Preview: Stanford Baseball welcome Pitt to Sunken Diamond; Stanford Softball welcomes Notre Dame to Stanford Stadium
This weekend, there will be a pair of ACC home series for both Stanford baseball and Stanford softball. It will be the ACC home opener for baseball.
Stanford baseball will take on Pittsburgh while Stanford softball will take on Notre Dame. Stanford baseball will play on Friday at 6:05 PM PT, on Saturday at 2:05 PM PT, and on Sunday at 1:05 PM PT. Stanford softball will play on Friday at 6:00 PM PT, on Saturday at 2:00 PM PT, and on Sunday at 12:00 PM PT. All six games will air on ACCNX.
Last time out: Starting with Stanford baseball, they defeated Nevada on Wednesday by a final score of 13-8. As for Stanford softball, they are coming off a home sweep of Pittsburgh, winning 9-2 on Sunday. Stanford baseball is now 6-10 overall (0-3 ACC) while Stanford softball is now 14-6 overall (4-2 ACC).
RECAP: Stanford Baseball gets back on track against Nevada
RECAP: No. 21 Stanford Softball sweeps Pitt
On Pittsburgh: The Panthers are 12-3 overall and off to a strong start. This is their first series of ACC play. They’ve been in the Bay Area since last week, so they are acclimated well to the time zone. They swept San Jose State 3-0, including a dominant 20-1 win that ended in seven innings. They also faced Santa Clara in a single game on Tuesday, losing 3-4.
The top power and contact hitter for the Panthers is redshirt senior outfielder Lorenzo Carrier, who is batting .491 for eight home runs and 38 RBIs to go along with a 1.094 slugging percentage and a .600 on base percentage. The number two contact hitter is senior outfielder AJ Nessler, who is batting .390 for three home runs, 12 RBIs, a .661 slugging percentage, and a .519 on base percentage. The number two power hitter is junior catcher Sebastian Pisacreta, who is batting .328 for five home run and 19 RBIs for a .638 slugging percentage and a .426 on base percentage.
To touch quickly on their pitching staff, the Panthers have a 3.27 ERA while their opponents have an 11.98 ERA. Sophomore righty Antonio Doganiero has a record of 2-1 in four starts with an ERA of 2.03. He’s been excellent to start the season.
Team stats-Pittsburgh Panthers
On Notre Dame: The Irish have had a rough season at 10-15 overall and 0-3 in the ACC. Their only power conference win is a 5-2 victory over Maryland last month at a neutral site. They got swept by Georgia Tech to open up ACC play a couple weeks back. They are yet to have a home ACC series, so I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to that. They’ve been on the West Coast this entire week, playing at a tournament hosted by San Diego and San Diego State. In their most recent game, they played UC Santa Barbara on the road, winning 8-6, so they too shouldn’t be bothered by the time zone.
Junior utility Sydney Poeck is batting .397 for nine RBIs, a .471 slugging percentage, and a .475 on base percentage. She has zero home runs this season. The top power hitter for the Irish is sophomore catcher Rebecca Eckart, who is batting .212 for three home runs, 12 RBIs, a .424 slugging percentage, and a .333 on base percentage.
As for the Irish pitching staff, they have a 3.90 ERA while their opponents have a 4.08 ERA. Junior Kami Kamzik has a 2-4 record in 15 appearances and eight starts with a team-best 3.76 ERA.
Team stats-Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Keys to the series: Starting with Stanford baseball, the first thing they need to do is make sure their pitching holds firm. The bats have been doing their job as of late, but it’s been the pitching side that has let them down. I feel like the starting pitching in particular needs to get rolling, but across the board, both starters and bullpen have to do their job.
Secondly, Stanford’s bats gotta stay hot. You don’t want a situation where the bats cool right when the pitching gets going. You need both to be on point at the same time. Hopefully this is the weekend that happens for Stanford. Jimmy Nati, Tatum Marsh, and Rintaro Sasaki being the trio that Stanford is most relying on.
Switching gears to Stanford softball, as long as Taryn Kern keeps doing her thing, I don’t see a way Stanford loses this series. So long as she stays hot behind the plate and others around her are able to play fine, Stanford should win this series with little trouble.
Secondly, Zoe Prystajko has been electric in the pitching circle with a 2.04 ERA. If she has another strong weekend, Stanford should be in a good spot to win this series.
Prediction: On the baseball front, I’ll pick Stanford to take two out of three. I have a hard time seeing them get a sweep given their recent struggles, but since they are at home, I’ll give them the nod to win the series. As for softball, I got a sweep for Stanford. They swept Pitt last week and Notre Dame is not any good. Notre Dame should be thrilled if they can take a game off the Cardinal this weekend.
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