Recap: Stanford Baseball wins series at Virginia Tech
On Sunday, Stanford baseball defeated Virginia Tech 6-3 in 10 innings to take two out of three games to win the series. Stanford fell to Virginia Tech on Saturday by a final score of 10-2 with Sam Garewal (0-1) taking the loss in a starting role. Stanford was able to bounce back Sunday as Trevor Moore (4-1) picked up the win in a relief role while Teddy Tokheim, Charlie Bates, and Luke Lavin each had two RBIs. Tokheim would pick up Co-ACC Player of the Week honors as a result of the weekend he had.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Virginia Tech-Saturday, March 28th
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Virginia Tech-Sunday, March 29th
Sunday’s game was very much a back and forth affair with both teams trading runs all the way until the 10th inning when Stanford finally pulled away. An RBI single by Bates to bring home Tokheim in the top of the 1st inning made it a 1-0 lead for the Cardinal after Tokheim had doubled through the right side. In the bottom of the 1st, Hudson Lutterman hit a sacrifice fly to left field to bring home Sam Grube. Grube hit a single and advanced to second base thanks to a throwing error before advancing to third base thanks to a fly out from Pete Daniel.
Stanford would go up 2-1 in the top of the 2nd inning as Luke Lavin singled to center field to bring home Cort MacDonald who had doubled to left field. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Virginia Tech tied it up 2-2 as Henry Cooke was walked with the bases loaded. Brock Ketelsen was on the mound for the Cardinal at this point as he had come in for Kassius Thomas. Ketelsen would finish out the inning after a mound visit, getting the next two batters out to keep it a 2-2 game.
In the top of the 4th inning, a solo shot by Lavin to right field made it a 3-2 lead for the Cardinal. And then in the bottom of the 5th, Virginia Tech tied it up 3-3 thanks to an RBI single from Sam Gates through the right side that brought home Nick Locurto, who was on second base after a leadoff double.
In the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, neither team scored, keeping it a 3-3 game. In the top of the 10th inning, that’s when Stanford finally broke through to gain the separation they needed to win: MacDonald singled to second base after which Ethan Hott reached on a fielder’s choice hit to the pitcher’s mound via bunt as MacDonald was out at second base. Nolan Stoll then reached first base on a fielder’s choice hit to second base for the second out.
With two outs, Stanford was able to score three runs. Brock Sell hit a ground-rule double down the left field line, advancing Stoll to third base. Rintaro Sasaki was then intentionally walked to load up the bases. Up next to the plate was Sasaki, who would single up the middle to bring home Stoll and Sell while Saski advanced to third base. Bates then singled up the middle to bring home Sasaki, making it a 6-3 lead for the Cardinal. After Bates stole second base, JJ Moran would strike out swinging to end the top of the 10th inning.
In the bottom of the 10th, Trevor Moore, who came in to replace Mike Erspamer in the bottom of the 8th inning, shut the door on the Hokies. Daniel would fly out after which Ethan Ball was walked. Lutterman then grounded out, advancing Ball to second base before Locurto flied out to center field to end the game. 6-3 Stanford came out on top, winning the series 2-1.
For Stanford, this is a huge result. To go on the road and take two out of three games against an ACC opponent is a significant step in the right direction. Especially since they were able to hold the Hokies to three runs on Sunday. The Hokies have been a good Sunday team and so to contain their offense on the third game of the series has to give the pitching staff a lot of confidence. And then hey, the offense stepped up as well. Just an all-around good day.
Of course, it wasn’t a perfect weekend. Giving up 10 runs on Saturday was bad and the bats really fell asleep on that day with only two runs. So this weekend also gives Stanford reason to feel like they can play even better. Still, given the slow start to the season, Stanford on the whole should be happy with how the weekend went. They took a series on the road against an ACC team. Any time you can do that, you should be happy no matter how the job got done.
Up next for Stanford is a home series against Clemson. Game one will be on Friday, April 3rd at 6:05 PM PT on ACCNX.
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