Credit: Bob Drebin/ISI Photos
On Friday, Stanford baseball fell to Cal State Fullerton at home by a final score of 4-2. Fullerton left fielder Britton Beeson was the top offensive performer for the Titans going 1-4 (solo home run) for two RBIs. Lefty Mikiah Negrete (2-0) was the winning pitcher for the Titans in a starting role going 6.0 innings with seven strikeouts and one earned run while righty Andrew Wright (2) was awarded the save, pitching the 9th inning. Stanford righty Nick Dugan (0-1) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role, giving up two earned runs and four hits while striking out five batters in 5.1 innings pitched. Both teams are now 2-3 overall.
BOX SCORE: Cal State Fullerton-Friday, February 20th
“You know what, we just, again, you know, all our losses, we’ve probably given a little bit more than we received, right?” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “So like, that’s a, I guess that’s neighborly, right? You give more than you receive, but that’s not good when you’re competing in a game of baseball or any, or probably any sport. So yeah, you know what, we’re playing quality opponents that aren’t going to allow you to make a lot of mistakes, you know, for playing, if there’s a wide gap in ability and talent, we can make a lot of mistakes, probably still win. And we’re just not playing those type of opponents, which is good. As I mentioned to the team, the game is demanding better baseball out of us. That’s all, you know, whether it’s at the plate or on the mound defensively. The demands of the game are high right now, which is good. Hey, if we can answer those and lean into those, that’s going to serve us well in the end, but right now, we haven’t answered them as well as we’d like and that’s a loss today.”
In the top of the 1st inning, Andrew Kirchner was walked with one out to put a man on base for the Titans. Thanks to a fielder’s choice and error (E5), Kirchner would advance to third base while the batter Paul Contreras was safe at first base. Max Ortega would then get the ball in play to left field for the Titans and thanks to another error (E7), Kirchner would score an unearned run while Ortega advanced to second base and Contreras advanced to third base. Fullerton would not score any more runs the rest of the inning, keeping it at a 1-0 game.
Fullerton’s next runs would come in the top of the 4th inning as Beeson went yard to left center, bringing home Cameron Kim who had doubled to right field in the previous at-bat. The Titans wouldn’t add any more runs the rest of the inning, keeping it at a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, JJ Moran homered to right center to get the Cardinal on the board with one out. Ethan Hott would hit a single to left field for Stanford with two outs, but Brock Sell striking out looking would end the bottom of the inning. 3-1 was the score through five innings.
“Yeah, you know what, he’s been a bright spot offensively and has looked comfortable at the plate,” Esquer said of Moran. “You know, in a lineup that, you know, it hasn’t been as comfortable as we’d like, you know, as far as in the middle of the zone. I think our one through five today was 3-for-16. That makes it a little tough, right? I mean, I think that’s, we need a lot more production from that part of the order if we’re gonna be the team we want to be.”
Neither team would score in the 6th inning, but there was a pitching change for Stanford as righty Kassius Thomas came in for relief, ending Dugan’s day on the mound. Thomas pitched the final 0.2 innings.
“I thought he threw the ball at times the best I’ve ever seen him throw,” Esquer said of Dugan’s performance. “I thought he was down angle, I thought he was at the bottom of the zone, I thought at times he was throwing the ball as best I’ve ever seen and I just think he’s, you know, again, we didn’t help him with that first run. He did a great job just to keep it to a one and then a guy took a good swing on a ball and hit a home run and, you know, he got beat by achievement there. I don’t know of how big a mistake that pitch necessarily was. But that’s, you know, I was very encouraged by how he threw because I thought he was consistently down in the zone and I thought some of the reactions on some of his breaking balls were the best I’ve seen. And so, obviously along the themes of certainly good things to build on and some things to work on.”
In the top of the 7th inning, righty Liam Golden came in for relief, replacing Thomas on the mound for the Cardinal. Golden would walk Cade O’Hara and thanks to a sacrifice bunt, O’Hara would advance to second base. Ty Thomas then singled to left field, advancing O’Hara to third base. Kirchner then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home O’Hara. That made it a 4-1 lead for the Titans. Contreras then struck out swinging to end the top of the inning.
“You know what? You know what? We’re trying to grow some people up and get them in situations and give them opportunity and we’ve got 18 pitchers and we’ve, you know, we’ve got a, hopefully we can squeeze eight to 10 performers out of them. Maybe more,” Esquer said of the bullpen. “It would be great if they all do it, but we all know it’s competition, not everyone can. So we’re gonna, you know, it’s a staff where everyone will get an opportunity at some point to earn more opportunity.”
In the bottom of the 7th inning, Rintaro Sasaki got walked after which JJ Moran got walked. Luke Lavin then singled to right field to load up the bases. With no outs, Stanford was poised to break the inning open. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, Hott would reach on a fielder’s choice as Sasaki was out at home plate. Sell would then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home Moran, making it 4-2. With only one out left, Tatum Marsh would ground out to end the bottom of the inning. Getting only one run out of that opportunity was really disappointing.
“You know, bases loaded, nobody out, and we only get one, right? I mean, that’s probably a spot where we’ve gotta do a better job of scoring more runs and so that was unfortunate,” Esquer said. “I thought maybe the tide, that was our opportunity to maybe take advantage, you know, even score multiple runs and they made a nice play at the plate, which if they go to first and give us a run there, then a second and third one out and you know, anything could happen. Kid made a nice play and the catcher did a great job to stay on home plate and you know, record the out.”
From there, Fullerton would hang on to win 4-2 as Andrew Wright put the Cardinal away in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Cardinal had their chance in the bottom of the 7th inning but were unable to execute.
For Stanford, this is a disappointing loss given they had a real opportunity to win. At the same time, given their pitching woes from last year, giving up only four runs and losing due to the bats not coming alive is a bit encouraging. In truth, the biggest issue from this game and last weekend is the fielding. The Cardinal defense has allowed too many errors to start the season, committing two errors in this one. You can’t expect to win many games when you are sloppy with your fielding. That’s something that needs to change and improve as the season goes on.
Up next for Stanford is a doubleheader against the Titans on Saturday. The first game will begin at 12:05 PM PT and the next game will begin at 3:05 PM PT or 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game if it goes longer than expected. Both games will be live on ACCNX.
“Well, you know, as I mentioned, they’re going to have to answer the demands that baseball is placing on us, which is play better baseball, right?” Esquer said looking ahead to the rest of the series. “Just play better baseball. Pitch better, hit better, play a little bit better defense. And if we do, if we do that’s going to serve us well against any opponent, right? It’s almost opponentless. Nameless and faceless.”
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