Stanford baseball will no doubt walk away from its weekend series in Tempe, Ariz., against Arizona State asking itself, “What if?”
What if the bullpen didn’t collapse in game one? What if the offense could muster one more run in the ninth to salvage the opener? What if Sun Devil designated hitter Joey DeMichele didn’t explode for three home runs in the rubber game to ice the series?
If just a few of those hypotheticals had gone Stanford’s way, the No. 21 Cardinal (21-16, 6-9 Pac-10) would have turned a disappointing weekend into a season-changing series.
Stanford, behind sophomore pitcher Mark Appel’s electric arm, seemed to have the series opener in its grasp. The Cardinal jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third before No. 9 ASU (31-10, 13-5) tacked on two to make the game close.
Heading into the seventh, the Cardinal led 4-3, but Appel began to show signs of fatigue and couldn’t hold onto the lead. The Sun Devils scored three times to take a two-run lead.
After Stanford scored once in the top half of the eighth to draw within one, Stanford head coach Mark Marquess handed the ball to his usually dependable bullpen. It was anything but that night. Freshman A.J. Vanegas and junior Scott Snodgress combined to allow six runs before junior A.J. Talt finally stopped the bleeding.
That’s where the fun began. Trailing by seven, the Cardinal needed a miracle. Freshman outfielder Austin Wilson, who has been mired in a slump, got Stanford believing with a two-run homer. Senior catcher Zach Jones then nearly made a believer out of every Cardinal player with a three-run homer to cut the deficit to two.
But the comeback never materialized. Closer Mitchell Lambson finally shut the door to end the game, 12-10.
Needing a big performance in Game 2, senior Danny Sandbrink delivered. Starting in only his second weekend game all season, Sandbrink rewarded Marquess’s confidence by throwing a complete-game gem. Sandbrink scattered five hits and struck out a career-high eight to even the series in a 6-4 victory.
Sandbrink is no stranger to high-pressure starts. The last time he threw more than six innings in a game? A complete-game win as a freshman in the 2008 NCAA Regionals.
The series came down to Sunday. A series win would go a long way to securing a playoff bid for the struggling Cardinal. A loss would mean a long, somber flight home from Tempe.
Yet in a continuation of a season-long problem for Stanford, the bats went silent. Sophomore right-hander Jake Barrett carved up the Cardinal lineup, striking out 10 over eight innings. Fittingly, Stanford scored its only run on a wild pitch.
Junior Jordan Pries didn’t have his best stuff on the mound, surrendering five runs over five innings. Vanegas did have a nice bounce-back outing, throwing a scoreless eighth. It wasn’t enough, though, as Stanford fell 7-1.
Fortunately for Stanford, it does not have much time to keep going over the “what ifs?” The Cardinal is back in action tomorrow, visiting San Jose State. After that, it will return home for a weekend series against last-place Washington.