Stanford Baseball Falls Short to Bay Area Rival

Mar 1, 2025; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal starting pitcher Christian Lim (42) kneels behind the mound before the game against the Xavier Musketeers at Sunken Diamond. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

On Tuesday night, Stanford went down south to Santa Clara, where they took on Bay Area rival, the Broncos in a baseball matchup.

Stanford and Santa Clara are both good baseball programs, but the Cardinal (24-21 overall) have always had the edge. This season, both teams struggled to consistently pick up wins, making it a long season for both. Santa Clara is now 19-25.

However, with both teams struggling to consistently get wins this season, a Tuesday night matchup was huge for both programs.

Earlier this season, the Cardinal hosted the Broncos in a thriller, ending in a 6-5 extra inning ballgame that went ten, finished off by a Brandon Larson walk off.

Going into game two, about a month later, seeing lots of runs was the expectation.

The expectations were met early, when Stanford exploded for five early runs. The Cardinal didn’t hold their lead for long though, as the Broncos started to crawl back, bringing the score up to 5-4 entering the fifth.

This is when the script flipped. Stanford went scoreless and Santa Clara scored run after run, eventually putting them in double digits. They followed that with six more the next inning, bringing the lead up to 13-5.

The Cardinal got one back late, but ultimately it was not enough, as the Broncos got the best of the Cardinal, 13-6, taking home the rivalry victory.

Stanford’s pitching issues have been glaring all season, and today they were amplified. Allowing 15 hits for 13 runs was not ideal, especially not against a mid-major opponent who is below .500. The fielding wasn’t great either, as the Cardinal committed two errors, one resulting in a runner ending up at third base.

This team had lots of potential, but after another disappointing performance, it looks like the Cardinal are officially out of the NCAA Tournament race, barring an ACC Tournament Championship.

Stanford ends the season with a home stint vs Grand Canyon, followed by a road series against NC State to cap off the year. If the Cardinal are able to get hot late, they might be able to bring some momentum into the ACC Tournament.