On Tuesday, Stanford baseball fell to Saint Mary’s 8-1 at home in a non-conference contest. Saint Mary’s senior right-handed pitcher Jackson Hulett (4-1) picked up the win while Stanford freshman right-handed pitcher/outfielder Braden Montgomery (0-2) picked up the loss. Saint Mary’s improves to 18-11 overall (2-7 WCC) while Stanford falls to 14-10 overall (6-6 Pac-12).
“Just a tough ball game,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said of his main message to his team. “Coaches, we’re not going palms up on them. But, this program at one time, I think we lost one midweek game in three years when I first got here, right? So, we’re not used to this type of performance in midweeks and it can happen and I’ve seen a lot of programs where it doesn’t happen. It just hasn’t happened here. So, it’s just standards, right? We just try to make sure we uphold the standards that this program has worked so hard to have.”
Braden Montgomery got his first start of the season for Stanford after previously experiencing bullpen roles. Unfortunately for Montgomery and Stanford, his start did not go the way they were hoping it would. In the top of the 1st inning, Montgomery gave up a single to leadoff hitter Gavin Napier, who was playing in left field. Thanks to two wild pitches, Napier would get to third base before scoring on a passed ball. Montgomery would not allow any more runs the rest of the inning, but he did hit a batter and give up another hit before finally securing the third out by striking out Saint Mary’s designated hitter Nathan Chong. All three of the outs Montgomery got were via strike out so he was throwing some heat. It’s just that he was a bit too erratic.
After Stanford was unable to get on base in the bottom of the 1st inning, Esquer did not want to take any more chances and decided to have Montgomery stay at designated hitter the rest of the way with Brandt Pancer coming in to relieve Montgomery on the mound to start the top of the 2nd inning. Esquer was hoping the pitching change would help his team settle in.
“Well, we’re trying to get him out there, trying to get him hot,” Esquer said of starting Montgomery. “I mean, he started the season as our closer, right? I mean, he was going to pitch the 9th inning with one run leads. That didn’t work out, but he has the ability to do stuff like that and we just need to get him out there and hopefully normalize the game a little bit. He seemed to struggle with just the game being just normal for him and more guys need experience doing that.”
For the next couple of innings, the move seemed to work as Saint Mary’s led 1-0 entering the top of the 4th inning. However, in the first at-bat of the top of the 4th, 3rd baseman Chris Santiago went yard off Pancer for his 7th home run of the season. It was now a 2-0 Saint Mary’s lead. To Pancer’s credit, he did not allow another batter to get on base the rest of the inning. In the bottom of the 4th, it was more offensive woes for Stanford. Right fielder Carter Graham was able to hit a double to lead things off but would be stranded on second base as nobody else was able to advance him.
“You know, the guys we put out there, we expected to be able to win,” Esquer said when asked about the shaky pitching rotation. “We did. There’s guys that went out there and we expect them to be able to help us on weekends, right? And so, we weren’t practicing today. We were trying to compete. So, they beat our best. I mean, they beat guys that we expect to help us win games. It’s kind of sobering to be capable of maybe not playing consistently. Which is what we didn’t because hey, we just got finished beating the number two team in the country on the road. So, we’re capable of more and better.”
In the top of the 5th inning, Pancer came out and was replaced by righty Nathan Fleischli, who was making his first appearance on the mound this season for the Cardinal. Fleischli did pretty well in the top of the 5th as he got the three outs needed with little trouble. 2nd baseman Javy Espinoza did hit a single off Fleischli, but he would be caught stealing second base while the other two batters were unable to get on base.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, Stanford once again was hoping to finally get on the board and there was hope at first as 3rd baseman Drew Bowser was hit by a pitch and advanced to second base thanks to a wild pitch to put him in scoring position. However, 2nd baseman Tommy Troy would foul out to 1st base while short stop Adam Crampton and Braden Montgomery both struck out.
In the top of the 6th inning with two outs, short stop Christopher Campos was on 3rd base for Saint Mary’s while right fielder Kyle Velazquez was on 1st base after getting walked. It was at this point that Fleischli’s evening was done as Cody Jensen came in to relieve him. Jensen would get the out needed to end the inning without giving up any runs as Chong hit a fly ball to center field to end the inning.
