On Friday, Stanford baseball defeated Wake Forest 7-6 in a game that went into the 12th inning. Cort MacDonald hit the game-winning RBI for the Cardinal while Saborn Campbell scored the game-winning run. Sam Garewal (1-1) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role while Luke Schmolke (3-1) was the losing pitcher for the Demon Deacons in a relief role. Stanford improves to 21-17 overall and 7-15 in the ACC while Wake Forest falls to 27-16 overall and 10-12 in the ACC.
Across the way at Stanford Stadium, Stanford softball defeated Virginia 4-3 in a similar fashion, though their game didn't go into extra innings. The game-winning run was scored by Emily Jones in the bottom of the 7th via an error.
BOX SCORE: Wake Forest at Stanford-Friday, April 25th
BOX SCORE: Virginia at Stanford-Friday, April 25th
“Yeah, good win,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “It took us a long time. You know, we didn’t help ourselves much. A lot of self-inflicted wounds, but we fought through it and the guys, baseball was going to make us earn this one, right? It wasn’t just going to let us win easy and our guys weren’t willing to lose easy, so it was a big win.”
Joey Volchko got the start on the mound for the Cardinal, only giving up a single in the top of the 1st inning. In the bottom of the 1st with Logan Lunceford on the mound for the Demon Deacons, Stanford struck first as Trevor Haskins got hit by a pitch after which Temo Becerra hit a single to advance Haskins to second base. Becerra then advanced to second base while Haskins advanced to third base thanks to a wild pitch. Tatum Marsh then flied out to center field to bring home Haskins. That made it 1-0.
In the top of the 2nd inning, Wake Forest evened it up 1-1. With two outs, Volchko walked Matt Scannell before then giving up a single to Jimmy Keenan. Javar Williams then singled through the left side to advance Keenan to second base and bring home Scannell. The Demon Deacons didn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Volchko kept the Demon Deacon batters at bay after giving up a double. In the bottom of the 3rd, Trevor Hakins hit a solo homer for the Cardinal, going yard over the left field fence. Stanford didn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning. That made it a 2-1 lead for the Cardinal at the end of the 3rd.
In the top of the 4th, Wake Forest evened it up 2-2 as Volchko threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded and two outs. Stanford would not answer in the bottom of the inning, keeping it at 2-2.
The next runs were scored in the top of the 6th inning by Wake Forest as Volchko was unable to finish the inning as Aidan Keenan came in for relief. With the bases loaded and two outs with Keenan now on the mound, Cam Nelson flied out to right field to bring home Matt Scannell, making it 3-2. Wake Forest wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning while Stanford failed to score.
Wake Forest then added two more runs in the top of the 7th inning as Jack Winnay hit a two-run bomb to left field to bring home Kade Lewis. That made it 5-2. In the bottom of the 7th, Stanford failed to score more runs, keeping it at 5-2.
In the top of the 8th inning with Ty Uber now on the mound, Stanford didn’t give up any runs despite loading up the bases with two outs. Uber was able to force a fly out to keep it at 5-2 heading into the bottom of the 8th.
In the bottom of the 8th, Stanford scored four runs to go up 6-5. Luke Lavin hit an RBI single with the bases loaded, Cort MacDonald flied out to right center to advance Saborn Campbell to third base and bring home Rintaro Sasaki, Trevor Haskins doubled to left center to bring home Campbell and advance Lavin to third base, and then Temo Becerra flied out to left field to bring home Lavin. Tatum Marsh then got walked after which Jimmy Nati struck out swinging.
“Yeah, you know, they had the best part of their bullpen ready to go and were able to battle things for those runs,” Esquer said. “So, it was a good inning for us for sure.”
In the top of the 9th inning, Ty Uber pitched for Stanford after which Ryan Speshyock came in. Speshyock did not finish the inning as he left with the bases loaded and two outs and was replaced by Toran O’Harran. O’Harran would walk the first batter he faced via a procedural violation at the mound, bringing home a runner to tie the game up 6-6. The next batter would then be out at first to end the top of the inning, keeping it at 6-6.
