On Tuesday, #23 Stanford baseball defeated San Francisco 6-5 in a home game at Sunken Diamond. Stanford sophomore left-handed pitcher Ryan Bruno (2-0) picked up the win while San Francisco senior left-handed pitcher Weston Lombard (2-3) was awarded the loss. Stanford improves to 18-10 overall (9-6 Pac-12) while San Francisco falls to 17-18 overall (6-6 WCC).

“Yeah, the message is take any win you can get, right?” Stanford assistant coach Andre Mercurio said after the game. “I mean, they’re not all going to be pretty and we know with our defense and our pitching is going to keep us in games, so we just kind of had the idea of any win, we’ll take it, especially on Tuesdays. Sometimes it can be tough, but we believe in our pitching, our defense can keep us in any game. So we’ll take the win, prepare for this weekend, and tip your cap to USF. They played well, played tough, and they got some good players over there.”

Freshman right-hander Braden Montgomery was on the mound to start for Stanford also batting at the designated hitter spot. As for San Francisco, sophomore right-handed pitcher Kaleb Woltz was on the mound to start for them. The game got off to a rather hot start as both teams scored in the opening inning.

In the top of the 1st inning, San Francisco short stop Luke Keaschall got hit by a pitch, putting him on first base. After right fielder Harris Williams III struck out, 1st baseman Gabe Giosso hit a double down the left field line which brought Keaschall home. 3rd baseman Mario Demera would ground out to second base, advancing Giosso to third base. In the next at-bat with designated hitter Jordan Vujovich at the plate, Montgomery would throw a wild pitch resulting in Giosso scoring. Vujovich would foul out to third base to end the top of the inning. 2-0 San Francisco lead.

“We believe Braden is one of the most talented players in the country,” Mercurio said of starting Montgomery. “And we just need to get him as many innings as possible. So we felt like this was a good opportunity to kinda get him out there and just continue to get those reps. Him and Coach Eager had some really good work yesterday in the bullpen and the catch play and we felt like he was ready for this and we feel like he’s getting better every day on the mound. So we have a ton of confidence on Braden. Whether we throw him in on a Friday night game, Saturday, Tuesday, whatever it is. So, we just need to continue to get him those reps so he can get comfortable on the mound.”

In the bottom of the 1st inning, Stanford did a great job responding. Center fielder Brock Jones got walked to lead things off and then proceeded to steal second base during the at-bat of 1st baseman Carter Graham. All the steal did in the end was just pad the stats for Jones as Graham hit a two-run home run to left field to bring Jones home. Just like that, it was a 2-2 game. In the next at-bat, Montgomery would hit a double down the right field line and advance to third base on a throwing error. Catcher Kody Huff would then hit a single through the left side to bring Montgomery home. 3-2 Stanford lead. 3rd baseman Drew Bowser and sophomore left fielder Eddie Park both struck out to end the inning.

“Yeah, Carter’s unbelievable,” Mercurio said of Graham. “He’s tough as they come, we have a lot of leaders on this team, but he’s definitely one of the leaders and kinda one of the heart beats on this team and he just has such a consistent approach day in, day out. He doesn’t really ever get outside of himself no matter if he’s facing a little leaguer, if he’s facing Clayton Kershaw, we feel like he’d have the same focus in his at-bats and he’s been huge for us. He’s been huge. I mean when he gets up there, it’s like do we try to move a runner? It’s like hey we have the utmost trust in Carter to hit the ball hard and he’s been unbelievable for us. Just as a player, but almost more impactful as a leader for this team and has just tough, just a really really good example for the rest of the guys.”

“Yeah, so wasn’t seeing the ball great today, actually surprisingly,” Graham said of his home run. “But coach talks about competing even when you’re not seeing it. Baseball doesn’t care. So, that first at-bat, fouled off a ton of fast balls and then worked a long count, eventually threw a slider over the plate and I was able to get my barrel to it.”

After Montgomery was able to strike out three batters in the top of the 2nd inning, Stanford went back to the work in the bottom of the 2nd, hoping to add even more to their lead. Things got off to a good start for the Cardinal as short stop Adam Crampton got hit by a pitch, advancing him to first base. Jones would then get walked, advancing Crampton to second base. It was at this point that San Francisco made a pitching change, bringing in lefty Lance Santerre for Woltz, hoping to calm things down. During Graham’s at-bat, Jones would get caught stealing while Crampton advanced to third base. With Crampton just one base away from home, Graham was able to fly out to left center, bringing home Crampton to make it a 4-2 Stanford lead.

