Recap: Stanford Baseball gets even with Santa Clara on the road
On Wednesday, Stanford baseball defeated Santa Clara on the road by a final score of 6-4, bouncing back from a 2-1 loss to the Broncos at home earlier this month. Lefty Brock Ketelsen (1-1) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role while righty Kassius Thomas picked up his first save of the season. Righty Andrew Habermann (0-1) was the losing pitcher for the Broncos in a relief role. Rintaro Sasaki (1 RBI) and Brady Reynolds (2 RBI) both hit home runs for the Cardinal. Stanford improves to 18-19 overall (7-11 ACC) while Santa Clara falls to 14-25 overall (3-12 WCC).
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Santa Clara-Wednesday, April 22nd
“Opening thoughts, Tuesday wins are hard to come by,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “It doesn’t matter how you get them, you gotta get them, you know, and at the end of the year, if you don’t win midweek, it comes back to bite you in one way or another. So it was a big win. You know, we didn’t play, we played them last week and you know, it was a pillow fight for both teams on offense and we had plenty of opportunities, I think they walked us 11 times and we left a bunch of runners and had runners at third base less than two outs a number of times and then couldn’t get the win and they got one hit and beat us. So it was good to come back and play a better ball game here.”
Stanford got off to a 4-0 lead, scoring three runs in the top of the 2nd inning and one run in the top of the 3rd:
In the top of the 2nd, Charlie Bates got walked after which Jimmy Nati singled to third base via bunt, advancing Bates to second base. Nolan Stoll then singled through the right side to load up the bases. Brock Sell then got walked to bring home Bates. Cort MacDonald then hit a sacrifice fly to bring home both Nati and Stoll. After Sell stole second base, Eric Jeon lined into a double play to third base. In the top of the 3rd inning, Rintaro Sasaki went yard to deep right field for a solo shot, making it 4-0. Stanford wouldn’t score any more runs the rest of the inning.
“Yeah, Rintaro, you know, he’s been swinging the bat well and doing a nice job,” Esquer said. “And so, that was a big swing. Just like Brady Reynolds, too. But we can’t live on home run alone. And I think that’s where we’re finding that we’re having a little bit of problem. We take a base hit up the middle with runners in scoring position, couldn’t put some games away or get us over the hump and that’s where we’ve got to do a better job. But, yeah the home run has been leading us and like I said, Rintaro’s and Brady Reynolds’ were big.”
Santa Clara would answer in the bottom of the 4th inning with two runs as Colt Peterson was now on the mound for the Cardinal. Waylon Walsh singled to center field after which Bryant Viskovich singled up the middle to advance Walsh to second base. Matthew Tiendas then reached on a fielder’s choice as Viskovich was out at second base while Walsh advanced to third base. Camden Sos then reached on a fielder’s choice to bring home Walsh as Tiendas was out at second base. Kai Cunningham doubled to right field to bring home Sos, who scored from first base. Koen Carston then grounded out to third base to end the bottom of the 4th. 4-2 Stanford now led.
Neither team scored in the 5th or 6th inning. Sam Garewal pitched both innings for Stanford, totaling four strikeouts. He had a nice day and continues to get better as the season goes on. His confidence is definitely growing.
“You know, his velocity is up,” Esquer said of Garewal. “He really is. I think he’s been 95 miles per hour the last two or three times out. And so, like, he’s turning it loose. He’s not being as careful. I think he’s just; he’s competing way better than he has, rather than kind of feeling his way through it.”
Santa Clara would add a run in the bottom of the 7th to make it 4-3. With one out, Mace Wheeler singled to second base, forcing a pitching change as Mike Erspamer came in for Cohen Gomez. Max Ross hit a single through the left side to advance Wheeler to second base. With two outs, Luke Devine doubled through the left side to bring home Wheeler and advance Ross to third base. Johnny Luetzow grounded out to short stop to end the inning as Trevor Moore came in for Erspamer to get that final out.
In the top of the 8th inning, Stanford scored two runs. Bates hit a single to third base after which Nati popped up to the infield. Pinch hitting for Stoll, Brady Reynolds came in and hit a two run shot to deep left field, making it a 6-3 lead as Bates came home to score. Stanford wouldn’t score the rest of the game.
“Yeah, I mean, you know, I was talking to coach Steve Rodriguez and you know, spot came up. He just told me, you know, to get ready to hit for Nolan Stoll, we’re gonna make some defensive changes,” Reynolds recalled. “And, you know, I was warming up in the dugout, getting ready, you know, getting the mind right and you gotta be ready when your name is called upon and took a practice swing, got ready, and I was just you know, trying to hit a low line drive somewhere down first, try to get him in scoring position. So yeah.”
In the bottom of the 8th, Stanford would give up one run with Moore on the mound. Mateo Garcia doubled to deep center field after which Andrew Rayment grounded out to the left side of the infield, advancing Garcia to third base. After striking out Sos, Moore threw a wild pitch with Cunningham at the plate. That brought home Garcia. Cunningham then got walked before Wheeler grounded out to end the inning. 6-4 Stanford led going into the 9th inning.
In the top of the 9th, Stanford did not score, keeping it 6-4 going into the bottom of the 9th. In the bottom of the 9th, Kassius Thomas came in to get the save on the mound. Ross would reach first base thanks to a throwing error (E3) and advance to second base. Thomas then struck out Thomas Ferroggiaro to get the first out after which he forced Devine to fly out to deep right field, advancing Ross to third base. Thomas then forced Will Anderson to ground out, ending the game. 6-4 Stanford got the win over Santa Clara.
