Stanford missed some chances for this to be an easier game, but the Cardinal relied on the pitching of Tristan Beck (4-2) and Jack Little and defense to beat Arizona State 3-1. Stanford (24-4, 7-3) snapped a two-game skid in Friday night games and got another big hit from Kyle Stowers. The sophomore right fielder hit his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot to right field in the bottom of the second.
Nico Hoerner tripled home Tim Tawa in the third inning and Stanford got a critical insurance run in the seventh on a wild pitch. But the Cardinal stranded eight runners on base, including two in that seventh inning.
Beck didn't have his best stuff but battled through seven innings and his final frame was his best with two strikeouts and good pop with his fastball. Beck allowed five hits and walked four.
Jack Little (11 saves) came in for his typical six outs of work but allowed his first run of the season after 21.1 scoreless. Two soft singles were followed by a booming double to right field and ASU was threatening to tie. But Little got a strikeout -- his second of the inning -- and a ground out to end the danger.
The Sun Devils never stood a chance in the ninth. Little got two more strikeouts and Beau Branton made a nice running, diving catch to keep a ball out of right field.
There were several web gem moments throughout the game. Andrew Daschbach made a diving catch in left field and Maverick Handley tracked a pop up behind home plate and jumped into the netting to make the catch. And the Cardinal turned a nifty double play in the sixth inning that was started deep in the hole by shortstop Nico Hoerner. Branton made a quick turn and Brueser stretched to finish the play.
Tawa was hit in the right hand in the seventh inning and did not take the field for the final two innings. Esquer said the trainer thinks there was no major injury, but he was just sore.
David Esquer
On Jack Little's performance: "Outstanding. You know what, even giving up a hit and giving up a run, what he did to bend but not break was big for us. We had to be able to see that. He was going to give up a run at some point and for him to not let down and give in, he got two big outs with runners at second and third. That's our guy."
The missed chances in the batter's box: "Yeah, they didn't come easy for us today. We had some more runs out there and we just weren't able to get execution or contact. The bottom of the order was struggling a little bit to help us. But we got enough with Nico's big triple and Stowers' home run. We did enough. We didn't do it great, but we did enough."
The strength of pitching and defense: "There were a couple nice plays behind Tristan -- a really nice double play by Nico off of Aldrete earlier. Beau turns that thing nicely, that was big. Just playing solid defense and Tristan found his groove a little bit. His best days ate still ahead of him."
Was the plan Little for six outs all along or did the game make it who you wanted to go to?
"We had (Jacob) Palisch going if we were going with someone earlier. When it got to the eighth we felt we would go with Little. It matched up a little with the bottom of the lineup and he has been our guy all along. We've used him before for two, three innings. We don't want to do it often but it seemed to be there in a save situation. If we score those two runs in the seventh to get to five we probably wouldn't have brought him out."
Beau is locked on defense and with the bat. When you see someone in that kind of groove is it something you recognize?
"Yeah, you don't touch him. You try not to break him out of it. He's in one of those when the game is moving at a comfortable pace where he can compete with anybody. It's still a competition. He's not unconscious, but he's giving himself a chance against any pitcher."
How confident are you guys when someone runs on Maverick Handley? (Another runner was caught stealing.)
"We didn't do a lot with the bat, but right up the middle between the catching position -- Maverick made a nice catch on a pop up and threw a runner out at second base -- the double play we turned up the middle. The pitching performance on the mound ... it's right up the middle."
Nico Hoerner
"I thought we played a clean game and we were pretty solid defensively. Honestly, I thought we should have had five or six runs. When you win a game on Friday night in the Pac-12 you don't complain about it."
How is your chemistry with Beau Branton? You turned a great double play there.
"That was one of the more satisfying plays this year, honestly. Duke has been out but Beau has done a great job of filling in. He's really athletic and turns the ball well. That was a nice play."
What's your perspective on how much work Beau has put in to get to this point because it has been a long road for the senior: "Beau has been in our program a long time. He deserves this for the time he has put into the program. He's a guy who I think everyone else can learn from. He's not stressed when he's on the field. He's loose and he keeps everyone else loose. The whole thing with him is we don't want him to change. He is who he is and is a great part of our team."
Tristan Beck's effort tonight: "I thought his seventh inning was his best inning of the whole season. They stopped us from scoring in the bottom of the sixth when we had a runner on third with less than two outs and ... they had some momentum on their side. He just got on the mound with a sense of purpose and totally shut it down for his last inning of work. That was awesome. I felt like the game was over after that."