In the following at-bat, 2nd baseman Brett Barrera doubled to left center to get in scoring position. Then, Montgomery hit a double of his own bringing Barrera home. It was now a 5-2 Stanford lead. Vincent Martinez, who was playing in right field, grounded out to short stop to end the inning. Stanford was in a good spot.

Montgomery would pitch the 3rd inning for Stanford without giving up a run though things got a little bit adventurous. Keaschall got hit by a pitch before getting caught stealing second base. Williams III would then strike out swinging before Giosso got hit by a pitch as well. Fortunately for Montgomery, he was able to force Demera into a ground out to end the top half of the inning. In the bottom of the 3rd, Santerre made quick work of the Stanford line up as Huff flied out to right center while Bowser and Park both struck out.

In the top of the 4th inning, Stanford decided to take Montgomery off the mound and have him stay in the designated hitter spot the rest of the night. It was the seldom-seen Nathan Fleischli who came in for relief, hoping to keep the Dons’ batters at bay. Fleischli ultimately failed to accomplish this task despite striking out the first two batters. The third batter Fleischli faced was center fielder Nick Yovetich, who hit a single through the right side. After that single, catcher Lane Oliphant got hit by a pitch, moving Yovetich to second base. Left fielder Darius Foster then singled to short stop to load up the bases.

With the bases loaded Fleischli committed the cardinal sin of walking a batter (Keaschall), resulting in Yovetich coming home to score. 5-3 Stanford lead. It was at this point that Stanford pulled Fleischli and brought in Brandt Pancer, who secured the final out by forcing Williams to fly out to right field. Pancer came in during a high pressure situation and did a great job getting out of a jam. He saved the game and also helped save Fleischli’s ERA from skyrocketing higher than Hoover Tower.

In the bottom of the 4th inning, San Francisco made a pitching change of their own as Sam Beck came in for Santerre. Crampton would get to first base via throwing error to lead things off and eventually steal second base, but that would be all the action Stanford would have as nobody else was able to get on base.

In the top of the 5th inning, Stanford made a defensive change as Austin Kretzschmar came off the bench for Bowser, moving to 2nd base while Barrera moved to 3rd base. With Pancer still on the mound, San Francisco went right back to work as Giosso doubled down the left field line before advancing to third base on a wild pitch. After Demera stuck out looking, Vujovich would reach on an error resulting in Giosso coming home. That would be the only run the Dons would score in the inning, but it was now a 5-4 game.

After Stanford was unable to get anyone on base in the bottom of the 5th inning, San Francisco entered the top of the 6th inning, hoping to tie up the game. In the top of the 6th, Stanford made another pitching change, this time Joey Dixon coming in for Pancer. Initially things got off to a good start for Dixon as Oliphant grounded out and Foster struck out. However, Keaschall would single to short stop and then advance to second base on a balk.

With Keaschall in scoring position, Williams III tripled to right center to bring Keaschall home. It was now a 5-5 game. After Williams’ at-bat, Giosso would get hit by a pitch to advance to first base. Now things were getting hairy for Stanford. To Dixon’s credit, he got the out he needed to keep the game tied as Demera struck out looking.

In the bottom of the 6th inning, Stanford was hoping to re-take the lead, but they were not able to do so. Kretzschmar flied out to right center and then Park lined out to short stop for two quick outs. Crampton would get walked and steal second base, but Jones struck out looking to end the inning. After Crampton got walked, San Francisco made a pitching change as Weston Lombard came in to relieve Beck.

In the 7th inning, neither team scored as Dixon got three quick outs in the top of the inning while Lombard got three outs in four batters in the bottom of the inning. Aside from Barrera doubling to right center, nobody else was able to get on base for the Cardinal in the bottom of the 7th.

In the top of the 8th inning, Stanford made another pitching change as Ryan Bruno came in for Dixon. Bruno would walk Michael Campagna in the opening at-bat, who was pinch hitting for Oliphant. Foster would then pop up on a bunt, killing some of San Francisco’s mojo. Keaschall would then get hit by a pitch, creating a little more drama. Williams III hit an infield fly while Giosso flied out to center field to end the top of the inning.

“Yeah, RB was awesome,” Mercurio said of Bruno. “RB was awesome. Similar, he has his stuff, he has big league stuff. So him just kinda getting out there and giving him a little bit of a comfortability. Sometimes he has such good stuff and we just need to get him to understand how good it is. Sometimes I don’t know if he knows how good it is.

“So, he was unbelievable tonight. Walked a guy or two, but like we talked about, our defense is so solid and he was able to kinda refocus and show a ton of maturity there and just fill up the zone and trust his defense and their offense scrapped away. So yeah, RB was unbelievable tonight and really really gonna be good in the back end for us. Especially this weekend.”

