STANFORD, Calif. – No. 3 Stanford dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 11 Oregon State on Sunday at Sunken Diamond.
"We just didn't play close to our best today and we gave them some cheap runs on a couple of wild plays," said the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball. "We have one week left in the regular season and we will look to get back to our best before we get going in the postseason."
The series was shortened to two games after Game 2 on Saturday was cancelled due to rain after Stanford earned an 8-5 win on Friday night. Both Stanford and Oregon State sit at 20-6-0 in Pac-12 play, 1.5 games behind the lead of UCLA (22-5-0). Will Matthiessen drove in both of Stanford's runs, finishing 2-for-3 with two RBI, and Maverick Handley scored both runs. Stanford's offense combined for just seven hits and couldn't recover from a 5-0 hole in the middle of the fifth inning.
The Beavers (35-16-1, 20-6-0 Pac-12) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with two runs coming across on a wild pitch – Handley had trouble locating Miller's breaking ball in the dirt, which skipped toward the Cardinal (39-10-0, 20-6-0) dugout.
Oregon State added another run in the third but Miller did well to limit the damage to one after the bases were loaded with no outs. After striking out two, Preston Jones was hit by a pitch to make it 3-0, but Miller struck out the side on the next batter to end the inning. Stanford put two runners on with one out in the home half but both were stranded. The Cardinal had another golden opportunity to score in the fourth but grounded into an inning-ending double play with two runners aboard.
The Beavers led off with a solo home run in the fifth off the bat of Zak Taylor and added another run after chasing Miller from the game. Zach Grech relieved Miller and, after getting two quick outs with a runner on second, surrendered a two-out RBI single to make it 5-0. Grech pitched through a tough spot in the sixth, stranding two runners with his second strikeout of the day to end the scoreless frame.
Stanford got on the board in the sixth as Matthiessen drove in Handley, who led off the inning with a walk, from second on a line-drive single to left field. In the seventh, Grech allowed a lead-off walk before departing for Austin Weiermiller. Weiermiller got three outs in a row, including one strikeout, to keep Stanford within striking distance.
After allowing a pair of one-out walks in the eighth, Weiermiller was replaced by Jacob Palisch, who got an inning-ending double play ground ball to strand two more Beavers on base. Stanford scored one run in the home half with Handley scoring on Matthiessen's sacrifice fly. Handley led off the inning with a double, advancing to third on a drive to the warning track by Brandon Wulff before scoring on Matthiessen's long fly ball to the wall in left.
We're gonna miss 'em. ?? #SeniorDay #GoStanford
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Palisch got the first out of the ninth before making way for Matthiessen, who was scheduled to started the game on Saturday which was cancelled. Matthiessen allowed the first three batters he faced to reach base, loading the bases before striking out Beau Philip and getting Jake Harvey to fly out and keep the score at 5-2 entering the bottom of the ninth. Stanford put a lead-off runner aboard but the game ended after a double play and a fly-out to left field.
No. 3 Stanford returns to action on Tuesday when it plays host to Pacific in its regular-season home finale at 6 p.m. Live streaming and live statistics will be available at GoStanford.com.
Cardinal Notes
- Prior to the game, Stanford honored its eight graduating seniors with Senior Day ceremonies – Ben Baggett, Nick Bellafronto, Michael Boden, Duke Kinamon, Christian Molfetta, Nick Oar, Alec Wilson and Brandon Wulff.
- Saturday's game was cancelled due to rain and will not be made up. With Stanford and Oregon State set to play one less game than UCLA, the Pac-12 champion will be decided by winning percentage.
- The Cardinal played error-free defense for the 20th time this season.
- Stanford's bullpen combined for 5.0 shutout innings – the Cardinal bullpen also combined for 4.2 shutout innings on Friday.