ATHERTON, Calif. - #7 Stanford Club Baseball faced off against Menlo College over April 3/4 in a massive series with postseason implications that was featured nationally as the NCBA Showcase Series of the Week. Solid starting pitching propelled the Card to the series sweep against a tough 10-4 (8-2) Menlo team. Stanford won the Friday game 10-5 before gutting out 2-1 and 3-1 victories in the Saturday doubleheader to earn their fourth-consecutive conference sweep.
Though quiet on Saturday, the offense came out to a lively start in Game 1 at Cartan Field. The Cardinal rapped out 15 hits to outscore Menlo 10-5 in an entertaining series opener that was neck-and-neck until the late innings. Menlo jumped out to an early lead in the top of the second inning after two walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases before a sharp grounder down the first base line plated two. The next Oak batter chased home a third with a sacrifice fly, placing the Cardinal in an early 3-0 hole.
The deficit was short-lived, however, as three RBI singles in the last of the second from Angel Piña, Angel Villeraldo Amador, and Jamie Baum allowed Stanford to scratch across four runs before a Donnie Raymond RBI fielder's choice took the score to 5-3. In the third, Cooper Tenney led off the inning with a triple before Joseph Seddon singled him home to tack on another for the Cardinal. However, Menlo battled back by scratching one across in both the fourth and fifth innings to trim the lead to 6-5.
Gregory Block and Will Ogden Director of Baseball Evan Schieber was busy serving the city of San Bruno, so acting player-manager Donnie Raymond was the one to lift starting pitcher Danny Gass in favor of graduate Jamie Baum. Baum provided exactly what the Cardinal needed on the mound, slamming the door shut with two scoreless innings. The graduate student was credited with a six-out save. Baum surrendered one walk, one hit, and struck out one. The Los Altos product was given some wiggle room by the offense in the bottom of the sixth, when Stanford scored four to stretch the lead to 10-5, which would turn out to be the final scoreline.
Offensively, the Cardinal benefited from strong performances throughout the lineup. Caden Denning, Donnie Raymond, Danny Gass, Cooper Tenney, Angel Piña, Joseph Seddon, and Angel Villeraldo all reached base multiple times. Gass was tabbed player of the game in NCBA's coverage of the showcase series. The freshman from Spotswood, VA went 3-4 with a double and scored twice while earning the "W" on the mound. The right-hander navigated five innings, allowing five earned runs on three hits, five walks, two hit batters and four strikeouts.
Stanford needed walk-off heroics to take Game 2 of the series, 2-1. Sophomore starting pitcher Joseph Seddon fired a complete game and Danny Gass sent the home crowd into a frenzy with his late, game-winning antics to secure the series victory for the Card. The story of the game was great pitching, for both sides. It took until the bottom of the fourth to see the first run on the board. Danny Gass walked to lead off the inning and promptly stole second. After a popout, Angel Piña grounded a chopper up the middle which was gloved by the Oaks' shortstop - a fine play. In an attempt to catch the speedy Piña as he hustled down the line, Menlo's man up the middle made an errant throw, allowing Piña to take second and Gass to trot home safely in a play that would be scored as a single and an error.
Behind a stifling pitching performance from Seddon, Stanford clung on to the narrow advantage through the sixth. In the seventh, trailing 1-0, a dropped third strike and untimely throwing error allowed the leadoff man for Menlo to reach safely. With one away, a double down the line knotted things up at 1-1, to the fiery joy of the away dugout. Seddon induced a groundout and popout to end the inning, but the damage was done.
In the bottom of the seventh, a vindictive Seddon led off the inning with a single. After a lineout, Jamie Baum singled to place runners on first and second with one out. Denning grounded into a fielder's choice to move up Seddon and Baum for team president Donnie Raymond with two outs. Perhaps looking to avoid a repeat of Raymond's go-ahead single against UC Santa Cruz from the previous conference series, the Menlo skipper held up those fateful four fingers and motioned Raymond to first, to the audible shock of players and fans alike. Raymond's first intentional walk of the year set the stage for freshman centerfielder Danny Gass: bases loaded, two outs, tie game.
With tensions ratcheted up to the max, Gass painstakingly worked the count to 2-2. On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Gass struck a high-bounding ball towards the left side, pushing Menlo's shortstop back to play it off an exceedingly-tall bounce. On the hard surface of Cartan Field, it was perfect - the proverbial "Baltimore Chop". It would be hard to imagine a more precisely placed, high-hopping chopper. And it was perfectly unlucky for the Oak defense, as by the time the ball came down, Danny Gass had easily crossed first, sending the home dugout into celebration and etching another entry into the rich history book of the chopper.
Seddon played a big part of the Cardinal victory with his dominant pitching performance and his game-winning run. The Nevada native earned player of the game on the back of a 7 IP, 4 H, R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K line and a 1-3, R performance at the dish.
After ensuring the series victory, Stanford turned to Donnie Raymond on the mound for Game 3 to finish off the sweep. Those in attendance at Cartan Field who stuck around for game two of the Saturday doubleheader were treated to yet another rapid ballgame. Behind his strong effort and a few timely hits, the Cardinal won their second consecutive pitcher's duel 3-1 to lock in the sweep. At Cartan's spacious confines, both offenses again laid dormant until the late innings. Stanford drew first blood in the last of the fifth. Jamie Baum singled with one away, followed by a Cooper Tenney blast to left field that boomed into the highest part of the fence in left. Baum hustled around to score all the way from first on the sophomore's fourth double of the year. After a pitching change, Donnie Raymond singled up the middle to give Stanford a 2-0 lead.
It was all he would need on the mound. The only tally Menlo produced against the right-hander from Flower Mound, Texas, came in the top of the sixth. With a runner on first, a high fly ball to right field got lost in the sun and was rightfully scored a double, to Raymond's chagrin. That made things 2-1, before Baum singled in another in the sixth inning for a crucial piece of insurance. A fine Angel Piña sliding catch in center highlighted a smooth 1-2-3 top of the seventh inning to put the contest in the history books.
Raymond's final line on the day: 7 IP, 4 H, R, ER, BB, 2 HBP, 7 K, on only 86 pitches. Raymond nearly turned in a "Maddux", except DII NCBA games are only seven innings, and he gave up a run. So really, not at all like a Maddux. His performance was efficient, though. In recognition of his solid starting showing, NCBA chose Raymond as their player of the game.
The sweep extends Stanford's in-conference winning streak to 12 games. The Cardinal surge to 13-2 (12-0), while the Oaks regress to 10-7 (8-5). Stanford's next opponent is #1 Santa Clara, who they'll face this upcoming weekend (April 11-12). The top-ranked Broncos will come in 13-1 (11-0) to face the Card in a paramount in-conference series that once again is likely to send ripples through the NCBA Pacific landscape. First pitch between the two NCBA DII heavyweights is currently scheduled for Saturday, April 11, at 11:00 AM at Cartan Field.