The bottom of the 8th was very similar to the bottom of the 7th. Stanford got a double, this time from Park, but aside from that, nobody could get on base. Stanford’s bats were cold.

The game entered the 9th inning tied 5-5, looking like it could go into extra innings. In the top of the 9th, San Francisco was able to get a runner in scoring position as Vujovich got walked after which Ryan Martinez came into pinch run for him before stealing second base. Unfortunately for the Dons, nobody was able to advance Martinez and Stanford entered the bottom of the 9th with the game tied, hoping to finish off the game in regulation.

Things got off to a good start for Stanford in the top of the 9th as Jones got walked to lead things off. It was at this point that San Francisco pulled Lombard and brought in freshman righty Adam Shew. Shew got off to a good start as Graham struck out swinging and Barrera flied out to center field for two quick outs. In the next at bat, Montgomery hit a clutch single through the right side, advancing Jones to third base.

“Braden poking that knock, finding a hole on a little run and hit was huge,” Graham said. “Brock getting to third and then with a runner on third, two outs. In that type of game a pitcher’s gotta be thinking in the back of his mind can’t spike a ball.”

Now at bat for Stanford was Joe Lomuscio. During Lomuscio’s at-bat, Shew would throw a wild pitch and Jones took off for home plate, where he was called safe before the Dons could tag him out. It was a 6-5 walk-off win for the Cardinal as Jones tamed Shew.

“With two outs we’re gonna be a little bit more aggressive,” Mercurio said. “With zero outs or one out, maybe we won’t be as aggressive, but with a guy with the speed like Brock has, two outs, ball in dirt, I mean we’re gonna be green green. We’re gonna be aggressive there, take a chance, make that other team play catch. So, Brock did a good job. It was kind of a tough read, because he was on the other side of the catcher, but with Brock’s speed and his ability to read the baseball and get a good jump, we at that point saw it skirt away and it was over. So, aggressiveness for sure in that situation.”

“As soon as I got on base, I told everybody when they called the timeout, I went over here and I was like I’m gonna score right here and I’m gonna run away from you guys when I do,” Jones added. “So it was kinda funny right there at the end. But, just kinda knew how important it was just to get into scoring position and then obviously get to third base and I kinda was feeling a passed ball there just because he’s a big off-speed guy, so I knew there was gonna be something in the dirt and just kinda read it and went.

“I think it kinda depends on the game a little bit. Just in that specific moment, two outs there, as soon as you see down angle from the pitch, you gotta be aggressive and be ready to go. I mean there’s obviously gonna be slight hesitation to see if he blocks it or keeps it close or not, but I trust my speed there to kinda just be aggressive whether it’s pretty far away from him or pretty close to kinda get in there and score the run.”

For Stanford, this win is huge. After having a disappointing outing in their previous Tuesday outing against St. Mary’s, to win this one feels really good. Especially to do it in the way that they did. They could have given up and said here we go again, but they dug deep and found a way to pull it out without having to go to extra innings. The night was cold, the environment wasn’t most conducive to offense, but that didn’t stop Stanford from getting a much-needed win.

“It’s definitely huge,” Jones said of the victory. “We’ve kinda struggled on some mid-week games and it was good for us. We knew it wasn’t going to come easy, we knew we weren’t just gonna come out here and blow’em out even though we kinda started hot. We knew it was gonna be a dog fight and it’s definitely good to get that momentum going into this next weekend.

“It’s definitely a big confidence booster and definitely makes going into travel days like tomorrow a lot more fun and we can relax a little bit and like I said just have that confidence factor going into this week and dog fights are fun. We love dog fights and that was kinda the reputation we built last year was just always find a way to win. So whenever we can, just do that.”

“Obviously the cold, it changes the whole game,” Graham said of the atmosphere. “I mean, you can’t really hit balls in the air anymore once the sun goes down. Actually, like I think the hardest ball hit of the entire night today I thought was gonna be a homer to right, but just got eaten up by the force field cold air. Sucks it down, so you kinda gotta adjust your approach to the plate, try to hit the ball a little harder, a little lower. And then defense for sure, just knowing that it’s not gonna carry, trust in your outfielders and then just try to play as good of infield as you can.”

Up next for Stanford is a road trip to Los Angles to play UCLA in a three-game series that will be played Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Thursday’s game will begin at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.

“It’s gonna be tough,” Mercurio said of the upcoming matchup with UCLA. “UCLA’s playing well, obviously coached by one of the best coaches in the country, John Savage. One of our assistants Steve [Rodriguez] has a lot of familiarity with that field and he was just telling us, it’s gonna be a force field at night. So we need to work on keeping the ball low and hard, making them play defense, and again, we know our pitching and defense gonna keep us in the game.

