On Sunday, Stanford baseball picked up a huge 8-5 win at #4 Oregon State in Corvallis to win the weekend series against the Beavers. Stanford junior left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews (4-1) picked up the win for the Cardinal while Oregon State redshirt senior right-handed pitcher Mitchell Verburg (2-3) was awarded the loss for the Beavers. Stanford improves to 14-9 overall and 6-6 in the Pac-12 while Oregon State falls to 20-7 overall and 7-5 in the Pac-12.
After Stanford was unable to score in the top of the 1st inning, Oregon State became the first team to strike in the bottom of the 1st inning by scoring one run to take a 1-0 lead. After getting walked with two outs, center fielder Jacob Melton advanced to second base on a wild pitch before then stealing third base. Thanks to a single from 1st baseman Garret Forrester, Melton was able to come home. In the next at-bat, 2nd baseman Travis Bazzana struck out to end the inning.
The 2nd inning would be quiet as neither team scored or generated much offense. The top of the 3rd inning however was much more interesting. In the top of the 3rd, Stanford short stop Adam Crampton hit a single through the right side with one out. During right fielder Braden Montgomery’s at-bat, Crampton then stole second base to get in scoring position. Unfortunately for Crampton, he would stay stranded on second base as neither Montgomery nor left fielder Joe Lomuscio could advance him.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Oregon State added four runs to go up 5-0. 3rd baseman Kyle Dernedde got things going with a double down the left field line after which left fielder Wade Meckler was walked. The bases would then get loaded up as right fielder Justin Boyd hit a bunt single to load up the bases. It was at this point, that Stanford made a pitching change, bringing in Quinn Mathews for Drew Dowd.
Mathews would strike out Melton, but afterwards would walk the next three batters to make it a 4-0 Oregon State lead. Then, Oregon State would score their fourth run of the inning via a passed ball to go up 5-0 as Forrester, the first batter to get walked, came home. Mathews would prevent future runs from scoring by getting two more outs, but Stanford was now in a big hole.
To Stanford’s credit, they went right to work in the top of the 4th inning by scoring three runs. 1st baseman Carter Graham got things going with a single after which Brett Barrera hit a single to third base to advance Graham to second base. Catcher Kody Huff would then hit a double to bring Graham home and advance Barrera to third. After that, center fielder Brock Jones grounded out to first base to bring home Barrera and advance Huff to third base. Thanks to 3rd baseman Drew Bowser grounding out to short stop, Huff would come home. It was now a 5-3 game. Tommy Troy, who was batting as designated hitter, flied out to end the inning.
After Oregon State was unable to respond in the bottom of the 4th inning, it would be more of the same in the 5th inning as both teams did not score a single run. Oregon State was hoping that the 4th inning would be all that Stanford would have in them and that they would be able to contain them from there.
However, Stanford heated up again in the top of the 6th inning. Graham would hit a double to get things going after which Barrera hit a double to advance Graham to third base. After Huff got walked, the bases were now loaded with no outs. At this point, Oregon State took Verburg off the mound after he only pitched the fifth inning in relief for starter AJ Lattery. DJ Carpenter was now on the mound. Unfortunately for Verburg’s ERA, Graham, Barrera, and Huff would all eventually score to give Stanford a 6-5 lead. During the next at-bat in which Jones was up, Graham scored the first run of the inning thanks to a wild pitch from Carpenter that advanced Huff to second base and Barrera to third base. After Jones struck out, Bowser would get a hit and advance to second base thanks a fielding error at third base. This error would result in both Barrera and Huff scoring the second and third runs of the inning. Troy and Crampton would both ground out to end the top of the inning, but Stanford was now in a good spot, holding a 6-5 lead.
In the bottom of the 6th inning, Mathews quickly retired the next three Oregon State batters getting two strikeouts in the process. The Beavers were unable to respond, making it a 6-5 Stanford lead with just three innings left.
After neither team scored in the 7th inning, Stanford would add two more runs in the top of the 8th inning as Oregon State made a pitching change to bring in Brock Townsend for Carpenter. After Huff struck out looking, Jones hit a double to get in scoring position. Then, Bowser would get walked. Thanks to a double from Troy, both Jones and Bowser would score. On top of that, thanks to a fielding error in center field, Troy would actually reach third base. 8-5 Stanford lead. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs in the rest of the inning, but now had just two innings left and a three run cushion.
While Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs in the top of the 9th inning, it didn’t matter as Quinn Mathews made quick work of the Oregon State lineups in the bottom of the 8th and 9th innings. Five of the six outs were strikeouts with the other out being a fly out. In the end, it was an 8-5 Stanford victory. As a result, Stanford took the series 2-1 after winning on Friday in extra innings and losing on Saturday in extra innings.
For Stanford, this is an absolutely huge win. Had they won one game in Corvallis, I think they could have considered it a successful road trip. To win two out of three games is simply fantastic. After having a rough patch against Oregon and Arizona, Stanford appears to have found their groove again going back to their previous three-game home sweep of Washington State. They’ve now won five of their last six games with two of those wins coming on the road at a top-five team.
What makes this series so impressive for Stanford is they won in a variety of ways. On Friday, they won a pitcher’s duel. On Sunday, they won a higher scoring game that forced their bats to come alive. No matter how they needed to win, they found a way to do it. That’s what good teams do.
Up next for Stanford is a non-conference home game on Tuesday against St. Mary’s. That game will begin at 6:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream-2.
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