“Yeah, they called the pitcher got set before the hitter’s eyes were up and obviously really tough,” Esquer explained. “I mean, they tie the game and they don’t get a hit, right? They didn’t have to get one hit to tie the game. We walked them four times and you know, not ideal, but we were able to battle through it.”
“You just gotta keep going,” MacDonald said of rebounding from that 9th inning. “I mean, the game doesn’t stop no matter what happens and so got to keep playing and just try to get a win no matter what.”
In the bottom of the 9th, Stanford failed to win the game, sending it into extra innings. Neither team would score in the 10th or 11th inning as O’Harran handed the ball over to Sam Garewal in the top of the 11th inning. Garewal would pitch the top of the 12th inning for Stanford as well.
In the bottom of the 12th, Stanford finally got the run they needed to win the game. Rintaro Sasaki hit a single to get things going with no outs after which Saborn Cambell was walked after a gritty at-bat in which he was trying to lay on a bunt, advancing Brett Blair to second base, who was pinch-running for Sasaki. Luke Lavin then reached first base on a fielder’s choice while Cambell advanced to second base and Blair was out at third base. Cort MacDonald then singled through the right side to advance Lavin to second base and bring home Campbell, winning the game 7-6. Campbell and MacDonald were all smiles as they were celebrating with their team.
“Yeah, were going to try to bunt them over and try to be able to score,” Esquer said of the 12th inning. “Saborn had a good at-bat to get the first and second and then who was up after him? Oh, Lavin. The pitcher made a good play. I don’t know many of our pitchers that would have made that play and got the lead runner out at third. I mean, it was not a bad bunt, but he made a good play and again, baseball was just not going to let us do it easy and bunt them over and just score them. It was going to make us earn it. So, a big hit by MacDonald who’s, it’s been hard for him to get back into the swing of things after being injured, but hopefully that gives him a kick start.”
“I mean, it’s awesome,” Campbell said of scoring a game-winning run. “It’s always a pleasure to be out there and just be able to run. Like, that’s what I do best. So, I mean, just scoring a winning run, all the excitement, all the guys, so it’s always exciting.
“I already knew I was going up there to bunt. Rintaro gets on early, so it’s just, I’m going up there to bunt, but the guy’s kind of miss or middle and like, just spraying it around the zone. So I have to be selective and eventually drawing a walk. So I mean, win-win for everybody. No outs and man on first and second.”
“Oh, it’s awesome, man,” MacDonald said of hitting the game-winner. “It was great and that one we needed. So it was just nice to get a win…Just looking for something up and something I can just not do too much with, put a good swing on and you know, let the rest happen.”
For Stanford, this win might not do much in terms of the standings and overall season, but it is a feel-good win for sure as they win their first Friday night game since March 14th (Duke). They’ve tended to collapse and choke down the stretch in close games. This time they delivered the goods. That’s a positive thing for Stanford to build on as they look to finish this season strong.
“I mean, it was just very simple, just get down there and try to win a ball game,” Campbell said. “It doesn’t matter how it looks, just be gritty, get in the box, and try to win a ball game.”
“Yeah, I just think keeping the energy up,” MacDonald said. “You know, you got to stay with it and it’s getting late, but the other team’s going through the same thing, so just staying with it, keeping the energy up, and just trying to, you know, get to the next pitch.”
Up next for Stanford is game two on Saturday. That will begin at 2:05 PM PT on ACCNX. Matt Scott will get the start on the mound for the Cardinal.
“Yeah, Matt Scott. Matt Scott will be the key,” Esquer said looking ahead to Saturday. “Matt Scott will go tomorrow and that’ll be the key. How long can he go and whether we can support him with some runs and play some defense. But Matt Scott’s start will be big. And I think we’ll have Keenan if there’s an inning or so to finish, but Matt ‘s going to be big for us.”
“Momentum is fragile,” MacDonald added. “And so we just gotta take this and run with it.”
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