On Sunday, Stanford baseball defeated Arizona State 16-10 to complete a three-game home sweep of the Sun Devils. Stanford won 8-0 on Friday and 10-6 on Saturday. Quinn Mathews (5-1) picked up his fifth win of the season on the mound for the Cardinal while Chase Webster (1-3) was awarded the loss. Stanford improves to 17-10 overall and 9-6 in the Pac-12 while Arizona State falls to 14-19 overall and 5-7 in the Pac-12.
“Hey, we got down early and I think one thing we took from yesterday was just being a little more relentless offensively,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “That’s something we gotta develop into who we are is just to be able to score runs and then keep scoring runs. You know, not get satisfied. Not let down and more guys contributing. That was a big part of it is we had a lot of guys contribute to our offense.”
This game got off to a hot start offensively and didn’t cool off until the final out of the game. In the top of the 1st inning, Arizona State got right to work as they scored three runs. Joe Lampe got things going by hitting a lead-off single to center field. He would then advance to second base after Sean McLain got hit by a pitch. The bases then got loaded as Ethan Long got hit by a pitch. Because Quinn Mathews closed Saturday’s game, Esquer didn’t want to have Mathews come into the game until the third inning, so he decided to roll with Cody Jensen at the start and see how long he could go. With the bases now loaded, Esquer decided he had seen enough of Jensen and brought in Brandt Pancer, hoping he would be able to get them out of the jam.
Pancer struck out Conor Davis, his first batter, so things got off to a nice start there. However, the next batter Jacob Tobias singled up the middle, bringing home Lampe and McLain. Kai Murphy would then put the ball in play and reach first base on a fielder’s choice as Tobias was out at second base while Long came home. Nate Baez would put the ball in play and reach first base via fielder’s choice as Murphy was out at second base to end the top of the 1st. 3-0 Arizona State lead.
In the bottom of the 1st, Stanford struck back with two runs. In the first at-bat, Brock Jones went yard to make it a 3-1 game. Carter Graham then hit a single up the middle. After Brett Barrera lined out to left field, Braden Montgomery doubled to left center, advancing Graham to third base. Kody Huff then hit a single up the middle to bring home Graham while Montgomery advanced to third base. 3-2. Vincent Martinez and Drew Bowser both grounded out to end the inning, but Stanford was now back in the saddle.
“Looked like old Brock right there, right?” Esquer said. “That was an old Brock Jones game right there. Three hits and was able to come up big for us and that’s been huge.”
“Yeah you know, I actually, I chased two changeups,” Jones recalled of his home run. “I was a little out in front, so it was kind of a, made a bat adjustment, to kinda just sit back and let it get deep a little bit and kinda just be able to back spin the ball. Just have a little bit of flex in that front knee and I saw it and I was just able to go get it.”
In the top of the 2nd, Ryan Campos hit a single to left field before then advancing to second base thanks to a wild pitch. Cam Magee would then double down the right field line to bring home Campos. At this point, Joey Dixon came in to replace Pancer on the mound. That pitching change didn’t do much for the next at-bat as Lampe doubled to left center bringing home Magee. 5-2 Arizona State lead. The Sun Devils wouldn’t add any more runs in the 2nd, but they appeared to be in a good spot.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Eddie Park hit a single for Stanford to right field. Adam Crampton would then fly out to left field for the first out. With Jones back at the top of the order, he hit a double down the right field line that advanced Park to third base. Graham would then line out to left field for the second out, which was hit deep enough to bring Park home. Thanks to Barrera hitting a single to right field, Jones was able to round third and come home for the second run of the inning. Montgomery struck out looking to end the inning, but Stanford once again responded as they needed to. 5-4.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Mathews came in for Dixon. Luckily for him, he came to the mound with his team down by just one run. Mathews wouldn’t give up any runs in the 3rd inning, giving Stanford a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the 3rd. However, Stanford’s bats would cool in the bottom of the 3rd as well as nobody was able to generate any runs.
