Titans end run of punchless Cardinal again
For the second straight year, Cal State Fullerton has knocked Stanford out of its own NCAA regional.
This ouster was especially deflating for the Cardinal because they were Pac-12 champions and the No. 2 overall seed.
The opportunistic Titans scored two runs without a hit, then three on a home run by Ruben Cardenas, to back the strong pitching of freshman Tanner Bibee and beat Stanford 5-2 Sunday night.
Understandably, the spirits of Cardinal fans sank as low as Sunken Diamond. The team enjoyed a memorable season (46-12) under first-year head coach David Esquer, but it ended in frustrating fashion.
Stanford’s bats were quiet for almost the entire weekend.
The Cardinal were flummoxed by Bibee — and probably by homeplate umpire Brandon Cooper’s strike zone as well.
As a noisy contingent of Titans fans roared, Bibee struck out 11 and gave up five hits and two runs in 62⁄3 innings in just his sixth start.
Eight of his strikeouts were called. The Cardinal often beefed about third strikes called by Cooper. After the top of the fifth, Cooper ejected third-base coach Tommy Nicholson after a brief but evidently heated argument.
In all, Stanford struck out 15 times against Bibee and reliever Blake Workman.
In the ninth, Brandon Wulff doubled to keep the Cardinal’s hopes alive, but Cardenas ended the game by catching Will Matthiessen’s drive just before crashing into the right-field wall.
The Titans (35-23) scored their first two runs without benefit of a hit.
In the bottom of the first inning — the Titans were designated the home team — Hank LoForte was hit by Erik Miller’s first pitch. LoForte eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Daniel Cope.
Another sacrifice fly, by Jake Pavletich in the fourth, plated Cope to make it 2-0. Cope walked, went to second on a balk by Miller and reached third when shortstop Nico Hoerner made a fine play behind second base to throw out Sahid Valenzuela.
Miller allowed just one hit but was replaced by Austin Weiermiller after the fourth inning. Weiermiller walked two batters before Cardenas slammed a hanging breaking ball over the left-field wall for a 5-0 lead.
Stanford finally scored on a two-run single by Alec Wilson in the seventh off Workman. Even then, there was more frustration for Stanford. On the play, Nick Oar, who had walked as a pinch-hitter, was caught in a rundown between second and third for the final out of the inning.
Earlier in the day, Andrew Daschbach hit his 17th homer and freshman Brendan Beck (8-0) gave a strong pitching performance as Stanford staved off elimination by ousting Baylor 4-2.
The Cardinal got a jolt of early offense in the first game when Daschbach clouted a two-run homer off freshman left-hander Tyler Thomas.
Matthiessen’s RBI triple and Wilson’s sacrifice fly tacked on two more runs in the second and chased Thomas.
Beck surrendered solo homers to Davion Downey and Shea Langeliers in an otherwise strong 62⁄3 innings. Jacob Palisch and Jack Little kept the Bears (37-11) at bay the rest of the way. Little, Stanford’s All-America closer, earned his school-record-tying 16th save of the season.