit by a pitch to load up the bases. It was at this point that Stanford head coach David Esquer decided to pull Dowd and put in Joey Dixon.
Dixon would secure the second out as Souto was out at second base while Jag Burden advanced to first base via fielder’s choice. It looked like maybe Dixon would be able to stop the bleeding. However, Ogans would then score on an error by Dixon as he wasn’t able to catch a routine throw from Huff. 4-0 game. Then, Cole Elvis hit a double down the left field line to bring home Burden and Green. 6-0 game. Martorella would ground out in the next at-bat to end the top of the 1st inning, but with Dowd done for the day and down by six runs, Stanford was not in a good spot at all.
After neither team scored in the 2nd inning, Cal went back to work in the top of the 3rd inning to make it a 7-0 lead. With Green on first base and Ogans on third base with one out, Burden hit a sacrifice bunt to bring Ogans home for the second out. Elvis then struck out looking to end the top of the inning. Stanford would not score in the bottom of the 3rd. With the game one-third of the way through, Stanford now trailed by seven runs. It was looking like this was going to be Cal’s day.
Things started to tilt the other direction in the 4th inning. After Dixon was able to keep Cal quiet in the top of the inning, Stanford finally scored in the bottom of the inning. Brett Barrera hit a single to left field with one out to get the first hit of the game for Stanford. After Braden Montgomery struck out swinging, Huff homered to left center to bring Barrera home. Vincent Martinez would then strike out swinging to end the inning, but Stanford was at least now on the board. It was a 7-2 game.
Dixon would do his job again in the top of the 5th inning as Cal did not score. Dixon did hit Ogans, but quickly made up for it by forcing a double play for two quick outs. Burden lined out to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 5th, Stanford continued to make their comeback. Eddie Park would get on first base courtesy of an error. After Tommy Troy lined out to left field, Park would then advance to second base on a wild pitch. Adam Crampton would then get walked while Park advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Thanks to another wild pitch from Cal starter Joseph King, Crampton would advance to second base while Park stayed on third. Brock Jones then got walked to load up the bases.
At this point, it looked like Stanford was going to explode for multiple runs and really close the gap. In the next at-bat, Carter Graham would reach first base on an error, bringing Park home. 7-3 game. Unfortunately for Stanford, Barrera would ground into a double play in the next at-bat to end the inning, squandering a golden opportunity to gain serious ground. But at least they tacked on one run.
In the top of the 6th inning, Cal wouldn’t score any runs as Dixon got the first out of the inning while Ryan Bruno came in to get the other two. In the bottom of the 6th, that’s when Stanford came all the way back to tie up the game. Montgomery got walked to lead things off after which Cal pulled King off the mound and brought in White.
Huff then singled and advanced to second base on the throw while Montgomery advanced to third base. After Martinez struck out swinging, Park hit a single through the left side to advance Huff to third base and bring Montgomery home. 7-4 game. Troy then reached first base on an error and advanced to second, bringing home both Park and Huff. 7-6 game. With Troy on second base, Crampton then singled to right center to bring Troy home and tie the game up 7-7. With one out, it looked like Stanford might actually take the lead in the bottom of the 6th, but it wasn’t meant to be. Jones struck out swinging for the second out. Graham would hit a single to short stop to advance Crampton to second base, but Barrera flied out to right field to end the inning.
While the game was tied going into the 7th inning, Stanford had all the momentum now. Cal saw a healthy 7-0 lead evaporate in the Sunken Diamond sky. To Stanford’s credit, they could have given up, but they kept chipping away and now they found themselves in a position to steal this game.
In the top of the 7th inning, Brandt Pancer came in to pitch for Bruno. Pancer did his job in the 7th, securing three quick outs without allowing anyone to get on base. White did his job as well as he too secured three quick outs in the bottom of the 7th without allowing anyone to get on base.
In the top of the 8th inning, Mathews came in to pitch for Pancer, hoping to close out the game. Mathews walked Martorella, but aside from that didn’t allow anyone to get on base. In the bottom of the 8th, Stanford was able to get the bases loaded with two outs as Graham got intentionally walked with Crampton on second base and Troy on third base. It looked like Stanford would finally take the lead, but Barrera grounded out to short stop to end the inning.
The top of the 9th got a little hairy for Stanford as Smith got walked and then advanced to second base thanks to Lomavita grounding out. Smith would then get to third base thanks to a wild pitch after which Ogans got intentionally walked. With Souto at the plate, Cal looked prime to retake the lead, but Souto would hit into a double play to short stop to end the top of the inning. Stanford now had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the 9th.
Montgomery hit a double and advanced to third base on an error to get things started in the bottom of the 9th. Huff would ground out to second base for the first out of the inning. The next batter would be Alberto Rios, who was pinch hitting for Martinez. Rios would draw the walk to get on base. Park would then get intentionally walked to load up the bases with one out. Austin Kretzschmar would then strike out swinging for the second out putting the game on the shoulders of Adam Crampton. White tried his best to not allow Crampton to get a hit but ended up walking Crampton on a 3-1 count to bring Montgomery home and give Stanford an improbable 8-7 victory.
For Stanford, this is a huge win. They were down by seven runs and looked like they were dead in the water. To borrow the words of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Saturday night was alright for a comeback. Stanford could have given up, but they instead kept fighting and were rewarded for it in the end. It truly was a team effort both offensively and defensively. After giving up six runs in the top of the 1st inning, Stanford only allowed one run the rest of the way. The pitching staff from the 2nd inning on was fantastic and bogged down Cal’s offense enough that they were able to pull off the comeback.
As for Cal, this loss really really stings. They should have won this game and considering that they haven’t been swept in a Pac-12 series all season long, this looked like the game they were going to get. Instead, they allowed Stanford to creep back in, falling apart down the stretch. As Billy Joel said, you cannot avoid pressure. Cal faced pressure tonight and they collapsed.
Up next is the final game of the series on Sunday. That will begin at 2:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Bay Area and KZSU radio (KALX 90.7 FM in the East Bay).
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