On Tuesday, Stanford baseball fell to Cal in Berkeley by a final score of 5-0 in a non-league game. Cal graduate student lefty Luke Short (1-0) was the winning pitcher for the Golden Bears in a starting role while Stanford freshman righty Aidan Keenan (0-1) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role. In 6.0 innings pitched, Short gave up two hits and struck out four batters while Keenan pitched 2.0 innings, giving up one hit and three earned runs while also striking out four batters. Cal 2nd baseman Jarren Advincula was the top performer for the Golden Bears with one hit and three RBIs. Cal improves to 8-3 overall while Stanford falls to 6-6.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Cal-Tuesday, March 5th
“Well you know, hey, I thought our young freshman pitching will continue to get better and that’ll help us down the line,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “You know, just a little young, played a little young, pitched a little young early, only got beat on one hit. We walked three guys to get the runs on the bases. And Volchko I thought pitched great. Just the inexperience at first, tried to make a play that wasn’t there, and cost us two runs with that double error. I thought we just gotta keep running those pitchers out there. They’re gonna help us win games before it’s all said and done. Their stuff is good enough. It’s just, they gotta get out there and just get comfortable.”
In the top of the 1st inning, nobody got on base for Stanford as Short got three straight Cardinal batters out. Cort MacDonald was batting leadoff for the Cardinal followed by Jimmy Nati and Malcolm Moore. Moore struck out swinging to end the top of the inning, giving Short his first strikeout of the night.
In the bottom of the 1st inning, the only batter to get on base for the Golden Bears was Rodney Green, Jr. who was walked. Unfortunately for the Bears, Green would be caught stealing second base for the second out of the inning. The leadoff hitter PJ Moutzouridis and third batter Caleb Lomavita both struck out.
In the top of the 2nd inning, Stanford nearly scored. With two outs, Temo Becerra was walked after which Brady Reynolds doubled down the right field line to advance Becerra to third base. Jake Sapien then got walked to load up the bases. The Cardinal were not able to bring anyone home as Owen Cobb flied out to center field to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Cal was able to score three runs. Max Handron would get hit by a pitch to get on first base with no outs after which Peyton Schulze struck out. Carson Crawford then got walked to advance Handron to second base. Alec Ritch then reached on a fielder’s choice as Crawford was out at second base while Handron advanced to third base. Seth Gwynn then got walked, which loaded up the bases. Up next to the plate would be Advincula, who hit a triple down the right field line to bring home all three runners. Moutzouridis then struck out swinging to end the bottom of the inning. 3-0 lead for the Bears.
In the top of the 3rd inning, nobody for the Cardinal got on base as their offensive struggles continued. As for the bottom of the 3rd, nobody got on base for the Bears. The Cardinal made a pitching change as freshman righty Joey Volchko came in place of Keenan. Volchko would get give up a single to Green, but after striking out Lomavita, Volchko was able to force Handron to hit into a double play to end the bottom of the inning.
“He’s a big part of our future,” Esquer said of Keenan. “He is and he came here to pitch and we believe in him and again, it’s just a matter of getting his pitch count up where the more he’s out there the better he’ll be and you’ll see it. Moore has been better the more he’s been out there; Speshyock it’s his best outing, he’s been out there a little bit more, and Volchko was the best he’s been. So each guy is getting better you know, and so at some point we can play the same game and the result could be different.”
In the top of the 4th, nobody for Stanford got on base as Trevor Haskins flied out, Luke Lavin grounded out, and Becerra grounded out. As for the bottom of the 4th, the Bears were able to tack on a couple more runs:
Schulze would single through the left side with no outs to get things going. Volchko then struck out the next two Cal batters as it looked like maybe Stanford would get out of the inning unscathed. However, Gwynn was walked to advance Schulze to second base before Volchko threw a wild pitch to advance them one more base.
With runners on second and third, Advincula then reached on an error at first base after which there was a throwing error at first base. This resulted in Schulze scoring while Gwynn advanced to third base before also scoring thanks to the double error. This made it a 5-0 lead for the Bears. Cal wouldn’t score the rest of the inning as Advincula then was out at second base unassisted as Moutzouridis was able to get on first base via fielder’s choice. That ended the inning.
Nobody scored the rest of the game as Cal would win 5-0. The 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th innings were scoreless for both teams (Cal didn’t bat in the bottom of the 9th). Volchko would pitch the bottom of the 5th inning for Stanford while righty Trevor Moore pitched the 6th and 7th innings. In the bottom of the 8th inning, righty Ryan Speshyock pitched for the Cardinal.
As far as Stanford’s hitting is concerned, Cal did a nice job of shutting the door on that. Lefty Tucker Bougie pitched the 7th inning and two thirds of the 8th inning while righty Connor Sullivan got the final out of the 8th after Stanford had Haskins on first base and Nati on second.
In the top of the 9th, righty Tyler Stasiowski pitched for the Bears in a non-save situation to close things out. The only Cardinal batter to get on base in the top of the 9th was Sapien who hit a single to third base and stole second base before ultimately getting stranded as Cobb and MacDonald both struck out looking. 5-0 Cal was the final score.
“Just a little bit,” Esquer said when asked if this game was more about the hitting not coming alive. “Again, we may be a little bit up and down as, just getting more guys experience and bats and consistency is just hard when you’re young. Sometimes you’re a little up and down and this was just one of those days. On the road on a different diamond and guys’ first time out here, right? Most of these guys haven’t had many at-bats at Evans Diamond before and so, it’s new for a lot of people.”
For Cal, this is a nice win. Stanford came in having won five games in a row and clearly has improved as the season has gone on. To not only beat Stanford, but to shut them out is impressive. Cal remains undefeated at home as they are now 6-0 at Evans Diamond. While it’s early, it does look like they are improved from last season and are positioning themselves to make some noise in the Pac-12.
As for Stanford, this is a disappointing loss, but nothing to fret about. These Tuesday games are always a bit unpredictable as teams aren’t pitching their weekend lineup. They lost to Cal in their Tuesday games last year at home and went on to have a great season. Losing this game honestly isn’t that big of a deal.
“Our weekend pitching has been strong obviously,” Esquer said of the key to their recent winning streak. “Dugan has two of those five wins and combined effort against San Jose. So we’ve just been playing better. We’re gonna, it’s gonna be not up and down, but I mean we’re gonna show signs of improving and then we’ll also show signs of our youth and inexperience. So tonight was one of those youth and inexperience sides.”
What I would say is a bit of deal though is the fact that Stanford wasn’t able to score. The pitching for the most part did their job in this one. They just didn’t get the run support that they needed. Against a Tuesday Cal pitching staff or any Tuesday pitching staff for that matter, you have to be able to get some runs and put some pressure on the bullpen. The failure to do that is what’s most frustrating and a tad worrisome for Stanford.
At this point, all that Stanford can do is move on from this and get ready for their Pac-12 opening series on the road at Washington. Game one will be on Friday at 6:05 PM PT on Washington Live Stream-2 and KZSU radio.
“Well, I think they pitch very well,” Esquer said of the Huskies. “They throw a lot of strikes. The weather probably is not going to be conducive to a lot of runs, so I think you’re gonna find three battles.”
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