Stanford Falls to Nevada, Loses Another Pivotal Game

Over the weekend, Stanford basketball looked awful, losing two of three to Fresno State over the weekend. The pitching hasn't been where the Cardinal need it to be in order to be competitive, and Stanford couldn’t consistently get outs before runs came across home plate all weekend. While the offense looked great, it simply wasn’t enough.

Stanford entered Monday with one massive goal on their hands: Beat Nevada. While it seemed likely the Cardinal would bring home a win, the Wolfpack aren’t a pushover team, either.

Coming into the game, Nevada has started the season 4-5, after an expected series loss at Ole Miss, Nevada went 4-2 over their next two series, taking down Utah Valley in a sweep but losing two of three against UC Davis.

The game was the definition of chaos. Teams scoring left and right, with no consistency at the plate, and bad pitching overall. Stanford jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but Nevada answered back in the third. Stanford would bring the lead up to 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth, but Nevada would come back again with two of their own in the top of the fifth, and Stanford would add one more, making it 6-4.

Finally, after tons of chaos, everything stopped. Both teams went three straight innings without scoring, and it seemed like Stanford would walk to the win—but then everything changed.

Nevada scored five runs in the ninth inning, and Stanford couldn’t match anything, leading to a Wolfpack victory. This was an absolute heartbreaker for the Cardinal.

Stanford was led by Rintaro Sasaki, Luke Lavin, and JJ Moran, who each had a home run. Sasaki led the team with two hits, having one of his best games of the year. Perhaps coincidentally, Stanford also has Sasaki leading off in this game. Lavin led the team with three RBI on a 1-for-4 day for the catcher.

Nevada was led by two players who did everything for the Wolfpack. Jayce Dobie went 4-for-5 with a double and three RBI in the victory. His consistency meant everything to Nevada at the plate. He was also the starting pitcher for the Wolfpack, going four innings, giving up six hits, five earned runs, a walk and striking out four. Dominic Quiban went 2-4 with a double and three RBIs as well in the win.

That duo combined for six of Nevada's ten hits, as well as six of the eight RBI recorded. First baseman Junhyuk Kwon had the remaining two RBI and one of the other hits.

This is another awful loss for the Cardinal that changes everything. Without consistent pitching, Stanford simply cannot get wins. Their already faint hopes of making the NCAA Tournament are becoming smaller and smaller very early into the year. It’s going to take lots of ACC wins, especially on the road, if the Cardinal want any chance of going far.

Stanford heads on the road this weekend, where they will take on Wake Forest. A series win is crucial to get the Cardinal back in the right direction for the future. Nevada takes on Pacific in a home series this weekend, where they look to continue their recent hot streak.

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