The Stanford Cardinal baseball team may be down, but it is showing that it isn’t out quite yet.
Five Stanford pitchers combined to two-hit the Broncos. It was the second game in a row that Stanford pitching, which was spotty earlier in the season, has looked stellar.
Freshman left fielder Stephen Piscotty and junior first baseman Jonathan Kaskow led a Cardinal offense that pounded out 18 hits with three each. Piscotty scored four runs and knocked in two while Kaskow scored three and knocked in three. The pair hit back-to-back homers in the top of the seventh to put the Cardinal up 12-0. The home run was the first of Piscotty’s collegiate career and Kaskow’s was his first of 2010.
Junior second baseman Colin Walsh and freshman third baseman Kenny Diekroeger also had three hits apiece in the win, while Stanford also capitalized on four Bronco errors leading to four Cardinal unearned runs.
Sophomore Brian Busick (3-1) went the first two innings for the win. He was followed by three impressive shutout innings from freshman Mark Appel.
The Cardinal will look to ride its newfound momentum up to Corvallis, Ore. this weekend for a three game conference series with No. 14 Oregon State.
The Beavers enter the weekend 20-8 on the season and in a three-way tie for third in the Pacific-10 Conference at 3-3.
Although Oregon State is highly ranked and a perennial contender, it has struggled against tougher opponents this season, losing two of three last weekend to No. 1 UCLA and two of three to Long Beach State back in March.
The Beavers are a pitching-oriented team, owning a team earned run average of just 2.97. Their staff is lead by junior Greg Peavey, who is 3-0 with a 1.91 ERA in seven starts this season, and junior Tanner Robles, who is 4-3 with a 2.25 ERA this season.
While Oregon State has a bevy of arms, it struggles to consistently score runs. The team’s batting average is just .264 on the year. The team’s best hitter is probably junior infielder Stefan Romero, who is batting .311 with a team-leading seven home runs this year.
If Stanford is going to win a tough road series, it is going to come down to its ability to score runs against the robust Beaver staff. The Cardinal is in dire need of a series victory over a conference opponent as it is currently in a three-way tie for seventh in the conference at 4-5.
That offense has become increasingly dependent on a group of very talented freshmen: outfielders Tyler Gaffney and Jake Stewart as well as Piscotty and Diekroeger.
Gaffney has assumed the role of leadoff hitter thanks to his speed and grittiness. The two-sport star is hitting .288 and has showed continued improvement this season.
While Stewart has struggled a bit at the plate, he has provided the Cardinal with great defense in center field.
Piscotty and Diekroeger are two of the team’s leading hitters, batting .352 and .313, respectively. Piscotty also leads the team with 21 RBIs and 27 runs scored.
All will need to step up behind a weekend rotation that has had an up-and-down season. Sophomore Jordan Pries has been the team’s most consistent pitcher. Pries is 3-1 with a 3.06 ERA on the year as Stanford’s Saturday starter.
Sophomore Brett Mooneyham is likely to start Sunday, and head coach Mark Marquess has to be thrilled with what he has seen from his ultra-talented, yet ultra-erratic lefty of late. Although he is 1-4 with a 6.09 ERA on the year, Mooneyham, who has struggled with his control all season, has looked a lot better in his last few outings. Last Saturday against Oregon, he went eight innings and gave up just one run on five hits and five walks.
It is unclear who will start on Friday for the Cardinal, but it is likely to be Busick, who has also had a good early season at 3-1 with a 3.16 ERA.
After the trip to Oregon State, Stanford returns home for a four-game homestand beginning with Santa Clara on Tuesday before hosting California next for a three-game series next weekend.