Stanford Baseball Unable to Avoid Sweep Against Notre Dame

Heartbreak hotel. That is the best way to describe what happened for Stanford baseball on The Farm on Sunday. Dropping the first two games of the weekend series against Notre Dame and looking to avoid the sweep, the Cardinal came out on a mission in the series finale, but after a tough final inning, a one-run lead ended up disintegrating into thin air as the Cardinal lost 10-9.

Up 9-8 going into the final frame, Notre Dame was able to put a runner on base to set up the heroics for designated hitter, Bino Watters. With Carson Tinney standing on base, Watters waited for his pitch during his at-bat and got it, launching a home run deep to left field to give the Fighting Irish the lead and take home the win.

Notre Dame seized control first with a three-run third inning that started with an Estevan Moreno home run to left field, making it 1-0 Notre Dame. Then, with two runners on base later that same inning, Watters grounded out to the pitcher but it was enough to make it 2-0 in favor of Notre Dame. After another RBI single in the inning, the Fighting Irish possessed a 3-0 lead.

Stanford then scored twice in the fourth when Brady Reynolds hit a triple to score Jimmy Nati, making it 3-1. Temo Becerra then cut the Notre Dame lead down to only one when he grounded out to short, but with Reynolds on third, he was able to drive in the runner and make it 3-2.

However, the Fighting Irish then proceeded to score four more runs in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded, Notre Dame second baseman Connor Hincks hit a three-run triple that gave Notre Dame a 6-2 lead and really opened the game up for the Fighting Irish. With Hincks standing on third, Moreno hit a sac fly that was deep enough to score the runner and make it 7-2 Irish.

The next two innings saw the Cardinal come back. In the fifth inning, Stanford cut the Notre Dame lead to 7-3 after Tatum Marsh hit an RBI single that scored Ethan Hott. But it was in the sixth inning that saw the Cardinal really turn the tables.

Starting with a two-run home run by phenom, Rintaro Sasaki that made it 7-5, Hott then hit a double with Charlie Saum standing on second that drove him in and made it 7-6 Notre Dame. Later in the inning, Hott scored the tying run via a wild pitch.

From then on, things were back and forth.

Notre Dame responded with a home run by Tinney in the top of the seventh to re-take the 8-7 lead before Stanford responded immediately in the bottom half of the inning, with Temo Becerra tying things up at 8-8 when he hit an RBI single with two runners on, advancing Nati to third and scoring Marsh.

Then came Sasaki, who once again delivered with an RBI double to right field that scored Nati and made it 9-8 Cardinal.

After a scoreless eighth inning, Notre Dame set themselves up to win the game via that go-ahead home run in the final frame.

On the mound for Stanford and getting the start was Matt Scott who gave up six runs on eight hits through 4.1 innings of work, also striking out eight batters while walking one. But it was Ty Uber who took the loss to drop to 1-2 on the season, going one inning and striking out two but giving the game-winning two-run homer.

With Stanford still struggling, the prospect of making the NCAA tournament continues to diminish, with the program in jeopardy of missing out on the ACC postseason tournament. But with a game against UC Davis on Monday, the Cardinal will look to win that one as they prepare for another big weekend series against Wake Forest.