RALEIGH, N.C. – Deciding a three-game ACC series on Saturday from Doak Field, Stanford (27-24, 11-19 ACC) defeated No. 13 NC State (33-18, 17-11 ACC) by a score of 6-3 to conclude the regular season ahead of Tuesday’s ACC Championship Tournament.
The victory was No. 800 in Stanford's Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer’s career.
Stanford pieced together the nine innings on the mound Saturday, using eight pitchers along the way. Freshman Parker Warner got the start and contributed the first inning before Austin Steeves worked a scoreless second. Liam Golden surrendered two runs in the third inning, but Kassius Thomas, Sam Garewal, Ben Reimers, Ryan Speshyock and Ty Uber combined to pitch the final six scoreless innings, allowing five hits, to secure the victory.
Thomas was ultimately credited with the win after working the scoreless fourth inning, improving to 1-1 on the season. By way of his scoreless ninth inning, Uber converted his third save of the year.
The two teams traded a run in the first inning, with Stanford taking advantage of an errant pickoff throw that allowed Tatum Marsh to scamper home from third base. Marsh, who went 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored, had moved to third on a two-out single from Nati one play earlier.
The Cardinal reclaimed a lead at 2-1 with a run in the third as Trevor Haskins doubled leading off the inning and came in to score on an RBI-single through the left side from Marsh.
That lead did not last through the bottom of the third as NC State put the first two batters aboard on a single and a walk before plating the pair on an RBI-single from Justin DeCriscio and a sac fly from Alex Sosa.
Still trailing 3-2 entering the fifth inning, Stanford rallied for four runs on five hits, including a go-ahead three-RBI single from Rintaro Sasaki to take a lead it would not relinquish. Freshmen Charlie Bates and Marsh got the rally going with one-out singles before a two-out walk to Temo Becerra loaded the bases and brought Sasaki to the plate. The left-hand hitting slugger fell behind 0-1 in the count, but hammered a breaking ball inside the bag at first base and off the wall lining the right-field line. Bates and Marsh scored easily, and the throw was lobbed back into the infield by right fielder Brayden Fraasman. Becerra never hesitated on the basepaths, turning third and scoring without a throw as well as Stanford stretched the lead to 6-3.
Having won consecutive games at No. 13 NC State to end the regular season, the Cardinal will now prepare for the 2025 ACC Baseball Championship Tournament on Tuesday. With a California victory over Boston College on Saturday, Stanford would be the No. 13 seed in the ACC Tournament, but would be No. 14 with a Boston College victory.