Stanford Baseball Takes Home a Win in Series Finale Against Clemson

What a way to end a series. In what was a tough first two games, with the Stanford Cardinal falling in back-to-back outings, the Cardinal rebounded with a big win in the Sunday series finale against No. 4 Clemson, taking home the 11-6 win.

The bats got going early for the Cardinal, who were able to take a 3-0 lead in the very first inning. Starting things off was shortstop Temo Becerra, who hit an RBI double to drive in Trevor Haskins from second, making it 1-0 Stanford. Then, in the same inning, second baseman Jimmy Nati hit a two-run homer, driving in Becerra and making it 3-0 Cardinal.

It did not take long for Clemson to respond though, as after they scored a run of their own in the first inning after Jarren Purify hit a single to left field. The Tigers tacked on two more in the second inning to make it 3-3, when Jack Crighton hit an RBI single and Andrew Ciufo hit a sac fly to right field that scored Crighton.

But in the fourth and fifth innings, the game was taken over by the Cardinal, who got a two-run home run from Haskins in the fourth to make it 5-3 Cardinal. In the fifth, Rintaro Sasaki made it 6-3 after he hit a single down the right field line, allowing Brady Reynolds to come in and score. Then, catcher Charlie Saum hit a single to left field to score Tatum Marsh, with the Cardinal then taking a 7-3 lead.

With momentum firmly on Stanford's side, it gave the Cardinal more juice to score more runs, as Becerra came up in the fifth and hit a two-RBI single to left field, scoring both Sasaki and Saum to make it 9-3 Stanford. Nati capped off the big fifth inning with a single to left field that scored Haskins, giving Stanford a 10-3 lead.

Clemson tacked on two more in the fifth inning, both via RBI singles, to make it 10-5, and then in the seventh, a wild pitch allowed Jarren Purify to score and make it 10-6. But after, Stanford first baseman, Brandon Larson, hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to make it 11-6 Cardinal, which was too much for Clemson to overcome, giving Stanford a win to avoid the sweep.

Matt Scott got the start for Stanford and got the win to improve to 5-2, going 5.2 innings while allowing 10 hits and five runs while walking two and striking out six. The 6-foot-7 flamethrower now possesses a 5.65 ERA on the season.

With the win, the Cardinal now have momentum as they begin preparing for a home weekend series against Notre Dame. Spanning from Friday-Sunday, game one first pitch will be at 6:05 p.m. (PT) and will air on the ACC Network.