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Aug 31, 2023

Stanford Baseball: Recap: No. 8 Stanford BSB defeats Texas A&M to force Monday night clash

On Sunday, No. 8 Stanford baseball defeated Texas A&M 13-5 to force a Monday

On Sunday, No. 8 Stanford baseball defeated Texas A&M 13-5 to force a Monday night game that will decide the Palo Alto regional. Brandt Pancer (3-1) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal in a relief role while Nick Dugan (1) picked up the save. Troy Wansing (3-4) was the losing pitcher for the Aggies in a starting role.

BOX SCORE: Texas A&M vs. Stanford-Sunday, June 4th

"Yeah, what a ball game," Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. "Really proud of our guys. The way they came out and battled and I’ve got two of the biggest reasons that we’re standing and playing tomorrow. I said to the team when we gathered up, I think in years coming, when we talk about playoff baseball at Stanford, we’re gonna talk about Nick Dugan's performance today pitching both innings of, I don't think I’ve had a pitcher pitch both ends of a doubleheader and he just kept getting stronger and kept telling us he felt good and he didn't want to come out and we kept talking as coaches like should we keep it going? But he just kept getting better and better and he ran it to the end and what a big performance for us.

"And then Tommy, every time up I think he just put a barrel on it and didn't give up any of those at-bats. The big swing and the grand slam was kinda the nail that we needed to give us just a little bit of distance to allow Nick to kinda just pitch relaxed and just keep mowing through the lineup. So, we’ve done this before. I hate to say Coach Eager and I, we have to patch work some regional games over the past couple years, but we’ve done it and this was another one and just a big win for us."

While the game was played at Stanford, the Cardinal were the "road" team in this game, which meant they batted first. The Cardinal got on the board immediately in the top of the 1st inning as Eddie Park got walked after which Tommy Troy singled through the left side. Carter Graham then doubled to left center to bring home Troy and Park. Stanford did not score any more runs the rest of the inning, making it a 2-0 lead for the Cardinal entering the bottom of the inning.

Ty Uber got the start for the Cardinal on the mound but he didn't make it out alive in the bottom of the 1st. Hunter Haas singled to center field after which Jack Moss advanced on a fielder's choice as Haas was out at second base. Trevor Werner then singled up the middle and advanced to second base on the throw while Moss advanced to third base. Jack LaViolette then homered to center field to make it a 3-2 game. With two outs, Jordan Thompson homered to right field to make it a 4-2 game. Austin Bost then singled to left field. At this point, Uber was pulled as Pancer came in for early relief. Pancer would not give up any runs, keeping it a 4-2 game at the end of the 1st inning.

In the top of the 2nd inning, Stanford responded strongly with four runs. After Drew Bowser was walked, Saborn Campbell reached on a fielder's choice as Bowser was out at second base. Temo Becerra then struck out swinging after which Park singled up the middle to advance Campbell to third base. Tommy Troy then was walked, loading up the bases.

With the bases loaded, Wansing's day on the mound was done as Chris Cortez came in to pitch. The first batter Cortez faced was Graham, who hit a three-run double to left field. Braden Montgomery then doubled down the left field line to bring home Graham. Stanford did not score any more runs the rest of the inning. It was now a 6-4 game.

At this point, it looked like this game was destined to be a really high scoring game, but in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings, neither team scored. Pancer pitched the 3rd inning for the Cardinal while Montgomery pitched the 4th and 5th. As for the Aggies, Cortez was still on the mound at the end of the 5th inning.

"Braden Montgomery coming in and holding down a couple innings for us and he had a great outing in the Pac-12 tournament and we knew that we could count on him in a big moment," Esquer said. "And so that was huge. Brandt Pancer's and Braden's performances today were also big."

Cortez was able to get through the 6th inning as well, keeping it a 6-4 game entering the bottom of the 6th. He continued to pitch well for the Aggies.

In the bottom of the 6th, Montgomery stayed on the mound for the Cardinal, but gave up a solo shot to right center by Brett Minnich. This made it a 6-5 game. After getting the next batter out, Montgomery gave up a walk to Haas, ending his day on the mound and moving him back to the designated hitter spot while Dugan came in to pitch. Dugan would not give up any runs in the bottom of the inning, keeping it a 6-5 lead for the Cardinal at the end of the 6th inning.

In the top of the 7th, the Cardinal bats went wild. Montgomery singled to short stop after which Alberto Rios doubled to right center to bring Montgomery home. This resulted in Will Johnston coming in to pitch for Cortez.

