Stanford Club Baseball swept Santa Clara University this weekend en route to the at-large bid in NCBA Division II's Pacific Regional Tournament. They won each game, in order, 16-4, 4-3, and 7-1. With the sweep, Stanford moves to 12-4 overall and 12-3 in conference play, earning them second place in the Pacific-North region. This will be Stanford's second regional tournament appearance in the last three years. 

The bats were hot in Game 1, as Stanford scored their 16 runs on 18 hits and 6 walks. Six different players had multi-hit games for the Cardinal, including 3 hit days for Donnie Raymond (who also hit his fourth home run of the season), Evan Schieber, and Jeremy Rubin. The offensive explosion included a 10-run bottom of the third, which allowed the Cardinal to mercy rule the Broncos in 5 innings. Gabe Seir took the bump in Game 1, tossing an excellent 5 innings of work to the tune of 2 earned runs, 6 strikeouts, and only 3 hits. Stanford's ace and workhorse ends the regular season with an ERA of 1.21 and 42 strikeouts over his 34.2 innings pitched. 

Santa Clara pitched their ace, a hard throwing lefty with multiple plus off-speed pitches, in Game 2 and Stanford required clutch hitting to squeak out the victory. Stanford needed a series sweep to secure the regional tournament bid and saw their season down to last strike in the bottom of the 7th. The Cardinal featured strong pitching, as Elijah Meltzer threw 4 innings and struck out 4 while only allowing 2 hits. However, the Broncos were able to tag him for 3 runs during his outing. Donnie Raymond, who pitched the final 4 innings of the game, ensured no more Bronco runs would be scored and did so by allowing only 2 hits while striking out 7. 

Meltzer and Raymond set up late game heroics in Game 2. The Cardinal entered the bottom of the seventh down 3-1, having only gotten 4 hits off of Santa Clara's ace. Tomas Coghlan led off the inning with a sharp line-drive single, followed by an Evan Schieber 1 out walk. Donnie Raymond, behind 0-2 in the count, poked a single up the middle to load the bases with two outs for Gabe Seir. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Seir sent a single up the middle, scoring Coghlan and Schieber and tying the game. In the 8th inning, Caden Denning was responsible for the dagger - a two out walk-off hit with the bases loaded to secure the win for Stanford. 

Stanford carried the momentum of their comeback victory into Game 3 with a convincing 7-1 victory. Donnie Raymond and Caden Denning were particularly impressive at the plate, as Raymond had a 2 hit and 3 RBI game that included his fifth homerun of the year while Denning had a 4 hit game with a double. Raymond and Denning both raised their OPS' today to absurd 1.745 and 1.439 marks, respectively. Donnie Raymond, having pitched the last 4 innings of Game 2, also returned to the mound to pitch the first 4 innings of Game 3. He allowed just 1 earned run while striking out 4. Daisuke Masuda pitched the next two innings, allowing no runs on 1 hit and striking out 2. Cameron Vaughan, playing his last game on Woodside High School's field after 9 seasons, closed the book on the game and his time on that field with a poetic inning of work that included a strikeout to end the game.

Stanford will travel to Henderson, Nevada this coming weekend (May 3-5) for their regional tournament. The tournament is a 4-team double elimination format, with Stanford's opponents being Grand Canyon University, California Miramar University-LA, and conference rival Sacramento State. The first two opponents are familiar to Stanford, as both were present at the 2022 regional that Stanford came one game away from winning. Stanford, who has won its last 6, will look to translate its momentum into a strong weekend of baseball and a potential bid to the NCBA World Series in Alton, Illinois.