“So if we could find a way to scrap some runs, keep the ball low and hard and really just be ourselves like we were this weekend and tonight, we feel like we’ll have a good chance. But yeah, we’ll have our work cut out for us for sure with a good team, but we’ll take our chances with this group.”

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Drew Timme scored 27 points, Chet Holmgren added 17, and top-ranked Gonzaga reached the West Coast Conference championship game for the 25th straight year by holding off San Francisco 81-71 Monday night.

The Zags (25-3) worked the ball into the paint early and often, pushing around the smaller Dons while racing to a 24-point second-half lead. The Dons (24-9) mounted a late comeback, pulling within eight while holding Gonzaga without a field goal over the final 5:33.

Gonzaga made four free throws down the stretch to win its 14th straight opening WCC tournament game. Andrew Nembhard had 17 points and nine assists while leading Gonzaga’s offense. Holmgren had seven rebounds and blocked six shots.

Khalil Shabazz scored nine of his 27 points during a 13-2 run that got San Francisco back in it, and Julian Rishwain added 20.

Coach Todd Golden has led a quick turnaround at San Francisco, putting the Dons on the cusp of their first NCAA Tournament since 1998 in his third season. San Francisco is No. 24 in the NCAA’s NET rankings and is one of the nation’s best 3-point shooting teams, led by the sharp-shooting Jamaree Bouyea.

A win over Gonzaga would have been a huge boost, but the Dons knew it wouldn’t be easy. The Zags lead the nation in scoring, are third in defensive field goal percentage and won the two regular-season meetings by 16 points each.

The Dons had no answer for Timme and Holmgren during the regular season and it was even worse early in the WCC semifinals.

Gonzaga pounded the ball inside to Timme at the start and the mustachioed big man with Vegas show-like footwork danced around the Dons for nine points in the first four minutes.

Holmgren showed off his rare skill set early, shaking a defender with a spin in the lane for a two-handed dunk and dropping in an early-offense 3-pointer. He added an all-too-easy alley-oop dunk to give the Zags an 11-point lead in the first six minutes.

Timme had 12 points, Holmgren 11 and Gonzaga had 34 points in the paint to lead 51-32 at halftime.

Holmgren also wreaked havoc on defense, blocking four shots and altering several others while helping the Zags hold San Francisco to 10-of-33 shooting, including 4 for 19 from 3.

San Francisco had a much better offensive flow in the second half, particularly after Holmgren went to the bench with his third foul. But the Dons had a hard time putting a dent in Gonzaga’s lead as the Zags kept making shots.

San Francisco gradually chipped away at Gonzaga’s 24-point lead, then went on a 16-4 run to pull within 79-71 with 1:32 left. The Dons ran out of time to finish off the comeback, but can take some confidence from playing so well down the stretch.

BIG PICTURE

San Francisco: Looked shaky while falling into the big early hole, but more like an NCAA Tournament team with its late rally against the nation’s No. 1 team.

Gonzaga: Dominated at both ends early and held on after faltering late to keep his streak of WCC tournament finals alive. The Zags are now one win away from their ninth WCC tournament title in 10 years.

UP NEXT

San Francisco: Awaits word if its resume is good enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Gonzaga: Faces the Saint Mary’s-Santa Clara winner in Tuesday’s championship game.

___

More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

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SAN FRANCISCO — BYU’s weekend began with a humiliating loss at No. 2 Gonzaga, and then, with a little under 14 minutes into Saturday night’s game in San Francisco, things looked grim.

The Cougars were 10 points behind and the Dons appeared to be on track after a poor first half.

But that was exactly the scenario BYU coach Mark Pope had been preparing his team for since last summer, and it required every 40 minutes and a complete team effort.

BYU fought back into the game – eventually taking the definitive lead with 1:41 minutes remaining – and then held on in dramatic fashion for a 71-69 win at War Memorial Gym.

“These guys, you think about the leadership on this team and their ability to absorb frustration and just keep fighting and fighting and fighting. It takes everyone,” Pope said.

“We’re 10 down and we’re looking around, just talking fight, fight, fight, fight. Everyone is tired of us talking about “turning frustration into struggle”. This was an incredible example of that. These are victories that are super inspiring and super special.”

Given the Cougars’ despondency after the 26-point loss to the Zags, they needed this one. Incidentally, BYU still hasn’t lost a straight regular season game in the three seasons under Pope.

“It’s been really great for us,” said guard Alex Barcello, who had 18 points including three 3-pointers, seven rebounds and three assists against the Dons.

