Stanford catcher Malcolm Moore relishes in downing Arizona State to begin Pac-12 Tournament

It was a near-perfect beginning to the Pac-12 baseball tournament for Stanford and catcher Malcolm Moore, as the No. 8 seed Cardinal defeated No. 5 seed Arizona State, 8-7, in pool play. Moore drove the offense with a pair of home runs, and made the game-sealing out on a foul out.

Beyond just needing to likely win the conference tournament to make the 64-team field for the NCAA tournament, Moore savored the chance to finally beat Arizona State after getting swept on the season. And his 2-for-5 performance with a pair of homers and three RBI was a key factor.

But the dangerous hitter wasn’t surprised to get pitched to in a key spot, despite first base being open, when he blasted his second home run.

“I knew that they were going to come attack us,” Moore said on the Pac-12 Network broadcast. “They swept us on the season, so we kind of wanted our revenge today and I’m glad they pitched to me right there, because that one felt pretty good.”

Now sitting 1-0 in pool play, Stanford controls its destiny to get out of pool play in the Pac-12 tournament. The tournament format features three pools of three teams. The winner of each pool advances to the semifinals, and the fourth team is picked based on the best combination of seed and pool play record. As the No. 8 seed, Stanford likely needs to win its pool to make the semifinals.

And a win over No. 2 seed Oregon State on Wednesday would send the Cardinal into the semifinals and a step closer to the NCAA tournament.

But Moore isn’t getting ahead of things.

“We just gotta keep winning one game at a time,” Moore said. “Can’t win four games in a row, so we’re focused on just winning one at a time and focus on Oregon State.

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