On Friday, Stanford baseball upset No. 4 North Carolina on the road by a final score of 13-9. Stanford righty Ty Uber (1-0) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role while North Carolina righty Jason DeCaro (3-1) was the losing pitcher for the Tarheels in a starting role. Stanford designated hitter Brandon Larson was the top performer for the Cardinal going 2-5 for six RBIs. Stanford improves to 11-2 overall and 1-0 in the ACC while North Carolina falls to 13-1 overall and 0-1 in the ACC.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at North Carolina-Friday, March 7th
Stanford righty Matt Scott got the start for the Cardinal and in the bottom of the 1st inning, he gave up three runs as Hunter Stokely, Tyson Bass, and Alex Madera each hit an RBI for the Tarheels. That made it a 3-0 game at the end of the 1st inning.
Stanford would quickly respond in the top of the 2nd inning as center fielder Charlie Bates, who was back from a hamstring injury, hit a two-RBI double to left field with two outs to bring home Temo Becerra and Jimmy Nati. That made it a 3-2 game. Matt Scott would only give up a walk in the bottom of the 2nd inning, keeping it 3-2.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Stanford would score one run to tie it up 3-3. Trevor Haskins got walked and then with one out, Rintaro Sasaki hit a single to right field to advance Haskins to third base. Charlie Saum then hit a fly ball deep into left field for the second out of the inning while also bringing Haskins home. In the bottom of the 3rd, Scott gave up a double to Gavin Gallaher, but would get the next three batters out to leave Gallaher stranded on second.
In the top of the 4th inning, Stanford added three runs to go up 6-3. With Brady Reynolds on second base and Charlie Bates on first and one out, Tatum Marsh hit a double down the right field line to advance Bates to third base and bring Reynolds home. With two outs, Brandon Larson hit a two-RBI single to right field to bring home Marsh and Bates. Sasaki then popped out to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 4th, North Carolina scored three runs to even it up 6-6. With the bases loaded and one out, Matt Scott walked Luke Stevenson after which Gavin Gallaher hit a single to bring home two runners. Scott would then force a fly out for the second out of the inning before Ty Uber then came in to get the third out at the next at-bat, forcing a fly out to end the inning.
In the top of the 5th inning, Stanford added six runs. Jimmy Nati hit a solo shot to left center to make it 7-6, Trevor Haskins got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 8-6, and then Brandon Larson hit a grand slam to make it 12-6.
In the top of the 6th inning, Stanford added another run as Temo Becerra hit double to bring home Brady Reynolds who was on second base after hitting a double. As a result, Stanford led 13-6 entering the bottom of the 6th inning.
In the bottom of the 6th, righty Trevor Moore was on the mound for Stanford. Moore gave up a single in the inning, but settled down after that, not allowing anyone else to get on base. That kept it 13-6 at the end of the 6th inning.
From there, Stanford would go on to win 13-9. North Carolina was able to tack on three runs in the bottom of the 9th as Stanford righty Nick Dugan was unable to finish the 9th inning after being tasked with closing it out in a non-save situation. Aidan Keenan had to come in to ensure that the Tarheels didn’t complete the comeback.
While the pitching wasn’t great for Stanford in this one, the offense sure came alive. Just about everybody in the lineup did their part as seven different batters had at least one RBI. When you have an offense cooking like that, it’s very tough for opposing teams to win even if your pitching isn’t at its best.
Up next for Stanford is game two on Saturday. That will begin at 10:00 AM PT on ACCNX.
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