Bowser, Graham energy baseball to collection opener over CSU Bakersfield

No. 2 Stanford baseball (7-2, 0-0 Pac-12) defeated CSU Bakersfield (7-3, 0-0 Huge West) 7-1 within the first sport of a 3 video games collection on Friday afternoon. The Cardinal have been led to victory by a high quality begin from senior left-hander Quinn Mathews, in addition to dwelling runs from junior infielders Carter Graham and Drew Bowser.

Mathews at occasions was not capable of finding the strike zone, as he had a season-high 4 walks and 117 pitches thrown, however however he had a effective day on the mound. By his first 5 innings of labor, he allowed no less than one baserunner each inning, however none have been capable of rating. 

The Cardinal set to work early within the backside of the primary as they put up three runs earlier than recording an out. Junior outfielder Eddie Park led off with a double down the left subject line and wound up at third after the left fielder couldn’t subject it cleanly. Junior infielder Tommy Troy then introduced in Park with an infield single for the primary run of the sport, and he too picked up an additional base after a throwing error by the shortstop. Within the subsequent at-bat, Graham crushed a dangling slider for a two-run dwelling run, which was his second of the season.

After recording two fast outs within the backside of the second, senior infielder Owen Cobb reached first base on a softly hit ball to left subject after which stole second base to place himself in scoring place. With the lineup turning over, Park then introduced Cobb dwelling with a success that sneaked simply previous the third baseman and shortstop, which prolonged Stanford’s result in 4-0.

Like within the backside of the second, the Cardinal received one other two-out rally going as Troy smoked a ball into left subject for a single after which wound up on second after a stolen base. Carter then drove Troy dwelling with a single up the center, which prolonged the Cardinal lead even additional to 5-0. Carter would end the day going 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

Mathews solely bumped into actual bother within the high of the sixth. He gave up a single after which the following hitter reached base after an error by Cobb. Two batters later, redshirt junior catcher Angel Saldivar singled dwelling a run to chop the Stanford lead 5-1. Mathews then induced two straight floor outs to restrict the harm to only one run.

Mathews got here again out within the high of the seventh inning which was a shock to many, as he already had thrown over 100 pitches. The primary batter he confronted within the inning lined out to middle subject, and he then struck out the following batter. After this, the pitching coach got here out, and it appeared Mathews was pleading his case to complete the inning after a protracted dialog on the mound however nonetheless was taken out for junior right-hander Brandt Pancer. Mathews’ closing line was 6.2 innings, 4 hits (all singles), 5 strikeouts, 4 walks and only one unearned run.

Within the backside of the seventh, Stanford added to its lead. With one out, freshman catcher Malcolm Moore walked. Drew Bowser then stepped as much as the plate. After a 1-1 depend, Saldivar then went and had a dialog with junior left-hander Marcelo Saldana. The dialog was then prolonged when their opposing pitching coach additionally got here out of the dugout to speak to Saldana. It didn’t matter what was stated on this dialog as a result of Bowser completely crushed the following pitch he noticed over the bushes in left subject for his third dwelling run of the season.

Within the high of the eighth, Troy was taken out of the sport after being hit by a pitch within the backside of the sixth inning. This shall be one thing to maintain monitor of as Troy, who was on the 2023 Golden Spikes Award preseason watch listing, is an enormous bat in the midst of the Cardinal lineup.

Graduate pupil left-hander Nicolas Lopez got here in for the ninth inning to shut out the sport. After loading the bases with only one out, Lopez induced a sport ending double play to seal the win for Stanford.

Up subsequent, the Cardinal will host the second sport of the three sport collection in opposition to CSU Bakersfield on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for two:05 P.M.