Stanford Baseball Ends Season with Loss to Virginia Tech

Stanford’s baseball season is officially over. Earlier today, Stanford played in round one of the ACC Tournament, where they took on Virginia Tech. The Cardinal entered as the 13 seed, while the Hokies were the 12 seed, giving Virginia Tech the slight advantage entering the game.

Early on, it looked like a pitching duel. Stanford’s Joey Volchko and Virginia Tech’s Jake Marciano held the game scoreless, with Volchko not allowing a baserunner, and Marciano hitting a batter in the first, and giving up a double in the second.

In the third inning, Stanford was able to grab an early 1-0 lead as Cort MacDonald started the frame with a single, and with two away, Tatum Marsh was able to add a single of his own that push MacDonald to third. He would score on a wild pitch from Marciano to give the Cardinal the lead.

Stanford led 1-0, but gave up a run in the bottom of the third and two more in the fourth. In the top of the fifth, Trevor Haskins homered to cut into the lead to and make it 3-2. Sadly for the Cardinal though, they stayed quiet offensively until the Hokies had more or less put the game away.

In the bottom of the sixth, Virginia Tech padded their lead with three more runs, pushing Volchko from the game after a walk, a wild pitch, a passed ball, and another walk set up the inning. They followed that up by adding another run in the seventh. It wasn’t until the ninth inning that Stanford put runs back up to make the final score a bit closer.

In the ninth inning, Jimmy Nati, who has been on a recent tear, homered, scoring Charlie Bates and himself to bring the lead to 7-4. But that was it for the Cardinal, as they lost by three.

Haskins and Nati, two of Stanford’s best this season, had a big final game of the season, with each blasting home runs. Freshman Tatum Marsh did what he does best, going 2-for-4 and continuing what he's been doing all year. He ended the year batting .377 as a freshman. Charlie Bates and Ethan Hott each had a double, but it was ultimately not enough.

Stanford's season officially has come to a close, after a 27-25 showing. The Cardinal succeeded heavily in their non-conference schedule, but struggled once ACC play came around, going just 11-19. Although certain players had tons of consistency throughout the season, neither the pitching staff nor lineup could stay consistent enough to pull out series wins.

It is now back-to-back seasons where the Cardinal have failed to make the postseason, after three straight College World Series appearances. It certainly looked like they'd be back in contention early on in the year, but those ACC games really did a number on the Cardinal's overall record.

The big question that looms over the program now is which players will stay, and which will enter the transfer portal. The answer to that question should provide a good idea of what to expect from the program next season.