Zach Grech got the start and the win after pitching three scoreless innings. Austin Weiermiler, Will Matthiessen and Jacob Palisch finished off the game. Erik Miller was held out and may be available this weekend.
David Esquer said they would know more about Maverick Handley by the end of today. I'll follow up tomorrow.
Kyle Stowers had three hits and two-run home run in the win over BYU. Stanford has not lost a "midweek" game since 2016.
Esquer
Undefeated in midweek games: “That’s a big statement. It really is. I have been part of teams -- coached teams, played on teams -- sometimes these Tuesdays can bite you a little bit. It really shows their character. They have good leadership and they come out there and they check in with each other to make sure no one is going to take a day off or not come out ready to play. It really doesn’t matter how it looks when you do it. You come out here and take care of business to get the win.
Grech gets the start on short notice: “Great job by Grech and we were short some innings. Beck had pitched his innings over the weekend. Miller has been a little tender. He’s going to be fine but he wasn’t available until the weekend. And then Little with his effort on Sunday down.
It was just one at-bat, but a significant development that Brandon Wulff got to pinch hit: “Yeah. Getting him out there, he’s closer and closer to playing and obviously we’ve held the line without him, but we’re better when he’s in the lineup and playing at his potential.”
What has Will Matthiessen’s emergence done to the thought process of how to integrate Brandon and Duke Kinamon?
“That’s a good question. Hey, we are one or two players stronger than before they got hurt. That’s the positive. And if we’re dealing with the issue that we have too many good players that’s a good problem to have.”
How the team has responded to several injuries: “I could not be prouder. I know it’s part of their camaraderie that they trust each other. They trust the next guy. The guys have to earn that trust by coming out here and working hard and be ready to play. This team wasn’t built on one guy being good. It’s the whole group.”
Since the Sunday game, what have you seen from the guys during the flight home and Monday about what they took away from the weekend as a whole and specifically Monday?
“I think there is a great amount of confidence. Until you’re tested to that level and show you can pull through and show you can play at that level -- the first two games obviously didn’t show that. That was maybe a little bit of a blow and you may start to question, but what they did on Sunday showed that they grew into that game."
Zach Grech and Kyle Stowers
The mental challenge of winning every midweek game:
Grech: “It’s not an easy thing to do. You come out on a Tuesday, especially midday when you’re supposed to be in class, sometimes you don’t have that same adrenaline going. At that point it’s a will to win and keeping your focus.”
Stowers:“He hit it on the head. And especially after weekends like against Oregon State, big weekends when it’s easy to stay locked in on that. I think last year the older guys really set the tone for us. They made us know and helped us learn how important it is to win on these Tuesdays. It’s huge that we were able to do that back-to-back years.”
How did you feel leaving Oregon State and how did that impact going into today?
Stowers: “The biggest positive is that we stayed in first place in the Pac-12, which is really important. We weren’t too happy with how we played over the weekend. We felt like we weren’t ourselves until halfway through the last game. We were happy we were able to come back and win that game because it kept us in first place.”
Grech: “I think it’s just getting back in our groove. We never lost confidence. We knew we belonged there and we knew that we’re just as good, if not better than Oregon State. Getting back to what we do best was the big thing.”
Zach, what was the conversation among the pitchers after facing one of the tougher lineups in the country?
“You have to hand it to them. It’s a great offense. You make a really good pitch and they put a barrel on it. We’re probably the best pitching staff in the nation and when you go up against a lineup like that you have to make your pitches. If you don’t they’re going to hurt you. If you do, we’re probably going to win the game.”
Stowers: “Shoot, if you look back at the scores … I don’t think it was telling of the weekend. I thought the hitters, we didn’t set the tone from game one and especially in game two. You have to give it to Heimlich in game one for throwing a good game. We just felt like as hitters we weren’t ourselves and it took us too long to get comfortable. We had a couple chances in that second game to score first and we didn’t. I think that changes everything if we’re able to score first. It gives our pitchers confidence. I would say it was more of a responsibility on the hitters.”
Kyle, it seems you gotten better as the season has gone on and you’ve established more consistency. How do you assess your season headed into the final stretch?
“I’m happy with how things have gone with the team. Individually I feel like I can be better. I felt like against Oregon State I didn’t pick up the team and had a bunch of spots where I could have been helped us get some leads. I didn’t come through. Honestly, it has been fun but I feel like I have so much more room to improve.”
