On Friday, Stanford baseball defeated Washington 2-0. Stanford junior right-handed pitcher Matt Scott was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role, striking out 10 batters and giving up four hits in 6.0 innings pitched. Stanford sophomore right-handed pitcher Aidan Keenan picked the save, striking out one batter and give up zero runs in 1.0 innings pitched. Washington senior right-handed pitcher Max Banks was the losing pitcher for the Huskies in a starting role, giving up two earned runs in 6.0 innings pitched.
Stanford senior 3rd baseman Trevor Haskins hit one home run and had two RBIs for the Cardinal while freshman center fielder Charlie Bates had three hits, two of which were triples and one of which was a double to go along with one run scored. Stanford improves to 5-0 overall while Washington falls to 2-3.
BOX SCORE: Washington at Stanford-Friday, February 21st
“Yeah, well-pitched game, you know, played pitching and defense,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “That’s how we have to win tonight. It was a, you know, Friday night, Friday night game. Their Friday night pitcher is tough. He had a good ball game and he showed he’s got a great breaking ball, he’s gonna make it tough a hitter. So, the runs were not gonna be scored a whole lot today. But, we were gonna get two and and we’re gonna have to hold them for less than two and I thought our pitching staff with Scott and Uber and Kennan at the end, they did exactly what we we needed to do and we need to play good defense behind them.”
This was low-scoring affair as Trevor Haskins hit a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the 1st inning before later hitting an RBI fly out to center field to bring home Charlie Bates in the bottom of the 5th for the first out of the inning after Bates had his second triple of the afternoon. Despite getting on the board in their very first at-bat of the game, Stanford didn’t do a whole lot offensively.
“Honestly wasn’t trying to do that much,” Haskins said of his home run. “I was trying to be a lead off and not do too much at the plate. Keep it simple and just be a lead off, hopefully get on base for the boys and it worked out…Just trying to be on the heater and start the game off. Hopefully a single, but you’ll take that all day.”
“Yeah, he’s been great,” Esquer said of Haskins. “He’s been performing well, you know, all throughout January and he’s showed tremendous growth from a year and with Cort MacDonald being out of the lineup for a couple of games, having his bat at the top and getting on base, and we’re gonna have to find some different ways to get some guys on at the top of the lineup for the middle with Rintaro and Charlie Saum.”
“He’s hit into some tough luck,” Esquer said of Bates. “I think they made a couple of really nice plays on him. He squared some baseballs in Fullerton with nothing to show for it, so he could have easily got a little frustrated. He just went to work this past week and just kind of stayed on top of it and worked on some things to stay consistent squaring the ball and then was rewarded for it today, but yeah, he’s pretty dynamic. He can really run and he’s got some power and he’s a god player.”
“Charlie Bates, oh he’s the man,” Haskins echoed. “He’s gonna be an exciting fun player to watch over the next three years. Charlie Bates, it’s a big left-handed bat right there. He can do it all. He can hit singles, doubles, split gaps, steal bases, triples as you guys saw today and the bombs will come. The bombs are definitely gonna come. Yeah, he’s a stellar player and I can’t wait to watch him play the rest of this season and the next couple of years.”
Fortunately for them, they did enough as Matt Scott, Ty Uber, and Aidan Keenan collectively pitched a shut out. Uber pitched 2.0 innings in the 7th and 8th innings to hand Keenan a save opportunity, striking out one batter and giving up zero hits. On the whole, it was good pitching outing for the Cardinal even though Washington definitely had their chances.
“Yeah, I think you’ll see it with a lot of our guys, the 365 days has made a huge difference,” Esquer said of Keenan. “Aidan never got off the ground last year, right? He got sick right before Christmas, dropped about 15 pounds. You know, coming back, trying to hit the ground running and pick up where he left off in the fall. He was our best freshman pitcher last year. Just wasn’t able to pick it up just strength-wise and eventually we got him to the point we just kind of shut him down and said hey, this isn’t worth getting you hurt and we shut him down by the end of the year.
“But we knew that one year later it was gonna make a big difference and it has for all our guys. You know, the Reimers and Speshyock and some of those young pitchers that kind of, they took their lumps a year ago, have come back better, but you know, I think we expected that from everyone on our team. You know, 365 days was gonna make a difference.”
The Huskies’ best chance to get on the scoreboard came in the top of the 6th inning with runners on second and third base with only one out. To Scott’s credit, he rebounded to get a strikeout for the second out before then forcing a ground out. From then on, Stanford’s pitching and defense was locked in.
“Good, I feel good,” Scott said about his outing. “I had control of all my pitches and we play phenomenal defense, you know? I mean, it’s not six shutout innings if we don’t have great defense behind. Bates at center field and Rintaro had some good picks. Trevor with that play down the line, so I mean, it all kind of encompasses that.
“Yeah, I mean, I throw four pitches now. It’s kind of developed, you know, refine the arsenals as I’ve gone. Fastball, curveball, slider, split. So, it’s definitely changed as the years went on.”
“You know, he’s been consistent throughout the game,” Esquer said of Scott’s growth. “He hasn’t run into the one inning where maybe gives him a little something and then it, you know, because if he gives him a run or two, and still maybe a solid outing, but then he’s not getting a decision today. So I mean, the runs were at a minimum and yet he was making him stand up and was strong one through six, right? And then he handed it off to a pretty good bullpen.”
For Stanford, this is a good win. They’re now 5-0 on the season and after having a series of high scoring games at Cal State Fullerton last weekend, they showed that they are also capable of winning low scoring affairs. It’s always good to show that you can win games in a variety of ways.
“It’s really just kind of one of those things where we tell them it really is kind of about winning, it’s kind of cliché, but how often can we win one game?” Esquer said of the 5-0 start. “Let’s just win one game over and over and over again. We’re not trying to, tomorrow’s not about winning six in a row or winning six at one time. It’s about can we come out and tomorrow’s game then we’ll look up and it would be the sixth one and so I think you keep yourself mentally sharp and not trying to think about the big pictures.
“It’s just kind of the small picture and the small one is like, hey, we’re certainly capable of coming out and winning again tomorrow with Christian Lim pitching, but we’re gonna have to play well, but it doesn’t mean that eventually we have to run into a game where we lay an egg and give up a loss just because. That doesn’t have to happen.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a testament to kind of who we are as a team this year,” Haskins said. “I think not every game we’re gonna win by ten runs. That’s a typical Friday game right there and that’s an exciting Friday game. Our pitchers came out and they showed up today. I think you’re gonna have that in your bag. You’re not gonna win every game by five runs, eight runs, ten runs, right? You have to win those two-zero ball games and those three-zero ball games. Whatever it is. So just finding a way to scratch out that win I think is a testament to our team this year because I definitely think we have those games now in our back pocket.”
Of course, this game had a different feel than previous home openers due to the presence of freshman sensation Rintaro Sasaki. A larger press contingency was in attendance for the game including some from his home country of Japan. Even though he only got on base once via walk, there was still a buzz in the crowd due to his presence in the lineup. It’s going to be a fun season watching how he grows over the course of the season.
Up next for Stanford is game two of the series on Saturday. Stanford lefty Christian Lim is expected to get the start on the mound. Opening pitch is set for 2:05 PM PT on ACCNX.
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