On Sunday, Stanford baseball defeated Oregon State 9-5 to win the Pac-12 tournament. Ryan Bruno (5-1) was the winning pitcher for Stanford in a relief role while Brandt Pancer (2) picked up the save. Reid Sebby (1-2) was awarded the loss for Oregon State in a relief role.
Tommy O’Rourke got the start on the mound for Stanford and held the Beavers scoreless in the top of the 1st inning. After Justin Boyd hit a lead-off single, O’Rourke got the next three batters out, leaving Boyd stranded at first base.
In the bottom of the 1st inning, Stanford got on the board. Carter Graham got the first hit for the Cardinal by hitting a triple to right field with one out. Brett Barrera then hit a single through the right side to bring Graham home, making it a 1-0 Stanford lead. Thanks to a wild pitch, Barrera advanced to second base with Braden Montgomery at the plate. Montgomery then hit a home run to center field to bring Barrera home. It was now a 3-0 Stanford lead. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning.
The next two innings would be scoreless for both teams. O’Rourke pitched both of those innings for Stanford while Jaren Hunter came in to replace Mitchell Verburg for Oregon State. Both pitchers were doing a great job of keeping their opponents’ bats quiet.
In the 4th inning, things started to liven up on both sides. In the top of the 4th inning, O’Rourke walked Wade Meckler in the opening at-bat. As a result, O’Rourke was pulled off the mound and replaced by Drew Dowd. Dowd secured one strike out before giving up a single to Jacob Melton, which advanced Meckler to second base. Dowd then walked Travis Bazzana to load up the bases.
With Greg Fuchs at the plate, Dowd threw a wild pitch to bring Meckler home and advance both Bazzana and Melton. Fuchs then grounded out to first base to bring home Melton for the second run of the inning. Tanner Smith then struck out looking to end the top of the inning. 3-2 game.
In the bottom of the 4th, Stanford struck back with two runs of their own. Hunter hit Adam Crampton in the first at-bat after which Brock Jones hit a double to left center to advance Crampton to third base. Graham then hit a single through the right side to bring home both Crampton and Jones. Stanford wouldn’t extend their lead further the rest of the inning, but now had a 5-2 lead.
In the top of the 5th inning, Oregon State added a couple more runs to their total. With the bases loaded and two outs, Melton hit a single to short stop to bring home Meckler and Kyle Dernedde. Fuchs would strike out to end the inning, but with it now being a 5-4 game, Oregon State was hanging tough.
Stanford would not score in the bottom of the 5th despite Kody Huff getting walked and Drew Bowser hitting a double to advance him to third base. Oregon State had a new pitcher in as well as DJ Carpenter replaced Hunter. To Carpenter’s credit, he bended but didn’t break.
The 6th inning was scoreless for both teams. Both teams also made pitching changes as Ryan Bruno came in for Stanford to pitch for Dowd while AJ Lattery came in to pitch for Carpenter. Both Bruno and Lattery did their jobs well.
In the top of the 7th inning, Oregon State added a run. Bruno walked Meckler before throwing a wild pitch to advance him to second base with Garret Forrester at the plate. After Forrester struck out, Melton hit a single to first base to bring Meckler home. Meckler advanced to third base before scoring thanks to a throwing error by Graham. Oregon State didn’t score the rest of the inning, but it was now a 5-5 game.
In the bottom of the 7th, Sebby came in to replace Lattery on the mound for the Beavers. That move didn’t work out well for Oregon State as Bowser hit a homer to right center in the opening at-bat of the inning. Tommy Troy then advanced to first base courtesy of a throwing error. After Alberto Rios struck out looking as a pinch hitter for Vincent Martinez, Crampton hit a double to bring home Troy while then advancing to third base courtesy of an error. Jones and Graham would then strike out to end the inning. 7-5 Stanford lead at the end of the 7th.
Pancer came in to pitch for Bruno in the top of the 8th inning and got three quick outs. In the bottom of the 8th, Stanford added two more runs by way of a two-run homer from Huff that brought home Montgomery, who was walked. Those would be the only runs Stanford scored in the 8th. Going into the 9th inning, Stanford now had a 9-5 lead.
In the top of the 9th inning, Pancer did his job and secured the save without giving up a run. Melton did hit a triple with two outs, but he would not be brought home. In the end, Stanford won 9-5, securing the Pac-12 tournament championship.
For Stanford, what makes this championship so impressive is they did this on top of a regular season title. They firmly established themselves as the best team in the Pac-12 by winning this tournament. Stanford has now won 16 games in a row and are playing as good of baseball as anyone in the country.
Up next for Stanford is the NCAA tournament. They’ll host a regional this upcoming weekend with Texas State, UC Santa Barbara, and Binghamton in their region. Stanford has secured the No.2 national seed in the tournament. If they get past the regional, they’ll host a super-regional as well, which would have a College World Series appearance on the line. Their first game will be on Friday against Binghamton at 1:00 PM PT. That game will air on ESPN+ and KZSU radio.
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