Recap: Stanford BSB falls to Penn State in series opener
On Friday, Stanford baseball fell to Penn State at home by a final score of 15-4. Penn State senior righty Travis Luensmann (1-0, 3.27 ERA) was the winning pitcher for the Nittany Lions while Stanford sophomore righty Matt Scott (0-2, 6.75 ERA) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal. Penn State improves to 4-1 overall while Stanford falls to 1-4.
BOX SCORE: Penn State at Stanford-Friday, February 23rd
“Well, it was a stinker,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said candidly after the game. “You know, hey obviously they did a nice job, got to Matt Scott and got him to a hundred pitches or ninety five pitches whatever pretty quickly and they had some opportune base hits with runners in scoring position. We had a couple at bats that if we take advantage of them, maybe we get a little more breathing room, maybe we play a little bit different. You don’t know that. It didn’t happen and game got away and at the end there we’re just trying to see what we have deep in the bullpen.
“So, more runs maybe scored than, we weren’t trying to hold them after a while. We just had to find what we had deep in the bullpen. So, that’s just opportunity at the start of the year. At the start of the year sometimes the game opens up and you need to find out maybe a diamond in the rough or someone who hasn’t done it in practice but performs a little better when the lights turn on.”
In the top of the 1st inning, Stanford was able to keep Penn State scoreless though things got a little dicey. With two outs, the bases were loaded as Tayven Kelley came to the plate for the Nittany Lions. Scott would strike out Kelley to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 1st, Stanford added two runs as Luensmann walked back-to-back batters with the bases loaded with two outs. Malcolm Moore and Jimmy Nati scored the two runs for the Cardinal while Jake Sapien and Charlie Saum were both walked, picking up an RBI each.
“Oh you know what, just getting out there, to be honest,” Esquer said of the strong start Nati is off to. “You know, he’s been a player of ours we knew that we’re gonna have to develop. He’s gonna have to develop as a good player and we think he will. We have a lot of confidence in him.”
Penn State would get on the board in the top of the 3rd inning as Bryce Molinaro went yard to left center with one out. It was a solo shot, making it a 2-1 game. Nobody else got on base for the Nittany Lions, keeping it the same score entering the bottom of the 3rd.
Stanford would not score in the bottom of the inning though Temo Becerra was able to get to third base with two outs after initially reaching base via throwing error while Nati advanced to second base. Nati would later get tagged out at third while Sapien reached first base via fielder’s choice. The inning ended as Saborn Campbell put the ball in play as Sapien was out at second base to end the inning.
In the top of the 4th inning, Penn State added two more runs as Grant Norris hit a two-run blast to left field with two outs to bring home Bobby Marsh. Penn State would not score any more runs in the rest of the inning making it a 3-2 lead for the Nittany Lions entering the bottom of the 4th inning. In the bottom of the 4th, nobody got on base for Stanford, keeping it a 3-2 game.
In the top of the 5th, Penn State added four runs as they continued to grow their lead. Matt Scott’s day on the mound was done for the Cardinal as Trevor Moore came in for relief. Adam Cecere hit a two-RBI double to right center with no outs while Marsh hit a two-RBI single to right field with two outs. Joe Jaconski then grounded out to end the top of the inning. It was now a 7-2 lead for the Nittany Lions.
“Yeah, you know what, we’re gonna keep sending him out there, so it’s gonna be, he’s gonna continue to doing,” Esquer said of Scott adjusting to being the Friday starter. “And as I mentioned, the team, we just gotta keep showing up and hope that we kinda get better at what we do just by showing up day in and day out and hopefully the experience will pay off and just hopefully they don’t get in their own way.”
Stanford would not score in the bottom of the 5th inning though they had a good chance to do so as Nati doubled down the right field line before advancing to third base on a wild pitch. All with one out. Becerra and Sapien unfortunately were unable to bring home Nati. It remained 7-2 at the end of the 5th.
In the top of the 6th inning, Penn State added one more run. With one out, Molinaro would get walked before J.T. Marr singled to right center to advance Molinaro to third base. Cecere then flied out to center field to bring home Molinaro to make it 8-2. Kelley then flied out to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 6th, Penn State made a pitching change as Anthony Steele came in to relieve Luensmann. Nobody for Stanford got on base, keeping it an 8-2 game entering the 7th inning.
In the top of the 7th, Kyle Hannon hit a single to right center with the bases loaded, advancing to second base on the throw as two runners came home while one runner had to stay on third base. Penn State would not score any more runs the rest of the inning, making it a 10-2 game entering the bottom of the 7th. During the inning, Stanford made a pitching change as Moore was replaced by Ben Reimers. In the bottom of the inning, nobody scored for Stanford, keeping it 10-2.
In the 8th inning, Penn State would tack on five more runs while Stanford added two runs of their own:
In the top of the inning, the bases got loaded as Gavin Nalu was now on the mound for the Cardinal. However, once the bases got loaded, Nalu was replaced with Ryan Speshyock. Speshyock walked three batters in a row to bring in three more runs for Penn State before giving up a two-run double to left center that was hit by Marr. Penn State didn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, Cort MacDonald grounded out to bring home Luke Lavin while Trevor Haskins reached first base on an error while Brandon Larson scored. Larson had missed some time to start the season due to a hamstring injury, so it was nice for Stanford to have him out there.
“Yeah, you know what, I think they’re getting more comfortable as the game flows on,” Esquer said of his guys tacking on some runs late. “As the game moves on, guys just getting a little bit more comfortable and Friday night pitching is tough, right? You face Friday night pitching, it’s the best arm and got the best stuff and just sometimes that’s the toughest night to offense.”
As a result, it was a 15-4 lead for Penn State entering the 9th inning. In the 9th inning, neither team scored, making 15-4 the final score. Jaden Bruno pitched the 9th inning for Stanford while Connor Throneberry pitched the 9th inning for Penn State. Both pitchers improved their ERAs as a result.
For Penn State, this was a nice way to start the weekend. By winning game one, the pressure is now on Stanford for Saturday. They scored a bunch of runs, took Matt Scott out of the game early, and forced him to throw 95 pitches in just four innings. All-around a good day for the Nittany Lions.
As for Stanford, they continue to be a work in progress. They really need Scott to settle into the Friday night starter role and then on top of that, they need to get their bats rolling, too. Both offensively and defensively, Stanford has a lot of work to do.
“For sure, I knew going into the season it was gonna be about patience, right?” Esquer said. “I knew that we weren’t, it’s not like we can have some fire and brimstone speech and turn things around. We got a lot of kids who haven’t played a whole lot and maybe a few that don’t know that they belong, right? And we believe they do, but they gotta get comfortable.”
Up next for Stanford is game two against Penn State on Saturday. That will begin at 2:05 PM PT on Stanford Livestream and KZSU radio. Stanford freshman lefty Christian Lim (0-1, 16.20 ERA) will get the start for the Cardinal while Penn State junior righty Frankie Sanchez (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will get the start for the Nittany Lions.
“You know, we’re probably gonna change the lineup a little bit,” Esquer said of Saturday. “We need a little different energy. The current one is not getting it done for whatever reason and so we’ll play some different guys tomorrow and like I said, just create a little different energy out there and hopefully score enough runs to win.”
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