“It could have ended in a much worse situation. I am very happy.”

With the win, BYU (15-4, 3-1) avoided getting carried away on this road trip and picked up an all-important Quad 1 win. It also gave USF (15-3, 2-1) their first home loss of the season after 11 wins and their first West Coast Conference setback.

But it was never easy. In fact, the outcome remained uncertain until the final second.

After recovering from the 10-point deficit, Te’Jon Lucas’ free throws gave the Cougars a 66-65 advantage with 1:31 left – their first lead since the 2:58 mark in the first half .

Then Caleb Lohner took a pass from Barcello and scored a bucket with 56 seconds left to put the Cougars at a 68-65 lead.

After a BYU stop, Barcello missed a jump, but Lohner slid to the ball and dragged it down to keep the ball alive with 16 seconds on the clock.

Lohner only played four minutes in the first half due to foul problems, but finished the game with eight points and five rebounds.

“Caleb didn’t have much of an impact in the first half, but he certainly had an impact in the last 10 minutes of the second half,” Pope said. “In the second half he just dived into the core of the game, the fun things in the game.

“The offensive rebound he had on our side was massive. It was a free, frantic rebound. It was five places out of his range and he just said, ‘I get this board.’ This is a separator for him. That sets him apart from everyone else.”

Said Barcello: “Caleb has an eye for the ball. Wherever it comes from the edge, if I was the other team I would be afraid to play him. He’s just one of those guys.

“He said to me before one of the games, ‘I want to be that (former Duke star) Christian Laettner that’s out there for you.’ Christian Laettner, everyone hated him. But he was such a good player and so physical. Caleb has this body. He has this sense of urgency for him. We’ve seen him just manage it on the offensive end this week but, man, he can just bounce off the ball. That’s what we need from him to move forward.”

The Dons then fouled Lucas, who buried two free throws with 12.4 seconds left to put the Cougars 70-67.

During the time-out before USF’s next possession, BYU decided not to foul, but Lucas was called for a foul on Don sniper Jamaree Bouyea, who ended up scoring a team-high 19 points and sending him to the free-throw line.

“We didn’t really try to foul. From what the referees called the game, I didn’t think Te’Jon fouled,” Barcello said.

“That’s what they called the game. Our plan was to make a stopover. But they called it.”

Pope added: “I didn’t actually love the foul. It made me a little nervous. Te’Jon is far smarter than I am.”

Bouyea sunk both shots before USF fouled Barcello, who hit one of two free throws with 6.9 seconds remaining.

This gave the Dons one last chance to potentially win the game with a 3 or send it into overtime with a 2.

Bouyea took an off balance long 3 that bounced off the rim on the buzzer.

“He’s actually better at those shots than just catch-and-shoot. I thought Te’Jon did a great job staying down. It was super deep, but that’s a ball that can go in,” Pope said.

“It just teaches you about this game, man. The truth is, when that ball goes in, we all feel so very different. It hit there, and then it bounced gently against the back wall. It didn’t look like it had the trajectory to get in, but you never know.”

Barcello on Bouyea’s last throw: “I think it went through everyone’s mind – it looked like it was going in. It could have gone in, but luckily it didn’t happen. We’ll take that as a win.”

Lucas had 12 points, along with five assists, and he walked 6 of 6 from the free throw line. Four of them came in the last two minutes.

Fousseyni Traore had nine points and nine rebounds while Gideon George added six points and seven rebounds. Atiki Ally Atiki gave the Cougars 10 solid minutes as he took on USF big man Yauhen Massalski.

“How about Atiki Ally Atiki, just ready for battle?” Pope said. “He’s a huge newcomer and there’s not a part of him that doesn’t want to get involved in the fight. He’s not afraid. He just wants to compete.”

Talk about adversity — in the first half, USF made 13 of 15 at the free throw line while BYU had zero free throw attempts. In fact, the Cougars didn’t get their first free throw until 12:41 of the second half.

While USF scored 24 of 28 for the game, BYU hit 14 of 18 free throws in the second half, contributing to the win.

In the end, somehow, everything fell into place for the Cougars.

“We asked the same question,” Pope said of the free-throw disparity. “Sometimes the game is like that. Sometimes when the game ends the way it did you want to have as many adversities as possible because that dressing room after that game and that feeling in our scrum in the last five minutes, you don’t get that if you don’t face all sorts of things from adversity.

“We’re dealing with a great team, a team that thinks they’re going to win, an experienced team, a free-throw imbalance and we’re playing away against the top two teams in this league. with a flight. No one else in the league does that all season. We’re the only ones planned that way. You think of all this adversity, and it’s pretty freaking awesome.”

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