This weekend the Stanford baseball team showed exactly why it was ranked No. 2 in the nation coming into the season, sweeping No. 10 Vanderbilt at Sunken Diamond in a three-game series to begin its 2012 campaign.

 

The Cardinal (3-0) jumped out to big leads against the Commodores (0-3) all weekend long, looking like the Pac-12 favorite and national title contender Stanford is expected to be. The Cardinal has seven position players returning and two stellar starters on the mound.

 

“We know we have a very talented group, we’re just trying to stay very levelheaded about it and just do what we can do,” said Saturday starter and redshirt junior Brett Mooneyham. “If we play to our potential, Omaha is not a goal that’s unattainable, for sure.”

 

Mooneyham and junior ace Mark Appel combined for 13 strikeouts and just four earned runs to give the Cardinal the series win by Saturday. A year after Vanderbilt squeaked out a pair of wins on the second weekend of the season to take the three-game set between these two teams in Nashville, Stanford dominated this time around with an 8-3 victory on Friday and a 9-5 win the next afternoon, and later capped the weekend with an 18-5 bludgeoning on Sunday.

 

Sophomore first baseman Brian Ragira tallied seven hits on the weekend to lead the Cardinal, and junior third baseman Stephen Piscotty came up with eight RBIs. Uncharacteristic defensive mistakes by the visiting Commodores, who committed 11 errors on the weekend, were just more nails in Vanderbilt’s coffin.

 

 

Meanwhile, catcher Eric Smith was a pleasant surprise for Stanford behind the dish, opening his junior season with a pair of two-RBI performances. However, Smith said his most exciting moments of the weekend came behind the plate, as the converted infielder started all three games after winning an extended battle for the position this fall and spring.

 

“It was truly an honor to be able to catch opening day and catch a guy like Mark Appel,” Smith said after catching a game for the first time in three years. “I didn’t know what to expect.”

 

At least from Appel (1-0) there were no surprises, as the projected top MLB draft pick shut down Vanderbilt through seven innings on Friday night. Only five runners reached base off the righthander, one of them on an error by junior shortstop Kenny Diekroeger, and the Commodores’ only run came off a fifth-inning sacrifice fly.

 

In the batter’s box, the Cardinal lived up to its reputation as one of the strongest lineups in the country. Piscotty smashed a solo shot over the left-field fence to open the scoring in the first inning with a homerun, and junior designated hitter Christian Griffiths added another in the bottom of the second. Stanford tacked on three more in the third to extend its lead.

 

With the score 5-1 in the fifth, Smith hit a line drive into right field that sneaked by both outfielders and rolled slowly to the wall. When the Commodores misplayed the relay, third-base coach Dean Stotz waved him home.

 

“[Head coach Mark] Marquess has the philosophy that once you make contact you’re 100 percent out of the box,” Smith said. “You see that ball in the gap, you’re thinking triple, double. And I saw Coach Stotz holding me up, and then all of a sudden waving me home.”

 

Smith barely beat the throw to the plate for the Cardinal’s third home run of the night and the program’s first inside-the-park shot in nearly four years.

 

Vanderbilt did mount a rally in the ninth inning to close it to 8-3, but the effort was too little, too late.

 

The Stanford offense got ahead quickly again on Saturday, but this time the Commodores were doomed by their own fielding mistakes. A Vanderbilt error allowed the Cardinal to get on the board in the first inning, and after the Commodores knotted it up in the third inning, two more errors in the bottom of the third helped keep the Cardinal on the base paths for four more runs.

 

Junior left fielder Tyler Gaffney added to the lead in the fourth with a double, extending his hit streak from last year to 24 games and making the score 6-1. The Cardinal tacked on three more in the bottom of the fifth thanks to two walks, a Smith RBI double and a sac fly from junior centerfielder Jake Stewart.

 

On the mound, Mooneyham (1-0) struggled with his fastball and walked four batters, but struck out eight more, showing signs of the dominance that gave him the team lead in strike outs in 2010.

 

“It feels good just to be out there in a game that isn’t against yourself,” he said, after sitting out all of last season with an injury. “There were a couple of mistakes I’d like to take back, but overall, it was very good.”

 

One of those mistakes was a two-run homer in the sixth by center fielder Connor Harrell that drew the Commodores within six. Another two-run shot by Harrell in the top of the eighth off senior righthander Brian Busick drew the game even closer, and Marquess brought in highly touted freshman hurler David Schmidt for the final six outs. The righthander shined in his first collegiate outing, getting out of the eighth with three quick ground balls and allowing just a single in the ninth.

 

“He’s a one-pitch wonder, got the nasty sink that does 90-94 towards the end,” Mooneyham said of the freshman. “Guys have a hard time hitting it. We had a couple outings in the fall where our guys hadn’t seen him yet, and they just got four or five balls crushed into their shins.”

 

Another youngster was on the mound for Stanford on Saturday, with sophomore A.J. Vanegas looking for the victory after getting his only win of 2011 in his first career start. But doubles by Harrell and second baseman Riley Reynolds — as well as a pair of full-count walks — fueled a big second inning for the Commodores, who jumped out to a 4-0 lead and chased Vanegas with two outs and runners at the corners.

 

Though freshman lefthander John Hochstatter got out of the top half without letting any more runs across, the damage was already done: Vanderbilt had batted around and put the Cardinal in a hole for the first time on the weekend.

 

Stanford responded immediately, batting around as well in an eight-run second inning. Four singles and a three-RBI double from Piscotty kept the Cardinal going, but the Commodores did themselves in with sloppy plays — four errors, a hit batter and a wild pitch — and Stanford got the momentum back. A Stewart double in the third made it 9-4, and a grand slam from Piscotty in the sixth extended the lead and rounded out the preseason All-American’s seven RBIs on the afternoon.

 

Behind three more runs in the sixth, two in the eighth and 6.1 no-hit innings from Hochstatter, the Cardinal cruised to an 18-5 victory to solidify the weekend sweep.

 

“In practice we’ve been swinging the bat pretty well, and it’s pretty fun playing another team and putting up runs,” Piscotty said. “We’re really happy with our offense right now.”

 

Gaffney’s hit streak did come to an end on Sunday, when Marquess opted to pinch-hit for the junior with two on in the bottom of the eighth.

 

Stanford travels to Pacific on Tuesday night for a 6 p.m. start before hosting No. 5 Texas next weekend.