With postseason hopes on the line, Stanford baseball (28-23, 12-15 Pac-12) finished off its final road trip of the season with a series loss against Washington (31-19, 16-11). Although the Pac-12 standings are still pretty bunched, the Cardinal’s playoff window is closing rapidly. With two dramatic finishes — a Washington walk-off on Friday and a Stanford win in extra innings on Saturday — the series came down to the final game, but the Cardinal, unable to mount a comeback, were blanked by the Huskies, 4-0.
Despite a strong outing from freshman Tristan Beck and 3 solo home runs from Cardinal batters Friday night, Stanford was unable to best the Huskies, falling 4-3 on a ninth-inning, bases-loaded sacrifice fly from Washington pinch hitter MJ Hubbs. Beck threw 5.1 innings and allowed just 2 runs on 6 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. The first run scored in a first-inning rough patch, but from then on, the right-hander was extremely effective and was able to get himself out of several jams until the sixth.
After retiring eight in a row, Beck gave up a solo home run in the sixth to bring the Huskies within one, and when two more runners made it aboard, the Cardinal made a call to the bullpen for backup. Sophomore Colton Hock came in to finish out the game and ended up taking the loss after surrendering a run in the eighth and the walkoff in the ninth.
Stanford fought back in the second game of the series, keeping the score tight through 11 innings before securing the win with an 12th-inning solo home run from catcher Alex Dunlap. The junior went 5-for-6 on the day and was one of three Cardinal to hit a moonshot in the matchup. Sophomore Quinn Brodey continued his strong play, plating five runners and blasting a homer of his own, ultimately falling just a single short of a cycle.
Washington jumped out to an early lead on Sunday, scoring 2 runs in the first inning before tacking on 2 more in the third and seventh innings. After loading the bases in the third, starter Kris Bubic made an early exit, and sophomore Andrew Summerville came on in long relief. The lefty was electric for several innings, allowing just one run in the seventh and finishing the night with a final line of 5.2 innings, with 4 hits, 4 walks and 3 strikeouts.
Unfortunately for Summerville, a Seattle native, he could not come away with a win in his hometown, as the Cardinal bats were entirely silenced by the Washington pitching staff. Stanford managed just 2 hits in the game, both off the bat of red-hot Quinn Brodey, who extended his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games.
The Cardinal come home for a three-game series against Oregon next weekend to close the regular season. First pitch is on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Sunken Diamond.
Contact Olivia Hummer at ohummer ‘at’ stanford.edu.