Stanford Baseball Has Disappointing, Yet Uplifting Weekend

Coming into the weekend, Stanford was 2-2 on the year, a solid start against tough opponents, including a couple of early ranked teams. They secured wins against No. 24 Arizona and Nebraska, while falling by just one run to both No. 12 Oregon State and Michigan. The solid start to the year provided plenty of potential in the future.

In the home-opening series, Stanford took on Cal State Fullerton with hopes of getting another series sweep just like the year prior. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, they had an awful series that now puts them in a more difficult position for the future.

It all started on Friday, where the Titans got off to a hot start early in Palo Alto. A Max Ortega double scored Andrew Kirchner to give Cal State Fullerton a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

Britton Beeson then hit a two run home run in the fourth to increase the lead to 3-0. While JJ Moran did everything he could, hitting a home run and scoring a pair of runs as well, it wasn’t enough. Cal State Fullerton won 4-2 to take a 1-0 series lead. This is the only game so far this year that Stanford has lost by more than one run.

Saturday was a doubleheader, where the Cardinal absolutely needed to win both contests to keep positive hopes alive on the weekend. That would not be the case. Stanford won the first of the day, 4-3, due to a tremendous effort from Aidan Keenan, who pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three. He also walked three in this one, but kept the Titans off the board.

After a solid opening night outing from freshman Mike Erspamer out of the bullpen, he came on in the first game on Saturday with a 3-0 lead to work with in the top of the 8th inning. He ended up facing three batters, hitting the first, then giving up a single and a walk to load the bases before he was pulled. Toran O'Harran came on and gave up a two-RBI single, before a sac-fly tied it up at 3-3.

With the game still tied in the bottom of the ninth, Luke Lavin got a walk-off double to win the game, 4-3, pulling Stanford even in the series.

But after celebrations erupted, another one had to be won. In the second game, Stanford built an early two-run lead, but the starting pitching wasn't quite as good in the second contest. Brock Ketelsen went 2 2/3, giving up a run, and Cohen Gomez followed that up by allowing a run over 2 1/3. In total, the Cardinal gave up four runs, and score just three, coming up short, 4-3.

Going into Sunday, it was already a failure of a weekend given how well the Cardinal handled business on the road a year ago. Stanford was struggling to beat a team far less talented than themselves—but at the same time that's part of the beauty of baseball.

Cal State Fullerton took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, and tacked on a second one in the sixth to lead 2-0. But Stanford answered right back, scoring two in the sixth and one in the seventh to pick up a much needed 3-2 win. Parker Warner (5.2 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, ER, BB, 6 K's) was great on the mound, and Charlie Bates went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, including the go-ahead RBI triple in the 7th.

Stanford once again finished a weekend 2-2, and now improves to 4-4 overall. While it’s far from where they want to be, even in their losses, they have kept the final score close as can be. In other words, they are very close to being a better team than the record would indicate.

The Cardinal also improved in a lot of areas over the weekend, most notably pitching. Keenan and Warner did a fantastic job, but it was the whole group altogether that combined for great performances at the plate for Stanford.

Stanford now has a mid-week exhibition game against Waseda University from Japan, who makes a far trip to Palo Alto to play the Cardinal. They will then host Fresno State for a weekend series that certainly could reveal how good of a team they actually are.