Stanford Baseball: Preview: #3 Stanford BSB finishes up regular season in Pullman
This weekend, #3 Stanford baseball will finish out their regular season on the road at Washington State up in Pullman. Stanford comes in at 34-14 overall and 20-7 in the Pac-12 while Washington State comes in at 29-20 overall and 10-16 in the Pac-12.
Game one will be on Thursday at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Bay Area. Game two will be on Friday at 3:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks. Game three will be on Saturday at 12:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Bay Area.
Last time out: Stanford fell to Arizona on Senior Day by a final score of 21-20 in extra innings, unable to complete the sweep. Alberto Rios picked up Pac-12 Player of the Week honors as a result of his performance over the weekend.
Probable pitchers: On Thursday, Stanford’s starter is TBD while Washington State will start senior right handed pitcher Dakota Hawkins (5-3, 4.30 ERA, 84K).
On Friday, Stanford will start senior left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews (6-3, 3.08 ERA, 113K) while Washington State will start junior right-handed pitcher Shane Spencer (2-2, 5.79 ERA, 34K).
On Saturday, Stanford will start junior right-handed pitcher Joey Dixon (5-0, 4.83 ERA, 70K) while Washington State’s starter is TBD.
On Washington State: The Cougars are having an ok season with an overall winning record, but their losing record in Pac-12 play makes it hard to say their season is anything better than just ok. Their most impressive series of league play was back in March when they took two out of three at Oregon State, who was ranked #15 at the time. This Cougars team has shown that they can hang with anybody on any given weekend.
The top contact and power hitter for the Cougars is junior first baseman/outfielder Sam Brown, who is batting .385 for 10 home runs, 54 RBIs, a .690 slugging percentage, and a .491 on base percentage. The second best contact hitter is junior outfielder Jonah Advincula, who is batting .360 for five home runs, 33 RBIs, a .577 slugging percentage, and a .458 on base percentage. The second best power hitter is sophomore Elijah Hainline, who is batting .318 for 10 home runs, 36 RBIs, a .574 slugging percentage, and a .411 on base percentage.
As a team, the Cougars are batting .293 for 47 home runs, 320 RBIs, a .466 slugging percentage, and a .395 on base percentage while their opponents are batting .279 for 43 home runs, 256 RBIs, a .416 slugging percentage, and a .360 on base percentage.
Keys to the series: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is get their pitching figured out. They got the Pac-12 title and top seed in the Pac-12 tournament locked up. They really need to use this weekend to get some things figured out pitching-wise. Pitching is the big concern right now for the Cardinal heading into the postseason. If they could find some answers on the mound, especially among their mid-relievers, that would be huge.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is be the first team to strike. They sometimes get down early and then rally to win late. While it’s more exciting that way, it’s not a recipe for success. Stanford would really benefit from a series where they dominated from start to finish or at least were the team to first take the lead.
Finally, Stanford just needs to play clean baseball. I keep bringing this up, but it’s for a good reason. Too many times, they’ve let teams hang around by making an errant throw, not fielding a ball securely enough, etc. Those kind of mistakes could make the difference between them advancing to the College World Series or not. In this regard, Stanford needs to use this as a get it right series.
Prediction: I got Stanford winning the series, but I think the Cougars will find a way to win a game. Stanford takes two out of three is my prediction.
To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
To connect with Ben Parker on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
