No. 12 Stanford's hitters are off to a cold start but the Cardinal (5-1) are being carried by great pitching and defense through six games. UNLV took the first game 2-1 on the strength of two runs in the first inning off of Brendan Beck. Stanford won the second game 3-2 on a walk-off "single" off the right-field wall hit by sophomore Christian Robinson. The Cardinal needed that walk-off hit because in the top of the ninth Robinson made an abysmal decision to try to dive for a sinking line drive in center field with one out and no one on base. He missed and the play resulted in a triple.
Some of the Cardinal are pushing to make plays and it's showing. There are a couple players who I would categorize as canaries in the coal mine of anxiety/mental toughness. When they start to show frustration you know it's reached a high level. Last season it was Beau Branton. If the stress got to Beau it was bad. Today it was Tim Tawa. He was visibly upset after one of his outs and it was understandable because the Cardinal combined for nine hits in the two games. Several of the best examples of good contact went straight to UNLV defenders.
Stanford had chances in the first game to build a breakthrough inning but never really threatened to do serious damage to starter Cameron Jabara. Meanwhile Beck recovered for Stanford after allowing four hits in a row in the top of the first to throw five innings of two-hit ball.
Jacob palisch scattered seven hits in 5.1 IP in the second game but handed the ball to freshman Cody Jensen with two on in the sixth. Jensen walked a batter he had on the hook with two strikes and a balk tied the game. Zach Grech came in with one out in the seventh and then All-American closer Jack Little was given the job of saving the game with four outs left.
Little was in position to get a save because Will Matthiessen almost destroyed a baseball Roy Hobbs style, hitting a home run to center field that gave the dugout the first real reason to celebrate that day.
Stanford's fielding was worth lauding outside of Robinson's high school freshman baseball mistake. Duke Kinamon grabbed a highlight in his first college game since the end of his sophomore year. The senior tracked a fly ball to shallow left and made a leaping grab in front of a charging Kyle Stowers. Stanford's defense can be elite this season and Kinamon can be a big part of the reason why playing either second base or shortstop. It's when you watch other college teams struggle with normal plays -- which UNLV did on a couple of occasions -- that you realize how good Stanford's fielders are by comparison.
David Esquer Q&A
"I thought their guy (Jabara) pitched a good game and we just didn't do much. We're a little bit under water offensively, obviously. We have to battle out of it before we hit our stride. No one is really taking the pressure off of us. Will is a little bit. He's trying. We need more than that. The guy threw a good sinker, got us to a few ground balls right at people and it was a struggle for us.
"In the second game it was the same. Our pitching and defense is keeping us right there. We're in both of those games because we can pitch and play some defense. Although the defense let us down there in the ninth. It was just a bad decision, just baseball 101. He (Robinson) came back and good for him making up for it."
How much of the slow start for the hitters is who they're facing and how much of it is inside their own heads?
"A little bit right now it's that if you don't get off to a fast start you start to press a little bit. It's just trying to keep them relaxed. We have the ability to be a pretty good offensive team. Not a lot of teams have been built on counting on just offense. That's why the pitching and defense is so important. Some guys when a few at-bats are starting to roll over and mount you see them get a better tighter. You can't go 2-for-1. They're going to get there but we've had some good opportunities that we let slip away.
"Baseball is difficult. It's hard a game. It's not just work hard and practice hard and you get to be successful. The other team is trying too and they're doing their best to make you unsuccessful. It's just part of the mental process of handling the game. Unfortunately we haven't hit the ground running as fast as we'd like but we've been able to win games."
On Kinamon's play: "It's been great. He changes us defensively. We have a chance to have a lockdown defense when Duke is on the infield somewhere. He is a special defensive player. He's just not ready to play a doubleheader. He'll probably play tomorrow. We're just trying to get his feet wet. It's kind of spring training on the go. He missed a year."
What's your take on your own pitching today?
"I thought the pitching did a good job. Obviously Brendan's first inning was the only blip and I think getting used a solid strike zone, it kind of pushed him up middle. He gave up those four hits in a row when he wasn't really able to expand the zone from the start. I thought he got comfortable with the umpire and started to throw to his zone and was the typical Brendan Beck."
