Palm Springs, Calif. - Current #15 Stanford club baseball lost a heartbreaker to Southern Utah on May 2 to end their season and hopes of qualifying for the NCBA DII World Series in Alton, IL. Coming off of a tantalizing 2-1 opening loss to #1 GCU (who remains undefeated after sweeping regional playoffs), the Card turned in a shocking defensive effort in what turned out to be their final game of the year: a 13-8 defeat.

Under the high skies and baking sun of Palm Springs Stadium, the Stanford bats were warm in the top of the first inning. On the first pitch of the ballgame, sophomore Cooper Tenney recorded the first hit of the tournament for the Cardinal by singling to left. After a strikeout, graduate Donnie Raymond walked on four pitches. Both he and Tenney executed a double steal to place two runners in scoring position for freshman Danny Gass. During Gass' long at-bat, a wild pitch cashed in Tenney and gave the Cardinal their first lead of the weekend. After a ground out, Jamie Baum reached on an error, allowing Raymond to score and propelling Stanford in front, 2-0. 

The contest remained 2-0 until the bottom of the second. Right-hander Joseph Seddon recorded a ground out and pop out for the first two outs of the inning. Unfortunately for Stanford, the Thunderbirds didn't surrender the third out of the inning very easily. After three walks, three singles, an error, a wild pitch, and eventually a strikeout, the Cardinal headed into the dugout trailing 5-2. In the top of the third, a Denning walk and Raymond hit by pitch set the table for a Gass RBI single to trim the deficit to 5-3. Later in the inning, Seddon singled to support his own cause and bring the Cardinal within a tally. 

Unfortunately, the big second inning ended the sophomore right-hander's day on the mound, to be replaced by NCBANow preseason Pacific Region Player To Watch Tommy Kaufman. Kaufman surrendered four in the third and one more in the fourth. In the top of the fifth, trailing 10-4, Stanford scratched across two runs courtesy of a 2-RBI Seddon single to keep the game close. However, in the bottom half, a throwing error by third baseman Donnie Raymond followed by a single and triple took the Southern Utah advantage to 12-6, and prompted Gregory Block and Will Ogden Director of Baseball Evan Schieber to remove Kaufman in favor of Danny Gass. As the boos rained down, a wild pitch saw the 13th (and mercifully last) run cross for the Thunderbirds, but the damage was done. 

With two innings to dig their way out of a seven-run hole, Stanford once again got some production out of the top of their lineup. Denning and Raymond both rapped two-out singles before Danny Gass blasted a two-RBI double to center field, taking the game to 13-8. In the top of the seventh, Angel Piña started things off with a single, but a double play and lineout stifled any budding Cardinal resurgence to put the seal on an ugly contest. 

Stanford scored eight runs on 11 hits while officially committing a generously low four errors in the field. The Thunderbirds plated 13 on 12 hits, while only being charged with one error. On the mound, Seddon worked 2 IP with 4 H, 5 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, K. Tommy Kaufman ran into some resistance in his two innings: 2 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 4 ER, BB, 2 K, and Danny Gass pitched well out of the bullpen: 2 IP, H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB. Most in attendance would agree that these lines were unfair to the Cardinal hurlers - Stanford's defense left plenty to be desired in the biggest game of the season. The staff only surrendered a harsh four earned runs, making the loss sting all the more.

Offensively, Denning and Raymond both reached base three and four times, respectively, in the last hurried scrawl in their respective club baseball history books. Denning scored thrice and was 2-3 with a walk, while Raymond was able to score four times. His solid 2-2, BB, HBP, SB day took his season OBP back over .700 and OPS over 1.600. Danny Gass, Jamie Baum, and Joseph Seddon all reached base multiple times, as well. Gass and Seddon had three runs batted in, each.

"If you ain't first you're last", remarked manager Schieber. "And we certainly weren't first this weekend." Stanford finishes their season 17-6 (16-2). After losing their subsequent game to (current #6) Santa Clara, Southern Utah finished 12-7 (11-4).

Here were the complete results from the weekend playoffs in chronological order:

Friday:
Santa Clara 10, Southern Utah 0
GCU 2, Stanford 1

Saturday:
GCU 5, Santa Clara 2
Southern Utah 13, Stanford 8
Santa Clara 5, Southern Utah 4

Sunday:
GCU 8, Santa Clara 7

#1 Grand Canyon University did not lose a game en route to winning the regional title. They will represent the Pacific Region as the #1 seed at the World Series this weekend in Alton, Illinois and open against CSU - Pueblo at 7:00 PM CST on Friday, May 15. The World Series will be played in an eight-team, double-elimination format. More information about how to stay up to date with the World Series can be found at the following link: https://div2.clubbaseball.org/worldseries/