After losing 11-0 in seven innings on Saturday, Stanford fell to Notre Dame on Sunday by a final score of 10-9, making it a three-game sweep for the Irish. Notre Dame righty Tobey McDonough (2-0) was the winning pitcher for the Irish in a relief role while Stanford righty Ty Uber (1-2) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role. Notre Dame improves to 20-17 overall and 7-14 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 19-17 overall and 6-15 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Notre Dame at Stanford
“Yeah, it’s getting all too common, just quite not, not enough, right?” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “And so, you know, we fought them and that’s all I was really out looking for our guys to fight them after getting down early and to put up a fight. I thought they did a good job of just really battling. We struck out 13 or 14 times and they still were able to come out with the win, right? So that’s what? 16 strikeouts? That’s hard to do. So, you give them credit and they really earned it. They really earned it.”
Junior righty Matt Scott got the start on the mound for the Cardinal and ended up with six earned runs and eight strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched. Not the kind of day he was hoping to have:
Estevan Moreno went yard in the top of the 2nd inning to make it 1-0 for the Irish. In the top of the 3rd inning, Bino Watters grounded out for an RBI to make it 2-0 after which Parker Brzustewicz hit an RBI single to make it 3-0.
In the bottom of the 4th inning, Stanford finally got on the board. Jimmy Nati got walked with one out after which Brady Reynolds tripled down the right field line to bring home Nati. Temo Becerra then grounded out to bring home Reynolds. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning, making it 3-2.
Notre Dame added four runs in the top of the 5th to make it 7-2. With the bases loaded and one out, Connor Hincks tripled to right field to bring home three runners. Moreno then flied out to bring home Hincks. The next batter would fail to keep the mojo going. Even though Aidan Keennan was on the mound for the triple, those three runs were earned to Matt Scott as he was the one who put them on base. The run that Hincks scored was earned to Keenan.
“Yeah, you know, probably not, you know, probably not,” Esquer admitted of Scott not having his best stuff. “But still, you know, hey, we’re looking for small wins. I think he was down in the zone better than he had been. They just did a good job of putting some balls in play. You know, just in general, you know, maybe not the ERA you’re looking for the game, but I thought he threw some good pitches. I thought he threw some good pitches.”
Stanford would add a run in the bottom of the 5th as Tatum Marsh hit an RBI single to bring home Ethan Hott, who was on third base after a single, wild pitch, and fly out from Trevor Haskins. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning, making it 7-3 at the end of the 5th.
In the top of the 6th inning, Keenan got three straight batters out. In the bottom of the 6th, Stanford scored four runs to tie it up 7-7. Rintaro Sasaki hit a two-run home run to right field to bring home Brady Reynolds. It was Sasaki’s fifth home run of the season, ending a bit of a home run drought for him. Ethan Hott then hit a double to left center to bring home Charlie Saum. Thanks to back-to-back wild pitches, Hott advanced to third base and then came home.
“Yeah, it has been [a while],” Esquer said of Sasaki finally getting another home run. “So, he’s had a couple good hits for us, you know and had a home run and a double and so I thought he did a good job. It’s good to see a little life out of him.”
In the top of the 7th, Notre Dame went ahead once more as Carson Tinney jacked one over the center field fence to make it 8-7 in the first at-bat of the inning. Nobody else would score for the Irish the rest of the inning.
In the bottom of the 7th, Stanford added two runs to make it 9-8 as Becerra hit an RBI single and Sasaki hit an RBI double. With two innings left, Stanford just needed to find a way to step up defensively and close out the game.
“Good question,” Esquer said when asked why their offense was better than it was on Saturday. “I don’t know. They ran some guys in there that we just saw the ball better again. So, you know, we showed a little bit of life there, but just you know, again, just a little bit of fight there from our guys was positive.”
In the 8th inning, neither team scored, keeping it at 9-8. However, in the top of the 9th, things changed along with a pitching change for the Cardinal. Ty Uber came in to get the save and ended up with the loss instead. Tinney hit a single to left field after which Watters hit a two-run homer to left field, making it 10-9. Notre Dame wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning, making it a one run deficit for Stanford entering the bottom of the 9th.
Stanford would not answer in the bottom of the 9th though they came close. Sasaki got walked with one out after which Saborn Campbell came in to pinch run. Luke Lavin then singled down the left field line to advance Campbell to second base. Cort MacDonald then reached first base on a fielder’s choice as Lavin was out at second base while Campbell was safe at third base. Hott then popped up to short stop to end the game. 10-9 the Irish survived.
For Stanford, this game was a microcosm of their whole season. Just not good enough. They put up the fight, but once again found a way to come up short. At this point, it’s safe to say that this isn’t Stanford’s year. The only question is can they at least get some wins down the stretch to build some positive momentum for next season.
“That’s a hard one, right?” Esquer said of how to keep his team motivated. “You walk that fine line of motivation these days. What do the kids listen to? What do they hear? They don’t really want to hear fire and brimstone, right? They want support and so you know, it’s just one of those things. You’re trying to find what gets them. Obviously, we’ve shown that we’re capable of playing better. We’ve done it already this year and we just have not been able to tap into that consistently.”
To touch quickly on Saturday, the biggest news from the 11-0 loss was the revelation from Esquer that sophomore left-handed pitcher Christian Lim is likely done for the season. Esquer didn’t reveal what the exact injury is, but he did confirm that likely, Lim’s season is over. The question was asked considering Lim not playing when in a normal week he would have started.
“That’s hard, right?” Esquer said of soldiering on without Lim. “That’s six innings. We’ve got a weekend that we don’t have and Christian was kinda coming on. He was pitching his best of the season, you know, a little bit here at the end and so that’s tough for us and that’s something that we’ve been struggling with for most of the year is consistent starting pitching and just something we gotta keep showing up and try to play better…. Yeah, he’s probably not going to return. Yeah, it looks like it could be season ending.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against UC Davis on Monday. Stanford won their first meeting of the season 4-0 earlier this season. That will begin at 6:05 PM PT on ACCNX.
“Yeah, they’re going to be tough,” Esquer said of the Aggies. “They’re going to be tough. You know, Coach Nicholson’s got them playing well, so we’re going to have to be ready. That’s no gimme.”
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