Stanford Club Baseball went to Cal Poly Humboldt this past weekend and returned from Eureka with a series sweep. They eked out a 1-0 win in Game 1 but bounced back with dominant wins in Games 2 and 3, with scores of 17-4 and 9-0. With the three wins, Stanford moves to 10-5 overall with a 7-3 in conference record.
Elijah Meltzer only got the bare minimum run support in Game 1 – but that was all he needed. The right-handed sophomore absolutely annihilated the Humboldt offense to the tune of a 105 pitch complete game shutout with 10 Ks while only allowing 2 hits and 2 walks. Meltzer featured his signature fastball-curveball combo, keeping Humboldt hitters off balance and lowering his season ERA to 2.86. Meltzer also got some assistance from his defense, including a clutch 5-3-5 double play in the bottom of the 7th by Evan Schieber and Jeremy Rubin to gun down a lead-off runner.
Stanford's offense came to play on Sunday. Between Games 2 and 3, the team scored 26 runs on 31 hits. Evan Schieber set the pace for the day from the get-go, with a lead-off home-run in Game 2 to kick off a scoring frenzy that would result in a 5-inning mercy rule. Caden Denning also smashed a dead-center home-run in that game, his second of the season. Stanford got significant help from younger bats as well in Game 2, as Angel Villeraldo Amador (who had 6 hits on the weekend) and Danny Park both had multiple hit games and 2 RBIs a piece. Daisuke Masuda and John Paul Aguilar also got a few hits of their own in Game 3.
The top four bats in Stanford's lineup – Donnie Raymond, Caden Denning, Evan Schieber, and Gabe Seir – super-powered the lineup this weekend. In the three games, the quartet collectively slashed .641/.714/.923 with 25 hits, 7 extra base hits, and 9 BBs. Donnie Raymond, in particular, had himself a weekend as Humboldt failed to retire him in his first 7 plate appearances as his OPS of 1.860 on the weekend raised his season OPS to a ludicrous 1.699. Raymond recieved his second straight Player of the Week award in the Pacific-North Conference for his efforts. All 4 hitters now have an OPS over 1 – as Denning features a 1.423, Schieber a 1.194, and Seir and 1.028.
Stanford's pitching followed off of Meltzer's dominant Game 1 performance and kept Humboldt offenses at bay on Sunday. In Game 2, both Nikhil Kothari and Daisuke Masuda pitched 2 innings without allowing an earned run, although 4 unearned runs crossed during Kothari's outing. Kothari also struck out 3 batters during his outing, while Masuda worked extremely efficiently in his innings, needing only 26 pitches to get his 6 outs. The team's ace, Gabe Seir, started Game 2 but, upon Stanford scoring 12 runs in the first 2 innings, Seir opted to take himself out of the game so he could start Game 3. He pitched magnificently in the final game of the series, throwing a complete game shutout of his own to the tune of 7 Ks while allowing only 4 hits and no walks. In doing so, the team's workhorse lowered his ERA below 1 to a .944.
Stanford will play its last conference games of the year against Santa Clara University (7-5 in coference) next weekend (4/27 - 4/28) at Woodside High School in a series that potentially has massive playoff ramifications. If Stanford is able to sweep the Broncos, they will be extremely well positioned to receive the at-large bid for the conference's regional tournament. All eyes will be on Stanford as they attempt to make their third regional tournament in four years.