It has been drama free with Little on the mound this season and this was the first time that wasn't the case. But you saw something different from him: "Oh, yeah. At a certain point you want him to hit some kind of bump. He did a great job. He has been successful this year with how aggressive he is and I love that he didn't change at all when he got into a tough situation. He went right at them and was giving them his best stuff. He isn't going to change who he is."
Nico Hoerner tripled home Tim Tawa in the third inning and Stanford got a critical insurance run in the seventh on a wild pitch. But the Cardinal stranded eight runners on base, including two in that seventh inning.
Beck didn't have his best stuff but battled through seven innings and his final frame was his best with two strikeouts and good pop with his fastball. Beck allowed five hits and walked four.
Jack Little (11 saves) came in for his typical six outs of work but allowed his first run of the season after 21.1 scoreless. Two soft singles were followed by a booming double to right field and ASU was threatening to tie. But Little got a strikeout -- his second of the inning -- and a ground out to end the danger.
The Sun Devils never stood a chance in the ninth. Little got two more strikeouts and Beau Branton made a nice running, diving catch to keep a ball out of right field.
There were several web gem moments throughout the game. Andrew Daschbach made a diving catch in left field and Maverick Handley tracked a pop up behind home plate and jumped into the netting to make the catch. And the Cardinal turned a nifty double play in the sixth inning that was started deep in the hole by shortstop Nico Hoerner. Branton made a quick turn and Brueser stretched to finish the play.
Tawa was hit in the right hand in the seventh inning and did not take the field for the final two innings. Esquer said the trainer thinks there was no major injury, but he was just sore.
David Esquer
On Jack Little's performance: "Outstanding. You know what, even giving up a hit and giving up a run, what he did to bend but not break was big for us. We had to be able to see that. He was going to give up a run at some point and for him to not let down and give in, he got two big outs with runners at second and third. That's our guy."
The missed chances in the batter's box: "Yeah, they didn't come easy for us today. We had some more runs out there and we just weren't able to get execution or contact. The bottom of the order was struggling a little bit to help us. But we got enough with Nico's big triple and Stowers' home run. We did enough. We didn't do it great, but we did enough."
The strength of pitching and defense: "There were a couple nice plays behind Tristan -- a really nice double play by Nico off of Aldrete earlier. Beau turns that thing nicely, that was big. Just playing solid defense and Tristan found his groove a little bit. His best days ate still ahead of him."
Was the plan Little for six outs all along or did the game make it who you wanted to go to?
"We had (Jacob) Palisch going if we were going with someone earlier. When it got to the eighth we felt we would go with Little. It matched up a little with the bottom of the lineup and he has been our guy all along. We've used him before for two, three innings. We don't want to do it often but it seemed to be there in a save situation. If we score those two runs in the seventh to get to five we probably wouldn't have brought him out."
Beau is locked on defense and with the bat. When you see someone in that kind of groove is it something you recognize?
"Yeah, you don't touch him. You try not to break him out of it. He's in one of those when the game is moving at a comfortable pace where he can compete with anybody. It's still a competition. He's not unconscious, but he's giving himself a chance against any pitcher."
How confident are you guys when someone runs on Maverick Handley? (Another runner was caught stealing.)
"We didn't do a lot with the bat, but right up the middle between the catching position -- Maverick made a nice catch on a pop up and threw a runner out at second base -- the double play we turned up the middle. The pitching performance on the mound ... it's right up the middle."
Nico Hoerner
"I thought we played a clean game and we were pretty solid defensively. Honestly, I thought we should have had five or six runs. When you win a game on Friday night in the Pac-12 you don't complain about it."
How is your chemistry with Beau Branton? You turned a great double play there.
"That was one of the more satisfying plays this year, honestly. Duke has been out but Beau has done a great job of filling in. He's really athletic and turns the ball well. That was a nice play."
What's your perspective on how much work Beau has put in to get to this point because it has been a long road for the senior: "Beau has been in our program a long time. He deserves this for the time he has put into the program. He's a guy who I think everyone else can learn from. He's not stressed when he's on the field. He's loose and he keeps everyone else loose. The whole thing with him is we don't want him to change. He is who he is and is a great part of our team."
Tristan Beck's effort tonight: "I thought his seventh inning was his best inning of the whole season. They stopped us from scoring in the bottom of the sixth when we had a runner on third with less than two outs and ... they had some momentum on their side. He just got on the mound with a sense of purpose and totally shut it down for his last inning of work. That was awesome. I felt like the game was over after that."
It has been drama free with Little on the mound this season and this was the first time that wasn't the case. But you saw something different from him: "Oh, yeah. At a certain point you want him to hit some kind of bump. He did a great job. He has been successful this year with how aggressive he is and I love that he didn't change at all when he got into a tough situation. He went right at them and was giving them his best stuff. He isn't going to change who he is."