“I was like, it’s an out,” Thomas said with a laugh about the deep ball to the warning track. “You know, 334 feet ain’t 335 feet. Just an out is an out. Collect as many as you can. Get out of there. Get out there with the win, with the save, it don’t matter, you know what I mean?
“I was at, I remember just, sidebar. I was at Virginia Tech and guy hit a ball like 107 off me. I’m like oh my god, that ball’s getting out. And then the wind just brough it back in. Don’t matter. 107 out. You know what I mean? Like, if it’s an out, it’s an out. I don’t care how it comes. I don’t care how it looks. An out is an out.”
For Stanford, this is a nice win. The pitching did its job and they got timely hitting. That’s often a recipe for success.
“Overall fine, for sure,” Esquer said of the pitching. “You know, maybe Colt Peterson probably had, gave up a couple runs, but other than that, I thought it was excellent, you know, and I think we kept handing it off. I think we’re getting a little bit better every time out. You know, Garewal’s having a good outing. You know, most of the time when he comes out there and Ketelsen is getting better. You know, Erspamer, and obviously Trevor Moore and Kassius Thomas has been great.”
“I think we just have been growing up a bit as a staff, kind of in terms of like, and everybody grows up differently and like, just everyone’s been kind of finding their way,” Thomas said of their growth as a pitching staff. “Just, everyone’s been kind of finding their way. Especially, I’ll say, like, I’ll shout out my boy Sam. He’s like been doing really well. He’s like came a long way and he’s been playing more mentally free. You could definitely see that out on the mound.
“I’ll say the same thing about like Sperm [Erspamer], he’s like, come a long way and just in terms of where he’s at. Like, mentally he’s just more calm. Like, he’s not getting, like too excited and letting it get too big for him and you just see that, you just like see that, you know, going out there a lot more calm and he’s doing his thing, you know what I mean? And that, like that’s big coming from a freshman. We really need that.
“We got a lot of other guys. Like, I’m not saying other guys, like our whole staff is working really hard. Like not just right now, but like the entire year. Like even, we’re just now seeing the results, but we’ve been putting this work in since fall. So, it’s I always knew that we had this. It’s nice to see us starting to deliver.”
What made this win all the more impressive was the way Brady Reynolds came in to get a pinch hit home run. You rarely see those and Reynolds admitted it might be the first time he’s ever done that.
“Yeah, I was talking afterwards in the dugout, I was joking with Jimmy Nati, I was like I don’t think I’ve ever done that before,” Reynolds said. “And so, it was a pretty cool moment. You know, kind of come in those tight spots, you know, be ready to go, slow the heart rate, it was pretty awesome. So, one to remember for sure…I think it’s big. Those midweek games can kinda be trap games. Coach Esquer likes to call it. Didn’t fall into the trap tonight. You know, carrying a lot of momentum from Sunday into today and now get the win today and be able to carry that into this weekend.”
Touching more on Kassius Thomas, he came in with a mission and a lot of focus, throwing smoke from the mound. He has a killer mentality on the mound and isn’t afraid to admit it.
“I mean, man, you know it, like I’m trying to kill you,” Thomas said of his mentality on the mound. “I’m trying to kill the other team. I get in the box; you shouldn’t be in my box. I step on the field; you shouldn’t be on the same field as me. And that’s like, kind of the intensity I’m out there playing with. And I think that’s where you see like, a lot of my emotion and like, walking around and coming from, it’s just like, I’m now in competition mode and nothing else matters.
“I don’t even think, man, I’ve been blessed with a good arm. I’ve always kind of thrown hard and it’s just like; I’m not up there trying to feel anything out. I’m just up there, like this is what I have. And I think what I have is better than what you have. So I’m just gonna, whatever it is that day, you know, that’s just what it’s gonna be. If it’s 92, it’s gonna be with the same conviction as my 95.”
“Well, we brought Trevor in when the game was on the line,” Esquer said. “You know, second and third, you know, and they got a run on a wild pitch, but he got the next out. We brought him in when the game was going to be decided and we knew we’d have to maybe cover the 9th with someone else whether it was Dugan or Kassius, but we were willing to take that chance to keep it, to keep the lead.
“Yeah, he’s throwing the ball hard [Thomas]. He’s throwing the ball hard. He throws the ball with sink and he’s tough. He can be really tough. He’s in the zone, he’s tough to hit. He’s tough to hit.”
Up next for Stanford is a home series against Florida State this weekend. Game one will be on Friday at 6:05 PM PT on ACCNX.
“It doesn’t get any easier, the Seminoles are good, right?“ Esquer said of facing the Seminoles. “And it’s kind of exciting to play Florida State at Sunken Diamond. That doesn’t happen a whole lot. I don’t think it’s happened since a regional in 96, maybe? It’s been a while since they’ve been at Sunken Diamond. So, it’ll be fun, but very challenging because they’re going to be, they’re good.”
“Excuse my language, F— the Seminoles,” Thomas said with authority. “Like, I don’t care who you are, you know, we’re gonna beat you. I don’t care who you are. Like, it could be the Yankees up there. Like, you know, that’s a little different, but like yeah, I mean, like, we’re gonna go, we’re gonna give the best we got and we gonna let the chips fall where they may because that’s all you can do. Yeah, we’re gonna play our hearts out like we do every game.”
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