Stanford Baseball Stuns No. 8 FSU, Softball Extends Win Streak to 12

Stanford baseball stunned Florida State with walk-off heroics, while Stanford softball just kept stacking wins

Mar 1, 2025; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal first baseman Rintaro Sasaki (3) tosses his bat after drawing a walk against the Xavier Musketeers during the sixth inning at Sunken Diamond. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Stanford baseball had a grand weekend, stunning No. 8 Florida State in a three-game sweep that may have just saved their hopes of making a postseason run.

Experiencing major struggles this season and continuing to look much different than the Cardinal teams that made three straight College World Series from 2021 to 2023, Stanford has been eager to prove that they can still compete against the top programs—especially since moving to the ACC.

Over the weekend, the Cardinal put together their best weekend of the season, taking all three games from FSU.

Entering the series needing to play well, the Cardinal came out firing in the first game, winning 4-3 and giving themselves a lot of momentum heading into the rest of the weekend.

But Game 2 is where the Cardinal really started their magic, beating Florida State with their first walk-off win of the weekend. Junior Eric Jeon did the damage on a single that broke the 7-7 tie in the 11th inning with two runners on. He hit a ball to deep left field that drove in the winning run, giving Stanford the 8-7 win and securing the series.

Then Stanford got greedy. Heading into Game 3, the Cardinal were down 4-3 in the ninth inning when Japanese phenom Rintaro Sasaki came up to bat.

With the bases loaded in the bottom half of the inning, Sasaki waited for his pitch and hit a deep ball to left field that flew over the fence for a grand slam, clearing the bases and giving the Cardinal the 8-7 win.

Now sitting at 21-19 (10-11 ACC), the Cardinal are still not a lock for the postseason but a series win over Florida State helps their chances both in the ACC tournament for seeding and when it comes to contending for an NCAA tournament berth.

The series win over Florida State comes at a crucial time as the Cardinal enter the final stretch of the regular season. Set to face UC Davis in a midweek game to end the month, the Cardinal enter May with a tough slate of games.

There are still series against Notre Dame, NC State and Cal looming on the schedule that could very well determine Stanford's future. But now knowing that they have what it takes to beat the best, expect the Cardinal to be a force the rest of the way and continue to fight hard for a postseason spot.

Stanford softball's heroics push win streak to 12

Taryn Kern, Stanford Softball | ISI Photos

For Stanford softball, a 12-game win streak has the program at 34-12 and in a strong position to make a deep run in the postseason, continuing the upward trend that longtime coach Jessica Allister has the team on.

Having not lost a game since April 4, the No. 16-ranked Cardinal took home yet another series sweep, this time taking down Cal in three straight games. Beating the Golden Bears 17-1 in five innings by way of the mercy rule in Game 1, Stanford's pitching was lights out, only allowing three Cal hits. By the time they scored, the route was already on, at 17-0.

In Game 2, the Cardinal won 9-0 via the mercy rule yet again. This time they held the Golden Bears to only one hit and received another big game out of stars Jade Berry, Taryn Kern and Kyra Chan.

To cap the weekend off, the Cardinal made quick work of Cal in Game 3, winning 5-0 and setting themselves up to end the season on a winning streak with only two games left to play.

Following a game against Pacific on Wednesday, April 29, and the Senior Day game against Sacramento State on Friday, May 1, the Cardinal will begin preparing for the ACC tournament that will take place from May 6-9 in Charlottesville, Virginia.