David Esquer said they would know more about Maverick Handley by the end of today. I'll follow up tomorrow.
Kyle Stowers had three hits and two-run home run in the win over BYU. Stanford has not lost a "midweek" game since 2016.
Esquer
Undefeated in midweek games: “That’s a big statement. It really is. I have been part of teams -- coached teams, played on teams -- sometimes these Tuesdays can bite you a little bit. It really shows their character. They have good leadership and they come out there and they check in with each other to make sure no one is going to take a day off or not come out ready to play. It really doesn’t matter how it looks when you do it. You come out here and take care of business to get the win.
Grech gets the start on short notice: “Great job by Grech and we were short some innings. Beck had pitched his innings over the weekend. Miller has been a little tender. He’s going to be fine but he wasn’t available until the weekend. And then Little with his effort on Sunday down.
It was just one at-bat, but a significant development that Brandon Wulff got to pinch hit: “Yeah. Getting him out there, he’s closer and closer to playing and obviously we’ve held the line without him, but we’re better when he’s in the lineup and playing at his potential.”
What has Will Matthiessen’s emergence done to the thought process of how to integrate Brandon and Duke Kinamon?
“That’s a good question. Hey, we are one or two players stronger than before they got hurt. That’s the positive. And if we’re dealing with the issue that we have too many good players that’s a good problem to have.”
How the team has responded to several injuries: “I could not be prouder. I know it’s part of their camaraderie that they trust each other. They trust the next guy. The guys have to earn that trust by coming out here and working hard and be ready to play. This team wasn’t built on one guy being good. It’s the whole group.”
Since the Sunday game, what have you seen from the guys during the flight home and Monday about what they took away from the weekend as a whole and specifically Monday?
“I think there is a great amount of confidence. Until you’re tested to that level and show you can pull through and show you can play at that level -- the first two games obviously didn’t show that. That was maybe a little bit of a blow and you may start to question, but what they did on Sunday showed that they grew into that game."
Zach Grech and Kyle Stowers
The mental challenge of winning every midweek game:
Grech: “It’s not an easy thing to do. You come out on a Tuesday, especially midday when you’re supposed to be in class, sometimes you don’t have that same adrenaline going. At that point it’s a will to win and keeping your focus.”
Stowers:“He hit it on the head. And especially after weekends like against Oregon State, big weekends when it’s easy to stay locked in on that. I think last year the older guys really set the tone for us. They made us know and helped us learn how important it is to win on these Tuesdays. It’s huge that we were able to do that back-to-back years.”
How did you feel leaving Oregon State and how did that impact going into today?
Stowers: “The biggest positive is that we stayed in first place in the Pac-12, which is really important. We weren’t too happy with how we played over the weekend. We felt like we weren’t ourselves until halfway through the last game. We were happy we were able to come back and win that game because it kept us in first place.”
Grech: “I think it’s just getting back in our groove. We never lost confidence. We knew we belonged there and we knew that we’re just as good, if not better than Oregon State. Getting back to what we do best was the big thing.”
Zach, what was the conversation among the pitchers after facing one of the tougher lineups in the country?
“You have to hand it to them. It’s a great offense. You make a really good pitch and they put a barrel on it. We’re probably the best pitching staff in the nation and when you go up against a lineup like that you have to make your pitches. If you don’t they’re going to hurt you. If you do, we’re probably going to win the game.”
Stowers: “Shoot, if you look back at the scores … I don’t think it was telling of the weekend. I thought the hitters, we didn’t set the tone from game one and especially in game two. You have to give it to Heimlich in game one for throwing a good game. We just felt like as hitters we weren’t ourselves and it took us too long to get comfortable. We had a couple chances in that second game to score first and we didn’t. I think that changes everything if we’re able to score first. It gives our pitchers confidence. I would say it was more of a responsibility on the hitters.”
Kyle, it seems you gotten better as the season has gone on and you’ve established more consistency. How do you assess your season headed into the final stretch?
“I’m happy with how things have gone with the team. Individually I feel like I can be better. I felt like against Oregon State I didn’t pick up the team and had a bunch of spots where I could have been helped us get some leads. I didn’t come through. Honestly, it has been fun but I feel like I have so much more room to improve.”