“We knew we’re not going to use him before the third,” Esquer said of how they planned to use Mathews. “So we had to try to get through it. I think we took three or four pitchers to get to the third and they scored five, but once we got him there, he was able to stabilize the game some and allow us to keep scoring and take control of the game.”
In the top of the 4th inning, Mathews’ pitching continued to be sound as the Sun Devils were unable to score. Outside of a double from McLain, they didn’t get any hits nor did anyone else get on base. In the bottom of the 4th inning, Stanford once again looked to take the lead. Jones got things going with a double to left center. In the next at-bat, Graham hit a single up the middle to bring Jones home. This tied the game up 5-5.
In the next at-bat, Barrera singled to center field while Graham advanced to second base. Montgomery would then fly out to left field for the first out of the inning. In the next at-bat, Huff would be walked to load up the bases for Martinez. Martinez took advantage, hitting a grand slam to make it a 9-5 Stanford lead. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning, but now momentum was on their side.
“He’s been getting in the lineup and just a shot in the arm that he’s given us and some good at bats, some good veteran at-bats,” Esquer said of Martinez. “And then obviously some big swings. Three home runs on the weekend, I think it was and just a great job for us.”
“The past couple games, I’ve been doing pretty well on pitches away from me,” Martinez said. “And I’ve been struggling a little bit getting to pitches and coach Rodriguez kinda came over to me and coach Eager and said hey like, your gonna start getting thrown in, you’re not really hitting as well, and so guys got on base, Huff had a really good at-bat before me, kinda set the stage, and I was just looking for something in and threw it in there. Put a good swing on it.”
Arizona State would have another scoreless inning in the top of the 5th inning as Mathews’ pitching continued to give them trouble. Davis would get to second base, but that was it. Nobody was able to bring him home.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, Jones flied out to left center in the first at-bat. In the second at-bat, Graham singled to second base. Barrera would then strike out for the second out. Montgomery then came to the plate and he homered to right field to bring home Graham, making it an 11-5 lead. Huff would get walked after which Martinez grounded out to short stop to end the inning. Stanford was firmly in control.
The top of the 6th inning was more of the same for the Sun Devils as they once again did not score any runs. Outside of McLain getting walked, nobody got on base. Offensively, they were struggling.
As for Stanford, the bottom of the 6th yielded some fruit. After Bowser fouled out, Park got walked before stealing second base. Crampton then singled through the left side to bring Park home. 12-5 Stanford lead. Nobody else would get a hit or get on base the rest of the way, but it was a successful inning for Stanford as they tacked on another run.
In the top of the 7th inning, Arizona State started to show signs of life as Davis doubled to left center in the opening at-bat. Tobias then was walked. After Murphy flied out to center field, Davis advanced to third base. Baez then got walked as well, advancing Tobias to second base. Campos then singled through the left side to bring home Davis while Baez advanced to second base and Tobias advanced to third. Then, Magee grounded out to first base unassisted advancing Campos and Baez while Tobias scored. Lampe then flied out to left field to end the inning. 12-7.
In the bottom of the 7th inning, Stanford got right back to work as Barrera doubled down the right field line to get things going. Montgomery would then be out at first base, but advanced Barrera to third. Thanks to a single from Huff, Barrera came home. In the next at bat, Martinez homered to left field bringing in Huff. It was now a 15-7 Stanford lead. But Stanford was not done in this inning. Bowser would single to right field after which Park was walked. In the following at-bat, a single from Crampton advanced Park to third base while bringing home Bowser. 16-7 Stanford lead. Jones grounded into a double play to end the inning.
“Well, it’s April,” Esquer said. “It’s April and the field’s hot and the weather’s hot and guys have seen enough pitching up ‘til now. So average breaking balls are no longer going to be a mystery. So you gotta have stuff and you gotta come with pitches right now. Because the average stuff is gonna hit, in our league, it’ll get taken advantage of, and a little bit for us on their side. They, like I said, they, we probably weren’t at the top of our game, for some of those guys didn’t make the pitches that they would have liked to have made, and Arizona’s gonna keep scoring some runs.”
