Stanford Baseball looks ahead to NC State after win over San Francisco
On Wednesday, Stanford baseball defeated San Francisco at home by a final score of 12-5. Trevor Moore (6-2) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role while Braden Wellen (0-1) was the losing pitcher for the Dons. Stanford improves to 23-22 overall (10-14 ACC) while San Francisco falls to 22-24 overall (13-8 WCC).
BOX SCORE: San Francisco at Stanford-Wednesday, May 6th
“Yeah, you know what, not easy to win when a team pitches like we do and throws six or seven guys,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the defeating the Dons. “So, it was a good job. You know, couple big swings. Obviously Rintaro early in the game and then, you know, we just pieced together some good innings. I thought in the middle we pitched a little bit better with Shaw and Trevor Moore obviously with the couple big innings for us. So, it was a good. They played us tough and we weren’t necessarily playing all that great. We gotta play better defensively. I don’t think that’s helping us very much, but we gotta we play better defensively this weekend if we’re gonna play up with North Carolina State.”
“Yeah, you know, I was just talking to some of the younger players,” Trevor Moore said after the game. “Some of them get, let some of the momentum impact some of their emotions or how they are out there or how cool they keep their head. And, like, I gave them two scenarios. Like, the guy who closed tonight, went strike one and then then hit the guy off the next pitch. And then, kind of let the momentum get behind him in a bad way or push against him.
“And then, the next guy comes up. He throws a few balls and then throws a really bad fourth ball. And then all of a sudden momentum is all away against him whereas opposed to well, that third batter is walking up. If he had gone one, two really quick. Two punch outs or two quick outs, he might approach or feel differently against the third hitter where in the other scenario he’s pissed or maybe embarrassed or you know, he feels our coaches are mad at him or could be any number of things.
“So, I kinda like to approach every hitter as if I have the advantage of just getting the last two guys out super quickly and if you put yourself in a good spot, then, you know, you kind of let your body play and go from there. So, that helps me keep, you know, the pressure super low. And kinda just attack every hitter as they are and not let any other external influence impact while I’m playing.”
In the top of the 1st inning, San Francisco went up 1-0 as Trevor Harmon hit a ground-rule double to left center to bring home Jared Lewis. In the bottom of the 1st, Stanford evened things up 1-1 as Eric Jeon hit a sac fly to center field to bring home Rintaro Sasaki.
San Francisco went up 4-1 in the top of the 2nd inning as Isaiah Landry hit a two-RBI double down the left field line with one out before Jayden Garrison hit an RBI single to center field with two outs. In the bottom of the 2nd, Stanford added a run as Brock Sell hit an RBI double to left center to bring home JJ Moran. That made it 4-2.
“Yeah, you know he’s been hot,” Esquer said of Sell. “He had three hits the last game against Notre Dame and you know, sometimes those freshmen, they’re in and then have to sit for a little while, watch the game, kinda get their feet back on the ground and then he’s come back strong this next time around.”
Stanford would tie things up in the bottom of the 3rd as Jimmy Nati hit an RBI double down the left field line to bring home Jeon with two outs before Moran hit an RBI single to center field to bring home Nati from second base. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning, keeping it a 4-4 game.
Neither team would score in the 4th or 5th inning. In the bottom of the 6th, Stanford broke the tie to go up 5-4 as Nolan Stoll hit a solo shot to deep left field with one out. Stanford wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning, keeping it a 5-4 game.
“I got a breaking ball that hung over the plate, caught it out front, got it in the air, and first home run,” Stoll said with a smile. “Yeah, I mean, we were trying to go one guy at a time. I was leading off the inning. So, just trying to get on first base. Try to hopefully score a run and luckily it happened in one swing.”
“For sure, right? Tie ball game gives us a one-run lead and we lost that one-run lead, but I mean, still, it put us ahead,” Esquer said of Stoll’s swing. “And he’s done a good job, you know? He’ll catch four games 4th games and on Tuesdays and I think he’s hitting right around .300 now and so, like he holds his own when he’s in there for sure.”
San Francisco would even things up in the top of the 7th inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Trevor Moore came in to pitch for Cohen Gomez. Moore would give up a fielder’s choice RBI to Lewis, who advanced to first base while Tino Vassel scored and Landry was out at second base. Moore would strike out Garrison to end the top of the inning to preserve a 5-5 game.
In the bottom of the 7th, Stanford scored three runs: With one out, Charlie Bates was walked after which Moran tripled to deep center field, bringing home Bates, who had stolen second base. Sell then brought home Moran with a double down the left field line. Sell then stole third base before Stoll struck out. Sasaki then singled to right center to bring home Sell. Stanford wouldn’t score any more runs the rest of the inning, making it an 8-5 lead.
Moore would contain the Dons in the top of the 8th inning, keeping it at an 8-5 game. He continued his strong pitching on the mound.
“Yeah, man. His stuff is just amazing,” Stoll said of catching Moore’s pitches. “Hitters can’t seem to figure it out. Whatever he’s doing right now, he’s got to stick with it.”
