On Monday, Stanford baseball defeated UC Davis by a final score of 11-1 in a game that ended in 7 innings due to the NCAA’s run rule. Stanford righty Nick Dugan (4-0) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal, pitching all 7.0 innings while totaling four strikeouts and giving up six hits. UC Davis lefty Jack Meek was the losing pitcher for the Aggies in a starting role, pitching only 1.0 innings while giving up three earned runs and four hits. Stanford 2nd baseman Jimmy Nati was the top offensive performer for the Cardinal with one home run and six RBIs. Stanford improves to 20-17 overall (6-15 ACC) while UC Davis falls 19-20 overall (8-10 Big West).
BOX SCORE: UC Davis at Stanford-Monday, April 21st
“Fourth day of play, the guys came out and played, we just keep telling them to keep showing up, right?” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “Just gotta keep working hard and work on our weaknesses and just show up. Be more competitive and Nick Dugan pitched well for us today and I thought that was big for us.”
Stanford scored four runs in the bottom of the 1st inning as Jimmy Nati hit a three-run home run to left center to bring home Tatum Marsh and Trevor Haskins before Rintaro Sasaki hit an RBI single to bring home Brady Reynolds. Stanford added two more runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning to make it 6-0 as Nati and Reynolds each hit RBI singles.
“Yeah, he was. We needed a big performance,” Esquer said of Nati. “I thought him and Brady Reynolds in the middle of the order really keyed some rallies there and scored some runs for us and it’s good to turn the tables in a 10-run rule somebody else.”
“Yeah, I was just trying to have some fun, honestly,” Nati said. “Just blacked out. All the boys were getting me right in the dugout, so yeah, I’d say seeing the ball decent, but I think everyone was seeing it well today. We just had a good approach and yeah, just having fun.”
In the 4th inning, both teams traded runs. UC Davis scored on a fielder’s choice with runners on first and third base while Stanford scored as Brady Reynolds jacked one over the left field fence. That made it 7-1.
In the bottom of the 5th, Stanford added four more runs to make it 11-1 as Cort MacDonald hit an RBI double, Tatum Marsh fouled out to bring home MacDonald, and Jimmy Nati hit a two-RBI double down the left field line.
“It’s amazing,” Dugan said of the run support he got. “I mean, from the first inning, they scored like four runs right away and it’s easy to relax and just go out there and trust your stuff.”
From there, Nick Dugan closed the door for good, pitching all 7.0 innings as the game ended after the 7th inning due to the NCAA’s run rule. From start to finish, this one was all Stanford.
“He’s pitched good on Tuesday for us, right?” Esquer said of Dugan. “He’s got a number of wins on Tuesday and it’s always good when you have that Tuesday starter you can rely on. The wins are big because the losses are big. And so it’s good to have him.”
“Yeah, I mean I was pretty efficient,” Dugan said of his performance. “I attacked. I got ahead in counts, threw the ball down, got quick outs…For me, I just go out there and try to throw strikes and control what I can control and whatever happens happens, but I really just try to throw strikes, see what happens, let my defense work.”
For Stanford, it was good to get back in the win column after getting swept by Notre Dame at home. ACC play has been tough for Stanford, but their one reprieve has been these midweek games. They’ve done fine in these games.
“Yeah, I don’t know, maybe they just focus in or relax a little bit more,” Esquer said of his team’s midweek success. “I think they pressure themselves a little on the weekends and the competition is really good, obviously. It’s not that these teams aren’t capable because they are, but the weekend are regional type weekends, you know. You gotta be at your best and they don’t let you play our B game.”
“We just trying to keep that momentum going,” Nati said. “Just going out there, doing our job, and you know good things are going to happen if, we can’t try and press, can’t try too hard. If we just go out there and execute a plan that we’ve had, you know, five guys up to the plate or just be one of 10 barrels. That’s been our goal and we’ve been doing that and we’ve been scoring runs, so that’s what we can do as an offense. And then our pitching was awesome. Dugan was one run, should have been a shutout. That was my fault, but it was cool to see that as well.”
It was also interesting for Stanford to see UC Davis for a second time after defeating them 4-0 earlier this season. They kept the same approach going into this game and that seemed to work.
“I mean, it was kind of the same game plan,” Dugan said of facing the Aggies’ lineup for a second game. “Like, fastballs down in the zone. Sliders off it, and it really, it worked again and I executed the plan well.”
Up next for Stanford is another ACC battle. This time it’ll be Wake Forest coming to The Farm. That will get started on Friday at 6:05 PM PT on ACCNX.
“Another super regional team, you know, type team that you got to beat on a weekend,” Esquer said of facing the Demon Deacons. “So we’ve gotta play better on the weekend. Obviously, the last 15 games haven’t gone our way, but we’ve got to turn that.
“The ACC has been a tough transition for us,” Nati admitted. “I think if we just, yeah, just keep playing our baseball, good things are going to reward us and I know it’s been a tough little stretch for us, but you know, these little midweeks have been giving us that momentum to get to the weekend. So hopefully we carry that going into Wake Forest.”
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