Recap: Stanford Baseball season comes to end in ACC tourney against Miami
On Wednesday, (12) Stanford baseball fell to (5) Miami in the second round of the ACC tournament by a final score of 11-2. Rob Evans (10-3) was the winning pitcher for the Hurricanes in a starting role while Andrew Shaw (1-1) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinal in a starting role. Miami catcher Alonzo Alvarez was the top offensive performer for the Hurricanes, going 4-5 for two home runs and three RBIs, also scoring three runs himself. He was the only Hurricane with more than one hit.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Miami-Wednesday, May 20th
“Hey, congrats to Miami,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “I think they did everything we didn’t today. You know, they scored a runner from third with less than two outs. I think they pitched a great ball game and they beat us at kind of our game. You know, we shuffle pitchers in and out and they notched a number against almost everyone one of them.
“So, I wish we would have played a little better defensively to support them. We just didn’t play a good ball game, but they, look, on the other hand Miami did. So, proud of our guys, been a good year and you know, we’ve been taking small steps back into the national scene after a good run a few years ago, but maybe not as big as we’d like or as fast as we’d like, but certainly moving forward year to year and getting a win in the tournament, the first one for Stanford is a positive step. And you know, great players, like the ones besides me, Rintaro and Teddy Tokheim are certainly, it’s a bright future for us and we just gotta keep, just keep improving and getting better.
“So happy with Rintaro’s, you know, development over the past two years, you know, just really blessed to have had him part of our program and you know, such a team player and he brings such a great attitude to the field every day and he’s willing to work. He’s one of the hardest workers on our team. He’s really humble and he’s above nothing and I think the players really feed off someone with his talent that works as hard as he does and comes to the field with such a great attitude. So, you know, I feel extremely blessed to have had him in our program and you know, like I said, he’s been a joy to coach.”
In the 1st inning, both starting pitchers got off to good starts, not allowing anyone to get on base. In the 2nd inning, that’s when the offense got rolling for both teams. In the top of the 2nd, Charlie Bates singled up the middle after which JJ Moran doubled to right center, bringing home Bates. That gave the Cardinal a 1-0 lead, which would be their only lead of the afternoon.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Alonzo Alvarez went yard to left center, tying up the game. Andrew Shaw would then walk Dylan Dobovik, ending his afternoon on the mound as Cohen Gomez came in for relief. Gomez would then walk Gabriel Milano before getting a strikeout for the second out of the inning. It looked like maybe Gomez would finish the inning without surrendering a run.
But then, Fabio Peralta hit an RBI single to bring home Dubovik while Milano advanced to third base. Jake Ogden then reached first base on a fielder’s choice as Milano scored while Peralta advanced to second base thanks to an error (E6). That made it a 3-1 lead for the Hurricanes. Max Galvin then lined out to left field to end the inning.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Teddy Tokheim hit a solo shot to center field with two outs to make it 3-2 as the Cardinal got back within a run.
“I think all day is just getting ahead of hitters, and I mean, he’s a great pitcher,” Tokheim said of facing Evans. “He has three pitches that he can land at any time and on the home run, I think I just saw a slider that kind of caught the middle of the zone and I put a good swing on it.”
“Yeah, just, you know, beyond his years at the plate and shows you something new all the time,” Esquer said of Tokheim. “Can handle Friday night pitching and you know, that’s a big step for a freshman and you know, Evans is hats off to him. The kid got stronger and stronger as the day went on. And you know, and Teddy put a good swing on him, but he’s done that all year long. And when we needed him the most and he put some big swings on some guys and been a key part of our offense. And certainly, like you said, something that we’re gonna build around and get people around him as they improve and mature to add to what he does.”
Miami would not score in the bottom of the 3rd inning, though they nearly did. Derek Williams would hit a single through the right side after which Alex Sosa reached on a fielder’s choice to second base as Williams was out at second. Alvarez then doubled to left center to advance Sosa to third base. At this point, Gomez was taken off the mound and replaced by Kassius Thomas. Thomas would force a fielder’s choice as Sosa was out at home after which Milano grounded out to second base to end the inning. It remained a 3-2 lead for the Hurricanes.
From there on, the Hurricanes gradually pulled away. In the bottom of the 4th, Galvin hit a two-RBI single to make it 5-2. In the bottom of the 5th, Vance Sheahan hit an RBI single to the pitcher’s mound to make it 6-2 before a wild pitch from Trevor Moore, who came in to get the final out of the 4th inning, led to Sheahan scoring to make it 7-2. In the bottom of the 6th, Alvarez hit a two-run home run to right field to make it 9-2. In the bottom of the 7th, a throwing error by Stanford brought home the 10th run as Ogden scored. And then finally, in the bottom of the 8th, Milano hit a sac fly to right field to bring home Alvarez. That made it 11-2.
For Stanford, this is a disappointing, but not surprising result. Given how thin their pitching staff is and how little they trusted their pitchers to pitch too many innings, at some point their by committee pitching approach would catch up with them and it did in this one. On top of that, the bats just weren’t there while the defense was atrocious (four errors). That’s a recipe for a loss.
Looking ahead, Stanford has to figure out to keep this young group together while also addressing their needs on the mound. If the pitching and defense can improve next season, assuming there are no surprises in terms of players entering the transfer portal, they could have an NCAA tournament quality team. We were saying the same thing last year, so it’s far from a guarantee that anything will rapidly improve. Still, there was a slight improvement this year that could possibly be interpreted as signs of growth. It’ll be interesting to see if next year the Cardinal are able to finally turn the corner after three straight seasons of missing the NCAA tournament.
“I think, I don’t really like, thought about my freshman season,” Tokheim said reflecting on his season. “I like to take it one pitch at a time, but I’m definitely happy. I think the seniors on this team have been amazing kind of showing me the ropes like Jimmy Nati and Cort MacDonald. I think those guys just being alongside them in the field has been great and they’ve kind of showed me everything I need to know about college baseball.”
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