No one likes to be 10th in an 11-team conference, even just two weeks into the Pac-12 season. Yet that’s exactly where the No. 6 Stanford baseball team stands at the moment after four consecutive Pac-12 losses, and the Cardinal needs to get on the right track quickly if it wants to compete in the nation’s best conference.
A three-game series starting tonight against a weak Washington (16-9, 3-3 Pac-12) squad in Seattle looks like an opportunity to do just that for Stanford (17-6, 2-4), but there are no sure things in college baseball, especially when you have gone a meager 4-4 on the road to open up the season. Add that to a stretch that saw the Cardinal play eight games in nine days, ending in a thrilling 9-8 win over St. Mary’s on Monday, and this series could prove as challenging as any on Stanford’s upcoming conference schedule.
“Our coach always says that you’ve just got to come to play every day, no matter what,” said sophomore Danny Diekroeger, who had the game-winning hit over the Gaels as a 12th-inning pinch hitter. “You can’t make excuses [when it comes to fatigue]. You’ve got to go out and play, because the other team will always come to play.”
Even though the Cardinal easily swept the Huskies at Sunken Diamond a year ago — Washington finished last in the Pac-10 — you never know when an opponent is going to be a handful, as St. Mary’s demonstrated Monday night on the Farm. The extra-inning victory hardly resembled Stanford’s other wins over the Gaels earlier in the season by the combined score of 15-4, as the Cardinal needed a five-run, ninth-inning rally and some clutch relief pitching from junior Stephen Piscotty, known much better for his skills at third base and at the plate.
“I think this win shows that we’re not mentally fatigued after getting beat three times [at No. 8 Arizona],” Piscotty said after the game.
It was hardly the first time that a recent Stanford team had battled back to claim a win at the tail end of a slump. After opening its Pac-10 season with four straight wins a year ago, the Cardinal lost five conference contests in a row, including a disastrous home sweep by Oregon State. With No. 11 UCLA in town the following weekend, Stanford trailed the Bruins 4-1 going into the bottom of the ninth in the rubber matchup, each team already having claimed a game in the series.
UCLA got two quick outs to seemingly crush the Cardinal’s chances, but a base hit and a walk set up then-sophomore center fielder Jake Stewart for an RBI single and senior catcher Zach Jones for a game-tying double. A blooper from sophomore shortstop Kenny Diekroeger sealed the 5-4 win and sent the Bruins packing with stunned looks on their faces.
Those shocked expressions returned to Sunken Diamond on Monday night, with the Gaels leaving town with a last-minute loss of their own.
“It’s really similar to [the UCLA game],” Danny Diekroeger said. “Guys just came and got hits and showed how much heart we have to come back and put up five runs in the bottom of the ninth.”
Last year’s comeback win was followed by a midweek victory over Cal two days later, but the Cardinal quickly fell back into a mini-slump, losing to St. Mary’s the following afternoon then dropping two of three at Arizona State the next weekend. Eventually it would be the Washington sweep that helped pull Stanford out of its funk.
Will the Cardinal have similar success against the Huskies this time around, then? Picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 ahead of only conference newcomer Utah — Colorado doesn’t have a varsity baseball team — Washington has been moderately successful so far, taking three of six games from the middle-of-the-pack Oregon schools. Offensively, the Huskies are only in the top five in the conference in two statistical categories: hit by pitches (35) and sacrifice bunts (27).
The squad’s fielding is a whole different story. The Huskies are second in the country in fielding percentage, and their .983 mark is within one thousandth of national leader Radford, out of the Big South. Though Washington has only turned seven double plays all season — good for 289th in the nation — that’s in part because it doesn’t allow many base runners, ranking in the top 10 nationally in hits allowed per game (7.22).
The Husky rotation is led by righty ace Aaron West, who has gone 4-1 with a 2.01 ERA to start his junior season. West sets up an interesting matchup with Stanford junior righthander Mark Appel (3-1), who was in position for the win last Friday before the Cardinal gave up five runs in the bottom of the ninth at Arizona.
Getting over those road woes is crucial at this point of the season for Stanford, which would jettison itself into the top half of the Pac-12 with a sweep this weekend.
“I think we’ve got our confidence up,” Piscotty said. “We have two days off. We’re going to practice, get better and take that confidence and go into the weekend.”
The series is moved up a day for Easter Sunday, so Appel and West will square off tonight at 5 p.m. at Husky Ballpark in a rare Thursday opener. Tomorrow night’s game also begins at 5 p.m. in Seattle before the 1 p.m. finale on Saturday.