After a tough weekend series at UCLA, Stanford’s baseball team returned to the Bay Area on Monday to take on California in Berkeley. Though Stanford’s pitching and defense continued to perform well, its offense failed to meet the challenge presented by the Golden Bears, as the Cardinal fell 2-0.
The matchup was the first this season between No. 22 Stanford (13-10, 3-3 Pac-10) and No. 30 Cal (17-10, 3-3). Though the schools are Pac-10 Conference rivals, this game did not count toward either team’s conference record. They will meet again for a three-game conference series on April 23-25, which will be at Sunken Diamond.
In Monday’s game, Stanford started freshman pitcher Chris Jenkins against a Cal team that entered the game on a four-game winning streak, which included a three-game sweep at home against Arizona.
After three straight outs in the first inning, Jenkins faced the heart of the Cal lineup to start the second inning. He issued two walks to the inning’s first two batters, catcher Chadd Krist and designated hitter Tony Renda. After outfielder Chad Bunting hit into a fielder’s choice that left runners on first and third base, Jenkins issued two more walks. The first, to right fielder Jimmy Bosco, loaded the bases, while the next, to third baseman Mitch Delfino, scored Cal’s first run of the game.
At this point, head coach Mark Marquess pulled Jenkins from the game in favor of sophomore reliever Chris Reed. After giving up a sacrifice fly that drove in Bunting, Reed managed to get the Cardinal out of the inning after giving up just two runs as a team.
Jenkins’ final stat line was singularly unimpressive. He was charged with the loss, dropping his season record to 0-2. He also surrendered two runs and gave up four walks, all in the second inning, while facing just eight batters in total.
After the second inning, Stanford’s pitching was extremely effective. After 4.1 innings, Reed came out of the game, having surrendered four hits but no runs. The Cardinal used two other pitchers in the game – freshman Mark Appel and junior Alex Pracher – who combined to pitch the last 2.1 innings while holding the Bears to no runs despite several strong rallies.
While Stanford’s defense wasn’t especially strong – the Cardinal had two errors in the game – it managed to contain its mistakes, and none of its errors led to runs.
Though it played well defensively, Stanford’s offense simply fell flat against Cal’s pitching. After three good outings against UCLA, the Cardinal could not string together any rallies. Cal pitcher Chris Petrini pitched seven solid innings, allowing only four hits and no runs while striking out seven batters. His win in the game was his first of the season – he now has a record of 1-0. Reliever Kevin Miller was similarly good, allowing two hits and no runs over the final two innings to get the save.
Though Stanford was unable to score runs, it was not because of a lack of opportunities. The Cardinal left nine runners on base in the game and failed to capitalize on any of its chances.
Stanford returns to the Farm for its next four games – a midweek game against Saint Mary’s on Apr. 7 before a weekend series against Pac-10 foe Oregon.
The Cardinal will enter the game against the Gaels having lost four of its last five games, while Saint Mary’s has won just two of its last eight.
Stanford has also struggled in midweek games recently – it has not won a non-series game since March 4, when it bested UC-Davis 10-6. Since that time, it has fallen in its midweek games against Pacific, San Francisco and Cal.
Stanford will look to get back on track on Wednesday at home. The game against Saint Mary’s will be at Sunken Diamond, with the first pitch scheduled for 5:30 p.m.