Stanford’s postseason hopes remained alive this weekend, as the Cardinal (25-23, 12-15 ACC) secured a necessary series victory over NC State (31-19, 13-14 ACC) in their final ACC series at home this season. 

After entering the weekend with their backs against the wall, the Cardinal took two of three games from the Wolfpack at Sunken Diamond, winning Friday’s opener 6-5 before dropping Saturday’s game 12-7 and responding with a 9-5 victory to close out the series on Sunday. 

The Cardinal opened the series with a late comeback Friday night. Trailing 3-2 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, the Stanford offense erupted for four runs just before a power outage knocked out the scoreboard, pitch clocks and press box.

“We won how we win, which is we kind of piece together the pitching and make it tough on the opposition,” head coach David Esquer said following the game. “In that eighth inning, we just had some really big hits. Just some huge hits in big spots to come back and win.”

Freshman left-handed pitcher Mike Erspamer helped keep Stanford within reach, striking out five across two innings of relief. Senior right-handed pitcher Trevor Moore sealed the deal in the ninth, escaping late-game drama after NC State brought the go-ahead run to the plate.

“Trevor Moore was up to it and able to do that for us,” Esquer said.

Stanford appeared ready to clinch the series Saturday after bolting ahead 5-0 behind two home runs from freshman infielder Teddy Tokheim and a solo shot from sophomore infielder JJ Moran. NC State answered, however, with 11 runs across three innings to even the series.

“That was a tough one, and we let that one get away,” Esquer said following Saturday’s loss. “I thought we had them. We had them right where you’d want to have a team down five.”

The Cardinal rebounded with the series on the line the following day. Senior outfielder Cort MacDonald tied the game in the fifth inning with a two-out RBI single before junior infielder Eric Jeon broke the 3-3 tie by driving in the go-ahead run in the seventh. Moran followed with a three-run moon shot, giving Stanford a sizable lead.

Tokheim added a solo homer in the eighth, his third long ball in two games.

“I think just winning the last home series of the year can give us some momentum to carry into Saint Mary’s on Tuesday and then Cal,” Tokheim said after the win. “Hopefully we can take that into the [ACC] tournament.”

Stanford will host Saint Mary’s on Tuesday before closing out the regular season on the road against Cal.