On Jacob Palisch: "He was such a main part of our bullpen a year ago to come in in high pressure situations and jump right into it. I think he's learning how to be a starter. I think sometimes he comes out and he works too hard to get his pitches working. He's learning how to relax and last five or six innings."
Some of the Cardinal are pushing to make plays and it's showing. There are a couple players who I would categorize as canaries in the coal mine of anxiety/mental toughness. When they start to show frustration you know it's reached a high level. Last season it was Beau Branton. If the stress got to Beau it was bad. Today it was Tim Tawa. He was visibly upset after one of his outs and it was understandable because the Cardinal combined for nine hits in the two games. Several of the best examples of good contact went straight to UNLV defenders.
Stanford had chances in the first game to build a breakthrough inning but never really threatened to do serious damage to starter Cameron Jabara. Meanwhile Beck recovered for Stanford after allowing four hits in a row in the top of the first to throw five innings of two-hit ball.
Jacob palisch scattered seven hits in 5.1 IP in the second game but handed the ball to freshman Cody Jensen with two on in the sixth. Jensen walked a batter he had on the hook with two strikes and a balk tied the game. Zach Grech came in with one out in the seventh and then All-American closer Jack Little was given the job of saving the game with four outs left.
Little was in position to get a save because Will Matthiessen almost destroyed a baseball Roy Hobbs style, hitting a home run to center field that gave the dugout the first real reason to celebrate that day.
Stanford's fielding was worth lauding outside of Robinson's high school freshman baseball mistake. Duke Kinamon grabbed a highlight in his first college game since the end of his sophomore year. The senior tracked a fly ball to shallow left and made a leaping grab in front of a charging Kyle Stowers. Stanford's defense can be elite this season and Kinamon can be a big part of the reason why playing either second base or shortstop. It's when you watch other college teams struggle with normal plays -- which UNLV did on a couple of occasions -- that you realize how good Stanford's fielders are by comparison.
David Esquer Q&A
"I thought their guy (Jabara) pitched a good game and we just didn't do much. We're a little bit under water offensively, obviously. We have to battle out of it before we hit our stride. No one is really taking the pressure off of us. Will is a little bit. He's trying. We need more than that. The guy threw a good sinker, got us to a few ground balls right at people and it was a struggle for us.
"In the second game it was the same. Our pitching and defense is keeping us right there. We're in both of those games because we can pitch and play some defense. Although the defense let us down there in the ninth. It was just a bad decision, just baseball 101. He (Robinson) came back and good for him making up for it."
How much of the slow start for the hitters is who they're facing and how much of it is inside their own heads?
"A little bit right now it's that if you don't get off to a fast start you start to press a little bit. It's just trying to keep them relaxed. We have the ability to be a pretty good offensive team. Not a lot of teams have been built on counting on just offense. That's why the pitching and defense is so important. Some guys when a few at-bats are starting to roll over and mount you see them get a better tighter. You can't go 2-for-1. They're going to get there but we've had some good opportunities that we let slip away.
"Baseball is difficult. It's hard a game. It's not just work hard and practice hard and you get to be successful. The other team is trying too and they're doing their best to make you unsuccessful. It's just part of the mental process of handling the game. Unfortunately we haven't hit the ground running as fast as we'd like but we've been able to win games."
On Kinamon's play: "It's been great. He changes us defensively. We have a chance to have a lockdown defense when Duke is on the infield somewhere. He is a special defensive player. He's just not ready to play a doubleheader. He'll probably play tomorrow. We're just trying to get his feet wet. It's kind of spring training on the go. He missed a year."
What's your take on your own pitching today?
"I thought the pitching did a good job. Obviously Brendan's first inning was the only blip and I think getting used a solid strike zone, it kind of pushed him up middle. He gave up those four hits in a row when he wasn't really able to expand the zone from the start. I thought he got comfortable with the umpire and started to throw to his zone and was the typical Brendan Beck."
On Jacob Palisch: "He was such a main part of our bullpen a year ago to come in in high pressure situations and jump right into it. I think he's learning how to be a starter. I think sometimes he comes out and he works too hard to get his pitches working. He's learning how to relax and last five or six innings."
