BYU vs Stanford

Elimination Game vs Stanford

No. 8 Stanford belted three home runs to knock No. 26 BYU baseball from the NCAA region tournament on Saturday, 9-1 at Sunken Diamond.

Stanford improved to 42-15, giving its retiring coach Mark Marquess at least one more game in his stellar 41-year career at Stanford.

A Pitching Duel

BYU gave Marquess and the Cardinal a better game, at least for six innings, than the spread of a 9-1 score.

“I don't feel like the score was indicative of how good that game was,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “Maverik Buffo gave us a chance to win, but we couldn’t solve Chris Castellanos. He didn't give us anything to hit. His changeup is a game-changer and he was a bulldog out there."

Shaver goes Long

One of the few mistakes Castellanos made was to designated hitter Colton Shaver in the fifth inning.

“He missed one pitch on me the entire day and I got a barrel on it,” Shaver said.

Shaver worked the full count of curves to his advantage, knocking his 13th homer (second of the tourney) over the left center fence in the fifth for a 1-0 Cougar lead.

BYU got its first baserunner of the afternoon when Brock Hale got aboard on a throw from third base, which pulled the first baseman off the bag. Hale made a successful delayed steal to second before Stanford recorded a pair of strikeouts to end the second.

A superb timed leap by second baseman Brian Hsu prevented the Cardinal from scoring after leadoff triple in the fourth. The Cardinal advanced another runner to third in the next frame, prompting a mound visit from Littlewood in the fifth after five straight balls, but Buffo escaped that jam too, getting the third out of both innings on fly balls to Hale.

Stanford tied the score in the sixth, then took a 3-1 lead on a two-out home run to left field by Jack Klein, grandson of the late Cardinal player/philanthropist for whom the field and press box are named.

After 121 pitches, Buffo was relieved by Riley Gates to finish the seventh with a runner aboard and two out. Gates was quickly replaced by Keaton Cenatiempo after he surrendered back-to-back homers, expanding the Cardinal lead to 6-1.

Bo Burrup replaced Cenatiempo with another short stint before Jordan Wood stopped the three-run eighth.

“This is a special group of guys, to break through like this team did is rewarding. I’d take their will and determination over any team I’ve ever had.” - Coach Mike Littlewood

A Record Season

The Cougars ended their season with a 38-21 record, tying for the ninth-most wins in school history. BYU tied for the regular season WCC Championship, and won the WCC Tournament for the first time, which gave them their first NCAA berth since 2002.