With Malcolm Moore at the plate, Johnston threw a wild pitch to advance Rios to third base. Then, Moore went yard to right center to bring home Rios. With one out, Campbell singled to center field and then stole second base with Becerra at the plate. Becerra then was walked after which Park singled to first base to load up the bases. This ended Johnston's day on the mound as Josh Stewart came in to pitch.

"Yeah, you know, we had a couple guys [really step up off the bench]," Esquer said. "Temo Becerra in there and Saborn Campbell. And they did that once for us this year at Washington State. They had to play. Owen went down with an injury and we knew that if we were going to use Braden on the mound we probably had to DH him and let him kinda sit in that dugout and be ready to pitch.

"So, that gave Saborn a chance to play and our bench has done a great job of just being ready. And we preach to them all the time you don't know when we’re gonna tap you on the shoulder and say you’re in there. So, be ready and work while you wait. And just make sure and if they just think about just helping the team and doing their part, I think it makes it easier on them than to put a whole lot of pressure on them. So he's able to chip in and Temo did a nice job obviously today as well."

Troy then hit a grand slam to left field that may have landed at Maples Pavilion. Troy was fired up as it resulted in the Cardinal's seventh run of the inning. The Cardinal did not score any more runs the rest of the inning, but the damage had been done. They led 13-5 entering the middle of the 7th.

"I didn't see where it went," Troy said of his grand slam. "I was just super excited I was able to do that for the guys. I mean, just super awesome. This is such a great group of guys and to be able to do that for them was great."

In the bottom of the 7th, Dugan did not allow any runners to score, striking out Hank Bard for the third out of the inning. 13-5 was the score at the end of the 7th.

From there, Stanford went on to win 13-5 as neither team scored any more runs. Dugan was able to finish the game and get the save by pitching 3.2 innings. The combination of Stanford's seven-run inning in the top of the 7th and Dugan's pitching down the stretch is what made the difference.

"Eager wanted to pull me out in like the sixth and I said I was good and he let me keep rolling," Dugan said. "So, yeah…I threw a lot of changeups today. A lot of first pitch fastballs and then straight to changeup. It worked (smiling)."

Up next for Stanford is a game on Monday night against Texas A&M with the Palo Alto regional title on the line. The winner will advance to face Texas in the Super Regional. The game will begin at 6:00 PM PT on ESPN2 and KZSU radio.

"Sometimes if you stay in a tournament long enough, a regional, super-regional, if you can hang in there, you might get your footing in and finally get relaxed and find your game in the tournament," Esquer said. "So, hopefully a bunch of our guys got their foot on the ground and it just feels like a regular weekend and normal baseball to us and they can relax and enjoy and embrace the moment. It looks like a few of them have found a way to do that.

"My confidence and what keeps me calm is we have good players. Sometimes I wish we played better and sometimes I wonder if we’re gonna find ourselves, but the whole year when I’ve had to step back, I said here's what keeps me calm about this club is one: we have good players; and two: they’re close and they love each other. And that camaraderie is I’ll start there and I’ll take my chances with that team anywhere and they’ve built that in the locker room.

"That's just something I think that I’m proud of and when I came here to Stanford, the one thing I hoped that I could do was give them the same experience I had as a player and that experience for me was I played with my best friends and some of those friends are as close to me as brothers. And we were able to do special things when we had that bond and I see those similarities over the past few years and that just kinda, they keep passing that down and I think that's what allows them to get through these tough times and dig down deep and come back late in games and come back when they’re down.

"That's a good question [on the pitching for Monday]. I’m gonna have to really sleep on it. I’m fighting Quinn Mathews who wants to pitch tomorrow and then we’ll see. In the past it used to be kinda common that a Friday guy would come back and maybe pitch that if necessary game. I want to make sure that it's right for him. He's got a bright future ahead of him, but I know that he's gonna try to talk us into it. So if he's out there it's because he won.

"But Ryan Bruno, he's only pitched once in the tournament, there's been a lot of weekends where Drew Dowd comes up to me on Sunday after he's pitched two days and says I’m up today and I have to say no you’re not. But maybe this will be the weekend that he has to be up for three days. So, we’ve got a few options, but and again, Coach Eager does a great job of just figuring out how to blend it and get to the ninth inning somehow."

Note: After the game Esquer provided an update on Jake Sapien, who got hit in the face with a ball earlier in the regional: "Yeah, he's doing fine. He's in the dugout and he's doing fine. I think it's just mainly just nose fractures and nothing beyond that. But he's probably gonna, he’ll be out just because it's just too unstable at this point."

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