Recap: Stanford Baseball falls to NC State on Saturday
On Saturday, Stanford baseball fell to NC State at home by a final score of 12-7. Sam Harris (2-1) was the winning pitcher for the Wolfpack in a relief role while Sam Garewal (0-3) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role. NC State right fielder Andrew Wiggins was the top offensive performer for the Wolfpack, going 2-4 for one home run and four RBIs. Stanford designated hitter Teddy Tokheim was the top offensive performer for the Cardinal, going 3-4 for two home runs and four RBIs. NC State improves to 31-18 overall and 13-13 in the ACC while Stanford falls to 24-25 overall and 11-15 in the ACC. The weekend series is now tied 1-1.
BOX SCORE: NC State at Stanford-Saturday, May 9th
“Yeah that was a tough one man,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “We let that one get away. You know, I thought we had them. We had him them right where you’d want to have a team. Down 5-0, we got first and second nobody out in the in the top or bottom of the 3rd. Really kind of sensing the flow of the game. They gone to the back end of their bullpen, right? They weren’t trying to protect a 5-0 deficit. They were going to just try to get in. One guy came in there, didn’t walk a guy till the 8th pitched five zeros and gave up one. You know gave up the kind of a window dressing home run to Sasaki and in the 8th, but that’s a golden opportunity we let get by us.
“You know and then after that inning where we kind of squander that inning, we go walk walk in the top of the 4th and you know, then we go to what a little bit has been our strength, which is just kind of moving pitchers in and out, right? And you know Toran at that point hadn’t proved that he’s going to be that guy that, you know, and we just can’t give too big a mess to our bullpen, right? We just, you know, hey, could he stay in there? Maybe, but if he walks another guy or walks a run in and then also we gotta hand it to a bullpen guy with the bases loaded nobody out, that’s not in their best interest.
“So we kind of do what we’ve been good at, which is shuffling pitchers in and out, trying to confuse them with pitch changes and it just didn’t work out. We end up giving two and then we got the clean inning and someone that we expect to help us in the clean inning Garewal didn’t have it today. So that was, it really is one of those squandered opportunities. It’s really hard to take because the rhythm of the game early was that we were gonna be able to take that one.”
Stanford got off to a hot start thanks to Teddy Tokheim. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Tokheim went yard to deep left field to bring home Eric Jeon, who had singled to short stop. Later on in the inning, JJ Moran hit a solo blast to deep left field, making it a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the 2nd inning, it was rinse and repeat. Jeon hit a single down the right field line. Tokheim then hit another four-bagger to deep right field, making it 5-0. NC State starting pitcher Luke Hemric would finish the inning, but he did not come back for the 3rd.
“I thought it was one of the great, you know, tone setters of the day to go up 5-0,” Esquer said of Tokheim’s performance. “And again, what it put the pressure into them as you saw that they had to go to the bottom of their bullpen in the 2nd inning. I mean, they went to a guy that went, got two guys on because he couldn’t hold them. He was their first choice. The guy they stuck in there for six innings [Sam Harris], was their second choice to come int the game and kind of try to hold us a little bit to see if they can, you know, and he did. He went six zeroes and allowed them to score. And then we helped them along by letting them, you know, helping them score eight or nine runs.”
Stanford starter Toran O’Harran would pitch three scoreless innings, but after walking back-to-back batters in the top of the 4th inning, his day was done and that’s when things started to fall apart for Stanford:
Austin Steeves came in for relief and would walk Andrew Wiggins to load up the bases. Christian Serrano would then ground out to third base to bring home Ty Head and advance both Sherman Johnson and Wiggins. Dalton Bargo then grounded out to second base to bring home Johnson and advance Wiggins to third base. NC State wouldn’t score the rest of the 4th inning. 5-2 was now the lead for Stanford.
In the top of the 5th inning, after Stanford failed to score in the bottom of the 4th, NC State added five runs as Sam Garewal was now pitching for Stanford. With the bases loaded and one out, Wiggins hit a single up the middle to bring home two runners and advance Johnson from first to third base. With two outs and Bargo at the plate, Wiggins would steal second base while Johnson stole home to tie it up 5-5. Catcher Luke Lavin threw the ball to Charlie Bates, who was covering second base as a short stop, but was unable to get Wiggins out. Bates then threw the ball back home to Lavin to tag Johnson out, but the throw was too high.
“Charlie didn’t make a great throw,” Esquer admitted. “But, Lavin wasn’t going to catch it, either. It’s a little on both, but it wasn’t a great throw. But you know, you’re hoping your team makes it so that everybody doesn’t have to play perfect. So it’s a little on both, but you know, it’s easy to say hey, just make a nice straight throw to home plate and we got the guy out and tag him, and then we’ll be up by a run, right?
“You certainly can [elect to not try to throw the guy out at second], but I mean, you’re playing in the ACC and you got a division one short stop that a lot of professionals think is gonna be a major leaguer, so you think if you put the ball in his hands, he can throw the ball, you know, 100 feet to home plate and get the out. The guy was out dead to right. We made the right call. We have the guy out. We just gotta execute the play. It’s no different than if they hit a grounder to short and we buried it in the dirt and the guy throws it away. Yeah, you know, you don’t, your division one short stop has got to make those plays.”
That defensive breakdown broke the game open for the Wolfpack as they would score two more runs in the inning after that as Vincent DeCarlo hit a two-RBI double down the left field line. 7-5 NC State would lead entering the bottom of the 5th inning. Stanford would not get anyone on base in the bottom of the 5th, keeping it a 7-5 game.
Colt Peterson would pitch the top of the 6th inning for Stanford and he didn’t have much better luck, giving up four runs. Johnson hit an RBI single, Head scored on a passed ball, and then Wiggins hit a two-run blast to right field to bring home Johnson. 11-5 NC State led. Stanford would not answer in the bottom of the 6th, keeping it an 11-5 game.
From there, NC State would go on to win 12-7 as Stanford was unable to rally. Head would hit a solo blast to deep right field in the top of the 8th to make it 12-5. In the bottom of the 8th, Rintaro Sasaki would hit a no-doubter to deep right field, making it 12-6. In the bottom of the 9th, Henry McDonald would double down the left field line to bring home Philip Cheong, who was on first base. That improved McDonald’s batting average to .750 (3-4) on the season).
For Stanford, this loss is a major disappointment given they were up 5-0 and got a great start thanks to Tokheim’s pair of home runs. They could have easily clinched the series in this one. Instead, they now have to play for the series on Sunday. It’s always better to go into Sunday with a chance to sweep as opposed to having to play for the series. At the same time, it’s better to go into Sunday with the chance to win the series as opposed to needing to avoid a sweep. So, things could be better but they could also be worse.
If Stanford wants to win on Sunday, they’re going to need to play better with their pitching and defense. If things improve on both those fronts, they should have a real chance of winning the series. On that note, Sunday’s game will be at 1:05 PM PT on ACCNX.
“Well, a lot of reasons to come out motivated tomorrow, right?” Esquer said. “It’s Senior Day, it’s Mother’s Day, and a chance to win a series. You know, they are a worthy opponent, man. They already proved they are not gonna lie down and just let you win. So, we gotta come out and play good baseball tomorrow.”
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