In the bottom of the 8th, Stanford scored four runs to go up 12-5. San Francisco had three different pitchers in the 8th inning, which would be their 9th, 10th, and 11th of the game. Three of the four runs that were scored came via walk with the bases loaded while Stoll brought home the 4th run of the inning with an RBI single. The Dons came totally unglued in the 7th and 8th innings.
“Yeah, I mean, seven runs in one or two innings is going to be huge for a pitching staff, especially this late in the game,” Moore said of the run support he got. “I mean, it was wonderful to see us get a few hits and string together some runs. So, yeah, awesome.”
“Yeah, you know, that doesn’t happen too often for us,” Esquer said of the Don’s pitching falling apart. “You know, it doesn’t matter. The opponent, really, you know, it’s kind of all the same for us whether it’s Florida State, Davis, or USF. It’s the same fight for us. We can’t bully any. The name doesn’t really matter and so it’s the game that we’ve got to play against and we’re getting a little bit better at it, but we got to better at playing consistently well.”
In the top of the 9th inning, Mike Erspamer came in to close the door on the Dons in a non-save situation and got the job done, not giving up a single run. He would hit the first batter he faced, but settle in from there, getting a strike out, pop up, and fielder’s choice to end the game. 12-5 was the final score as Stanford got a much-needed win.
For Stanford, this is a big win given they got swept on the road at Notre Dame last weekend. They really needed to bounce back in this game and get some good vibes going ahead of an important weekend against NC State.
“We really wanted to win a game and especially going into this weekend,” Stoll said. “We knew we got to win our midweeks. That’s been a thing for us that we really take every game seriously. So, just trying to win one game at a time.”
“Yeah, no this is a good little momentum for us,” Moore added. “I wish our team would be able to use the same kind of momentum that I’ve learned while I’ve been here. And that’s way harder said than done, you know? Especially as a team effort. But, yeah, I mean, NC State we’ll approach like any other weekend. We’ll get their hitters down and pitchers and go right after them.”
On that note, Stanford will face NC State at home Friday, May 8th through Sunday, May 10th. Below is a preview of that series.
On NC State: Friday’s game will begin at 6:05 PM PT. Saturday’s game will begin at 2:05 PM PT. Sunday’s game will begin at 1:05 PM PT. All three games will air on ACCNX. NC State comes into the series at 30-17 overall and 12-12 in the ACC.
The Wolfpack won their most recent series at home against Miami, taking two out of three games and winning the final two games of the series. As a result, they come to town on a two-game winning streak.
At home, the Wolfpack have been tough to beat with a 23-8 record. Away from Raleigh, it’s a different story as they are 5-9 on the road. They’ve had a difficult time getting into a groove when they aren’t playing on their home field.
They lost their last two road series at Wake Forest and Virginia Tech, dropping two out of three games in both series’. That seems to be their pattern on the road as of now.
The top contact hitter for the Wolfpack is freshman outfielder Rett Johnson, who is batting .420 for one home run and 28 RBIs while having a .503 slugging percentage and a .528 on base percentage. The top power hitter is sophomore outfielder Ty Head, who is batting .282 for 12 home runs, 45 RBIs, a .551 slugging percentage, and a .455 on base percentage. Those are the two guys who the Cardinal pitchers will most need to worry about.
On the pitching side, the Wolfpack have a 5.01 ERA. However, their pitching staff has been hit by injuries as righty Jacob Dudan (4-1, 3.60 ERA) is out for the season while lefty Ryan Marohn (6-1, 3.18 ERA) hasn’t pitched since April 10th against Duke. That’s something that could work to Stanford’s favor provided their own pitching staff is able to stay locked in.
Keys to the series: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is play clean baseball. Errors have been a problem on defense all season long. They have to find ways to play cleaner and not give away free bases. If Stanford has fewer errors than NC State that more than anything could make the difference.
“Yeah, you know what, hey, we just got to work on it,” Esquer said of improving the defense. “There’s a couple things we could do technically better, you know, not run through as many balls. Playing forward. We can set our feet a little bit better, you know, and just play a little bit fundamentally more sound. We’ve just been sloppy, you know, and that’s hurt us. At Notre Dame, we didn’t pitch well, but we certainly didn’t help ourselves defensively, either.”
Secondly, Stanford needs to wear down NC State’s pitching staff. Due to the injuries the Wolfpack pitching staff has, there’s an opportunity for the Cardinal bats to wear them down and get a lot of runs on Saturday and Sunday. If Stanford can just keep steady, consistent hitting, they should be in a good spot to win this series.
Finally, Stanford needs to play smart. Make good base running decisions, don’t force things, and let the game come to them. I think on paper, Stanford is the better team. Especially with the series being at Sunken Diamond. If they avoid mental mistakes, they should be fine.
Prediction: I gotta roll with Stanford to take two out of three games. I don’t see a sweep happening, but Stanford on paper should win this series. Getting that win over San Francisco certainly puts them in a lot better position to do so.
“You know what, I’m sure they feel like they owe us,” Esquer said of facing the Wolfpack. “I think last year they were playing for the regular season title and we beat them twice and they didn’t get it. I think they’ll be looking for a little bit of revenge against us.”
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