To Arizona State’s credit, they kept battling. In the top of the 8th, they added two more runs with Long doubling down the left field line to bring home McLain after which Tobias hit a single to bring Long home. In the top of the 9th, Baez hit a double and then advanced to third base before scoring on a wild pitch. The Sun Devils would reach double digit runs, but they still lost in the end by a final score of 16-10.
“A lot of times Sunken here plays pretty offensive and we knew that today,” Jones said. “So we were going to take advantage of and we never really panicked or freaked out when they scored or whatever. We were able to just kinda fight back and get back to being offensive and we have a lot of faith in our arms, too to kinda get us zeros and today they got hit around a little bit, but that’s gonna happen and our offense was able to pick them up.
“As of late, we’ve been talking about just split the game into three three-inning games. So we kinda just say let’s win the first three-inning game, let’s win the second, let’s win the third, and in our minds it makes it a little bit easier to focus on the short innings right ahead of us. So just kinda focus on what’s right in front of us and just go from there and just like I said, have trust in our guys and just kinda rely on the next guy if you don’t get it done.”
For Stanford, this weekend is huge. To get a sweep, especially in league play, is big and does a lot to boost your RPI. After suffering a rather puzzling loss last Tuesday against St. Mary’s, Stanford responded emphatically. You could tell the guys felt really good after this one.
"It’s definitely awesome,” Jones said of getting the sweep. “It’s definitely a great feeling. We always get those sweep cookies on the weekend from Eager’s wife. So that’s always good. I think it’s just going to give us some momentum and some confidence moving into this next week.”
“Dude, it’s awesome, you know what I mean?” Martinez added. “Especially in competitive conferences when things can swing weekend to weekend, you know how bad it feels to get swept and how great it feels to sweep. So any chance you have the opportunity to do that, it’s awesome. It really is.”
The major hero was Vincent Martinez. His grand slam is what basically put the game out of reach. He had two home runs and nicely capped off what has been a very productive weekend for him.
“Not looking to hit a home run or anything,” Martinez admitted. “I’m just looking to kinda square something up. Preferably, on the ground I’m not the fastest. So in a bases loaded spot, I wanna avoid hitting balls in the ground. Not looking to hit a home run by any means. Just kinda seeing a pitch I think I could get a good swing on and hit it.”
Brock Jones also was big with his solo home run and three runs scored. He’s done a really nice job of settling in and getting more comfortable with how teams are pitching to him. That’s made a huge difference for this Stanford team.
“Yeah, it’s definitely been an ongoing thing for me,” Jones said of adjusting to how he’s being pitched to. “Just kinda trusting the process a little bit and yeah I do get pitched around a little bit differently. So I’m kinda trying to find a hold of that approach and kinda just stay true to that approach and kinda just go from there.
“I think this weekend was actually a huge step for me in the right direction. Just kinda being able to see off speed and hit off speed and be on time for eithers, too when they come in. Defensively honestly, just kinda catch everything that’s out there. For the most part don’t let any we call “Secret Service”, you know, take care of the ball. Just continuing to work and have faith in my process.”
On the injury front, Esquer did address the status of Tommy Troy, who missed all of this weekend. It sounds like it’s nothing serious and he should be back soon.
“Yeah, hurt his ankle,” Esquer said of Troy. “Mild sprain. Should be ready to go by next weekend.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against San Francisco on Tuesday. That game will begin at 6:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio.
“Tough opponent,” Esquer said of the Dons. “They’re gonna test us. Test our will a little bit. We gotta come out and play a very similar game than we have. Now we haven’t proved that we can do that yet and the more consistently we come out and play and establish that we can play our level of baseball no matter what the day is going to be big.”
Across the diamond: Stanford softball had another big victory on their diamond as well on Sunday, taking the series against #2 UCLA with a second straight 1-0 shutout. Up next for them, they’ll head to Berkeley Thursday through Saturday for a three-game series against Cal.
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