Friday kicks off a weekend series for the Cardinal, with Stanford baseball (20-12, 5-7 Pac-12) traveling northward to Eugene to take on Oregon (24-10, 6-6). The three-game set starts tomorrow at 6 p.m.
Stanford pitcher sophomore Kris Bubic (2-6, 3.91 ERA), who has thrown 46 innings this season, will likely lead the Cardinal against Oregon’s ace, David Peterson (8-1, 1.85 ERA). At 2 p.m. on Saturday, Cardinal junior Andrew Summerville (1-1, 3.28 ERA) is set to take on Oregon’s Matt Mercer (5-2, 2.47 ERA). Sunday at noon, Stanford will likely counter with one of their top pitchers, senior Chris Castellanos (5-1, 2.67 ERA), to close out the series. Oregon’s pitcher for Sunday is yet to be determined.
Last season, the Ducks traveled south to California in the last series of the season for both teams. In that series, Stanford swept Oregon 2-1, 4-2 and 3-1. However, Stanford last series-win at PK Park in Eugene was in 2009 when the Cardinals took two of three.
The dueling talents of both teams, as seen in the stat lines, set up the weekend to be an contentious matchup. Stanford and Oregon are at near parallels. Stanford is running a team record of 20-12, Oregon 23-10. Stanford has a team batting record of .262, ranking ninth, and Oregon has a record of .263, ranking seventh. Team fielding percentage for Stanford puts them in fourth with a .976 record, while Oregon holds a .968, keeping them in eighth. Stanford’s team pitching ERA is 3.35, which is good enough for third, while Oregon’s is nearly identical with a 3.49 ERA.
The Cardinal’s leading hitters are junior Matt Winaker (.304), playing 100 straight games, and junior Quinn Brodey (.316), playing 96 consecutive games. Top hitters for Oregon are Kyle Kasser (.302), Jake Bennet (.299), Tim Susnara (.286, 4 HR) and Spencer Steer (.271, 47 TB).
As the season has progressed, Stanford has continued to gain momentum. Oregon will pose an important challenge to see if the team can win a matchup that looks tight on paper. Good pitching, defense and timely hitting will play a critical role.
The weekend series will be played on Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at noon. Stats and live updates can be followed on gostanford.com.
Contact Cate Camara at ccamara2 ‘at’ stanford.edu.