Stanford Baseball Continues to Struggle, Swept by No. 25 Georgia Tech

Stanford baseball is struggling. After getting swept by both Cal and Virginia, the Cardinal were in dire need of revenge over the weekend. Unfortunately, facing No. 25 Georgia Tech proved to be a tall task for the slumping Cardinal, as they once again were swept in three games as they fell to the Yellow Jackets.

Game one saw the Cardinal lose 8-6 after Georgia Tech got ahead big early in the game. After scoring a run to go up 1-0 in the first, the second inning saw the Yellow Jackets tack on two more, highlighted by a Vahn Lackey home run, that gave them a 4-0 lead at the end of the second inning.

Finally in the third inning, Stanford's Trevor Haskins got the Cardinal on the board after he hit a sac-fly to right field, scoring Ethan Hott to make it 4-1.

It was then Stanford that gained considerable momentum, which led them to have a massive fourth inning where they scored four runs to take a 5-4 lead. It started with Christian Saum reaching base on a fielder's choice to bring in the run, with Temo Becerra hitting an RBI single later in the inning to make it 4-3.

Then, Tatum Marsh tied things up when he hit an RBI single to to score Saum and advance Beccera to third. That set up Haskins to give Stanford the 5-4 lead when he hit another sac fly to right, scoring Becerra.

Georgia Tech then scored two more in the fifth inning, which was most remembered by Tyler Neises hitting a two RBI double to center field and helping the Yellow Jackets break the tie to take a 7-5 lead.

Caleb Daniel then made it 8-5 in the sixth when he hit an RBI single to left center. And while Stanford scored another run in the sixth when Marsh hit a sac-fly to right field and scored Becerra, it was not enough.

Joey Volchko took the loss on the mound for the Cardinal, going 4.1 innings and allowing six hits, seven runs (six earned) while walking three and striking out three.

Game two saw the Cardinal lose 10-3, with the Yellow Jackets taking full control of the game. The first couple of innings were scoreless until the Yellow Jackets struck in the third inning, taking a 1-0 lead via a sac fly. Then in the fifth, Georgia Tech's Kyle Lodise recorded his second RBI of the game, hitting an RBI single to give the Yellow Jackets a 2-0 lead.

Stanford proceeded to tie things up in the sixth inning, when Luke Lavin reached on a fielder's choice to score a run and make it 2-1 while later in the inning, Hott hit a single to right field to bring in Lavin and make it 2-2.

In the top of the seventh, Georgia Tech regained the lead, 3-2, when John Giesler hit an RBI single but it was not long before it was tied up again, when Becerra drove in a run via a double in the seventh to make it 3-3.

But in the eighth inning, the Yellow Jackets scored five runs to take an 8-3 lead, which started when Drew Burress hit a solo home run to left field. After a double from Alex Hernandez and a sac-fly from Vahn Lackey, the Yellow Jackets had a comfortable five-run lead. In the ninth, the Yellow Jackets scored two more, both on singles, to take home the 10-3 win.

Christian Lim started the game, going six innings while allowing four hits and two runs while walking one and striking out three, but it was Aidan Keenan that took the loss, going one inning while allowing four hits and three runs.

The final game of the series proved to be once again all Georgia Tech, who won 18-2 with the mercy rule going into effect after the seventh. After the Yellow Jackets scored in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, they then proceeded to add on three more in the second, with Lodise hitting a two-run home run after Giesler brought a run in on a single, giving the Yellow Jackets a 4-0 lead.

Stanford scored its first of two runs in the second when Christian Saum grounded into a double play but brought a run home in the process. A couple innings went by with no runs scoring before Lackey added on another run for the Yellow Jackets in the fifth, hitting an RBI single to center field to make it 5-1. In the sixth inning, a grand slam by Caleb Daniel gave Georgia Tech a 9-1 lead.

The seventh inning is when the Yellow Jackets really took over as they scored nine runs in the inning, which was highlighted by Burress hitting a three-run home run and pinch-hitter Nahanael Coupet hitting a grand slam to help the Yellow Jackets lead 18-1 by the time the inning ended.

Stanford scored its second run in the last half of the seventh, when Hott was hit by a pitch with bases loaded to drive in a run.

Matt Scott started the game and took the loss to drop to 4-2 on the season, going five innings while allowing eight hits, five runs (four earned) while walking a batter and striking out two.

With the loss, the Cardinal now sit at 17-12 (5-10 ACC) and are in dire need of a series win if they want to see any hopes of climbing the standings. Next up for Stanford is a Monday game against UC Davis before shifting focus onto a road series against Clemson next weekend that spans from Friday-Sunday.