Baseball drops second consecutive series in Charlottesville

Stanford baseball’s (16-9, 5-7 ACC) second ACC away series didn’t go quite like their first. A month ago, the team traveled to Chapel Hill for their conference opener and upset an undefeated No. 19 UNC (21-7, 6-6 ACC) in a three-game series. This statement win, coming off of a flying 11-2 start to the season, launched the Cardinal to No. 18 in the national rankings.

But that momentum seems to have since dissipated. Last week, Stanford was swept at the Sunken Diamond by cross-bay rivals Cal (15-12, 6-6 ACC), their first series loss of the season. 

Then, last weekend, the Cardinal traveled to Charlottesville for their second cross-country trip of the year, hoping to bounce back against a Virginia team (15-11, 6-6 ACC) that was entering the series on a five-game losing streak. 

Despite holding leads in each of the three games, the Cardinal couldn’t put it together on either offense or defense to close one out, ultimately going winless for the second weekend in a row. 

“It’s just a disappointing weekend,” said head coach David Esquer. “The key to your season sometimes is if you get an opportunity, sweep someone and don’t get swept, and getting swept the last two weekends makes it tough for us.”

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The series started on a warm Thursday evening under the lights of Disharoon Park. For Stanford, the opener would give signs of things to come for the rest of the series.

Besides a three-run outing in the second inning, Stanford’s batters couldn’t get any momentum off of Virginia’s starting pitcher, senior right-hander Jay Woolfolk. Woolfolk allowed only two hits from the third to sixth innings, keeping the Cardinal offense at bay and earning him the win. 

Meanwhile, Virginia worked through Stanford’s bullpen, forcing the Cardinal through five relievers, including three in just the sixth inning. Stanford’s ace, junior right-handed pitcher Matt Scott, saw his second-shortest outing all season with just 3.2 innings pitched and 77 pitches thrown.

“They ran five left handers in the lineup, and we had a difficult time neutralizing that left hand hitting,” Esquer said after the game. 

The ‘Hoos were able to score in each of the middle three innings — with five runs coming in the sixth — putting them up 10-3. Although Stanford was able to get a few runs off of Virginia’s relievers, it was too little too late, and the Cardinal ultimately fell 11-8. 

“We didn’t play well enough to win on Friday night overall, that’s evident,” said Esquer. “We’ve gotta do everything a little bit better.” 

“We’re just still trying to find our game a little bit, we lost our momentum here in the last week and so we’re still work in progress trying to get it back.”

Unfortunately, Stanford’s pitching challenges and inconsistent hitting would continue to plague them for the rest of the weekend.

On Friday, the Cardinal once again started the game hot from the plate. Junior second baseman Jimmy Nati smashed a 3-run home run in the first, and RBI singles from sophomore right fielder Brady Reynolds and freshman designated hitter JJ Moran in the third gave the Cardinal a 5-0 lead. 

But just like in the opener, Stanford’s offense stalled in the fourth inning as Virginia’s came to life. The Cardinal recorded only five hits in the remaining six innings of the game, whereas a couple gutsy sequences, and missed plays on defense, allowed the ‘Hoos to tie the game at six runs by the fifth inning. 

“A couple small things that could have helped us either prevent runs or or even score more, we just got to capitalize on those opportunities, especially when you’re on the road,” said Esquer. 

“I thought the play of the game was when they had that push bunt with two outs. It went from a five one game that we could extend it out to another inning, and then all of a sudden it’s five four and they got a little momentum behind them.”

Then, a disastrous seventh inning for Stanford saw Virginia score six runs — all on two outs — against three Cardinal relievers. In fact, 12 out of the 13 total runs scored on the night by UVA were on two outs. 

By that stage of the game, the six-run deficit was too much for the Cardinal to climb out of, sealing the game, and the series, for Virginia.

But despite the series having already been decided, there was still a lot to play for on Saturday. 

“It’s one of the credos in college baseball,” said Esquer. “If you get an opportunity to sweep someone, you gotta do it, and if you’re down 0-2 and you’re gonna be swept, you gotta find a way not to.”

Once again, the Cardinal saw an early 4-0 lead evaporate by the third inning. However, a spark in the seventh gave Stanford a one run lead heading into the ninth. 

Another Reynolds RBI single in the top of the ninth extended Stanford’s lead to two. Reynolds led the Cardinal in batting average throughout the series, going 8-13 with 3 RBI. 

But in the bottom of the ninth, things got hairy for Stanford. A ball hit into the ground took an awkward bounce over freshman first baseman Rintaro Sasaki, allowing the lead Virginia runner to score. In the next at bat, a pop fly that seemed like a certain foul ended up landing just inches inside the right foul line, advancing the tying run to third. 

“Somehow we must have pissed off the baseball gods,” Esquer joked. 

Sophomore reliever Aidan Keenan struck out the next batter for the second out of the inning, but a single from the following batter allowed the tying run to score. 

With the game tied, two outs, and a runner in scoring position, Keenan faced Virginia senior catcher Jacob Ference. Keenan was ahead in the count 1-2 when Ference lobbed a ball into left center field for what looked like the game-winning hit.

But out of nowhere came freshman left fielder Tatum Marsh, who made a spectacular full-extension layout to snag the ball and send the game to extra innings. 

“Especially with the situation I knew, I had to give everything I got,” Marsh said. “That’s what I play outfield for, my favorite part is making those kinds of plays.”

However, the Cardinal failed to score in extra innings, whereas a Virginia double to deep right field scored the walk-off run from first, completing the sweep. 

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While it’s easy to get down due to their recent form, the Cardinal are far from discouraged. 

“We’re still there,” said Nati. “There’s something magical about this team, and every season is not going to be perfect.”

“The result wasn’t good, but I thought the fight that our guys showed is something that we’re going to lean on for the rest of the year,” said Esquer.

When speaking with the players, it’s evident that despite the results, the team remains as close, and motivated, as ever. 

“We’ve got the best pitching staff in the country,” Nati said. “They’re just going through it a little bit right now and we’re going to keep trying to pick them up on defense and with the bats.”

He added: “I think we’re going to look back on this at the end of the season and have a little laugh. This will help define who we are by the end of the season and in Omaha. It’s just going to make us tougher, make us hungrier and more gritty.”

Up next for the Cardinal includes a mid-week matchup against Santa Clara (12-12, 1-2 WCC) on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. before welcoming No. 25 Georgia Tech to Sunken Diamond over the weekend (23-6, 8-4 ACC).

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