The #9 Stanford Cardinal (37-15) came to Lubbock amidst a swarm of questions and doubt after a difficult path through UC Irvine in the Palo Alto Regional sent them to the final game. But the Bay Area program put those doubts to rest with a resounding 15-3 victory over the #8 Texas Tech Red Raiders (39-16) on Friday afternoon.
Stanford’s ace starter, Brendan Beck, had a career day against Texas Tech hitters, as he struck out a career-high 13 en route to his ninth win of the season. Beck sat Tech down in order in the first, third, and fifth and held the Red Raiders to only 2 hits through 5.2 innings of work, not giving up a multi-hit inning until the sixth.
Beck was helped along by hot bats from Stanford, who posted 4 runs on 5 hits in the first inning against freshman starter Chase Hampton, giving Beck a cushion he enjoyed for the rest of his start. Beck posted his fifth straight game striking out at least 8, and earning the respect of the Red Raiders along the way.
“I thought Brendan Beck was outstanding, ya know he was ahead in the count the whole day,” said Texas Tech Head Coach Tim Tadlock. “One hundred and ten pitches in he’s still pitching ahead in the count, still held his stuff. Had outstanding command of two breaking balls and a fastball…He just showed you why he was the Pac 12 Pitcher of the Year to me. Kind of put a pitching clinic on, it was a little bit Greg Maddux-like, he was 0-1 all day.”
Maddux, a 2014 inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, won 4 Cy Young Awards and 18 Gold Gloves. He was famous for pinpoint control and rarely falling behind in counts. A popular meme that circulates social media is actually close to correct. Maddux faced 20,421 batters during his career. At least 312 saw a 3–0 count and at least 153 of those were intentional walks.
Offensively the Red Raiders couldn’t find a rhythm against Beck with only one hit in the first 3.2 innings. The second hit of the ballgame was a two-out dinger by Cole Stilwell sneaking just inside of the left field foul pole. Tech wouldn’t tally another hit until late in the sixth when Jace Jung pounded a two-out triple off the wall in center field and was then driven home on an RBI single from Stilwell.
Nate Rombach also turned in a multi-hit day with a one-out single in the seventh and a solo no-doubter in the ninth to give Tech their third and final run.
The woes at the plate continued for Dru Baker, who went 0-for-4. Looking back, Baker has now gone 0-12 dating back to the game against North Carolina in the Lubbock Regional. Baker has reached base once, in the fifth inning of that game, and hasn’t booked a hit since leading off the UNC game with a double. Baker was asked in the postgame about what he can do to find his rhythm at the plate.
“Yeah rhythm is always an interesting thing when it comes to baseball, sometimes you get out of it, sometimes you’re really on it all the time. Last few games I haven’t been quite so on it, but I’m just going to keep trying to stick to the same approach I’ve had all year,” explained Dru Baker. “Their pitcher was outstanding, he mixed it well, he hit his spots. So, we’re just going to try to battle through that and put together some quality ABs tomorrow.”
As a unit, the Red Raiders struck out 15 times against Cardinal pitching and 9 of those strikeouts came against Tech’s 6, 7, 8, and 9-hole hitters. Two of those hitters, however, Wilson and Rombach, also accounted for three hits and a home run.
Second baseman Tim Tawa got the Cardinal rolling offensively with a one-out home run, reminiscent of the 2020 meeting in Round Rock between the two teams. There, Tawa pounded a one-out dinger in the first for Stanford’s only two runs of the ballgame – that would not be the case in the Friday Super Regional matchup.
After giving Beck the 4-run cushion in the first, Stanford was held quiet until the 6th when they posted another crooked number with a Nick Brueser home run and then a sac fly from Tommy Troy scoring Drew Bowser. The floodgates opened in the 7th as Stanford hung a 5 run inning on the Red Raiders in a frame that saw two pitching changes, 3 hits and, 2 errors.
Chase Hampton, in his second postseason start, appeared frustrated with the strike zone early as he struggled to locate his fastball. The freshman deserves plenty of credit as he locked back in mentally following the four-run first and held the Cardinal scoreless with only one walk through the next 2.2 innings.
Ultimately, Tech utilized 7 pitchers on the day with Derek Bridges starting the parade following Hampton. Bridges lasted 1.2 innings, sending Stanford back to the dugout in order in the fifth, and giving up two hits at the end of his appearance, one the solo home run to Brueser. Brendan Girton, Eli Riechmann, Levi Wells, Brandon Beckel, and Chase Webster all saw time on the mound to follow.
Texas Tech also struggled at times defensively with Stanford spraying 11 hits within the yard. The Red Raiders finished with 3 errors on the day, charged to Parker Kelly on a very difficult putout attempt to first that bounced short, a misplayed ball by Cal Conley in the seventh, and a short bloop single that snuck under the glove of a hard-charging Baker in the same frame. Multiple players worked in late including Braydon Runion, Max Marusak, and Dillon Carter, with the entire outfield shuffling into the infield in late innings as well.
If there’s a silver lining to take away from the day that saw the sellout crowd file out prior to the late innings, it’s that the Red Raiders left the top arms in the bullpen unused and available for the must-win Saturday game.
Patrick Monteverde will get the start on Saturday with Ryan Sublette, Connor Queen, and Micah Dallas still available out of the front bullpen.
This marks the fifth time Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park has hosted an NCAA Super Regional under Tadlock, and the second time Tech has dropped the opening game. In 2016, the Red Raiders fell 6-8 to East Carolina and came back to win the final two games (one in extra innings) to punch their ticket to Omaha. The 2014 Super Regional remains the only time the Red Raiders swept a Super Regional, that one over the College of Charleston.
G1 – Stanford 15, TTU 3