After Stanford was unable to score in the bottom of the 6th, Saint Mary’s got going again in the top of the 7th inning. After Espinoza hit a single with one out, Napier hit a double with two outs that brought him home. 3-0. Campos then singled advancing Napier to third base, who then scored thanks to a throwing error by Jensen. 4-0. After 1st baseman Christian Almanza hit a single, Campos advanced to second base. Santiago then hit a double that drove Campos home. 5-0. Velazquez striking out would be the third out, but Saint Mary’s had just the kind of inning they needed. In the bottom of the 7th, Stanford did not score nor did anyone get on base. Time was now running out.
Saint Mary’s' bats cooled in the top of the 8th inning as Justin Moore was now on the mound, getting three quick outs for Stanford. In the bottom of the 8th, Stanford scored their lone run as Montgomery got on first base thanks to a wild pitch as he struck out after Crampton struck out in the opening at-bat. After Eddie Park hit a single, that advanced Montgomery to second base. After Graham fouled out down the 1st base line, Montgomery got to third base with two outs. Thanks to a single from 1st baseman Brett Barrera, Montgomery would come home. 5-1. That would be the only run Stanford scored in the bottom of the 8th as freshman catcher Charlie Saum struck out swinging to end the inning.
In the top of the 9th inning, Saint Mary’s added three more runs as extra cushion. Nicolas Lopez was now on the mound for Stanford and he did not have a good inning at all. After getting a strikeout in the first at-bat, Lopez walked Napier and then threw a wild pitch to advance Napier to second base before walking Campos. Thanks to a single from Almanza, Napier scored while Campos advanced to third base. 6-1. It was at this point that Lopez was pulled for Max Meier. After Meier got a strikeout for the second out, Almanza stole second base and Campos stole home. 7-1. Then, Seth Nager hit a double down the right field line to drive in Almanza. It was now an 8-1 lead for Saint Mary’s. That would be the only runs Saint Mary’s would score, but three runs was more than enough. In the bottom of the 9th inning, Stanford was unable to score much less get on base, making it an 8-1 Saint Mary’s victory.
“We just haven’t been good enough yet,” Esquer said of his team’s hitting. “We thought that that would be the strength of our team and it just hasn’t been the strength of our team. Which is kinda frustrating. It’s been a little off again. We depend a lot on what Stanford was built on, which is pitching and defense, but our offense is yet to take control of the games as often as we thought it would.”
Touching more on the hitting, Esquer has been looking for answers to get more consistency there. One recent move has been the decision to insert Joe Lomuscio into the starting lineup at left field. Known more for his defense, Stanford is hoping that Lomuscio can give them more of a spark on offense as well.
“Well, we just hope he’d bring us a spark,” Esquer said of Lomuscio. “He’s kind of a fearless player. Kind of a guy that came up and he’s got a tough mentality. We’re just looking for a spark, someone to just kinda show that hey the game maybe isn’t as difficult as we’re making it.”
For Saint Mary’s this is a big win for them. They come out on the road and beat a borderline top-25 team with College World Series aspirations on a Tuesday night. They should be feeling really good about themselves. Their hitting was superb and their pitching was close to lights out. They really could not have asked for a better evening.
As for Stanford, this loss really stings. After getting a home sweep against Washington State and taking two out of three at Oregon State, they laid a massive egg in this one. No way to sugarcoat it. They should have won this game and they know it. That’s a reason why Esquer talked to his team for so long after the game. He really was trying to tell them that they are capable of being so much better than how they performed.
“I could give them that excuse,” Esquer said when asked if this was just the team letting up after a big weekend. “I refuse to, right? I could and someone could say that. It’s just Saint Mary’s on a Tuesday. But, to be quite honest if the season comes down and we don’t make a regional it could come down to losing to a Saint Mary’s on a Tuesday that kinda plunges your RPI below what would be competitive.”
At this point, all that Stanford can do is just try to shake this one off and get back to work on Friday night where they’ll open up a three-game home series against Arizona State. That game will begin at 6:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream-2 and KZSU radio.
“I think the season, every weekend is no different for us,” Esquer said looking ahead to the Sun Devils. “I think everyone is capable of beating us and we’ve gotta find a way to develop some consistency of our just being competitive.”
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