WSU baseball (9-11) is set to travel to Stanford, Calif. to take on the Stanford Cardinal (9-8) in a three-game series, starting at 6:05 p.m. Friday. 

WSU is 14-50 against the Cardinal all-time. The last matchup came in April of last season, with the Cougs winning 1-3 games. Their lone win was a 10-9 victory in Pullman that went into the 10th inning. WSU has a 7-28 record against Stanford in Pullman, and a 7-22 record in California. 

Stanford currently sits tied for last place in the Pac-12 with the Cougs at a conference record of 1-5. The Cardinal’s last outing was a three-game series against then-ranked No. 16 Arizona, where Stanford got swept. Stanford’s only other conference matchup so far in 2022 was a three-game series against the Oregon Ducks, where Stanford won one of three games. Stanford won the last game of the series 10-6, the other two games were 4-3 and 16-13 wins for the Ducks. 

Stanford started their season off strong, winning 6-7 games. They got a series win against Cal State Fullerton and then defeated the Santa Clara Broncos 5-0. The Cardinal also competed in the Karbach Round Rock Classic where they won all three of their games, giving up one run total in the Classic, including a 5-0 victory against then-ranked No. 2 Arkansas. The Cardinal also got a series win against Cal State University, Northridge, winning two of three.  Stanford has scored 93 runs so far this season.

The last time WSU took the field was for a single-game matchup against the Santa Clara Broncos, losing 9-2. WSU seems to be in an offensive slump as of late. The Cougs have produced only nine runs in their last four games and have given up eight-plus runs in three of their last four games. 

So far this season, Stanford is led by Carter Graham offensively with 25 hits. Graham also leads the team in RBIs with 20 and leads the team in home runs with six, which is tied for fourth in the Pac-12. Carter is batting at a .385 average, placing him seventh in the conference. Brett Barrera also has 20 hits and 16 RBIs on the season, batting .377.

Pitching for Stanford is led by Quinn Mathews with 28.1 innings pitched. Mathews also has 37 strikeouts and has given up 26 hits and 15 runs for an ERA of 3.81. Mathews’ 37 strikeouts ranks sixth in the conference. Alex Williams and Drew Dowd both have pitched 25 innings and have given up 22 hits for Stanford. Williams has 31 strikeouts while Dowd has 28. 

WSU needs to bring the offensive firepower this series to take control of their conference record and work their way back up in the standings.