On Sunday, No. 8 Stanford baseball defeated Texas 8-3 at Sunken Diamond to force a game three on Monday night in the Super Regional round of the NCAA tournament. The winner of which will advance to the College World Series. Stanford senior left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews was the winning pitcher for the Cardinal on Sunday, pitching a complete game to go along with 156 total pitches and 16 strikeouts. Texas sophomore right-handed pitcher Lebarron Johnson was the losing pitcher for the Longhorns in a starting role.
BOX SCORE: Texas at Stanford-Sunday, June 11
“Great ball game by us tonight and you all got a chance to witness probably one of the greatest pitching performances in Stanford postseason history tonight when you had to have it,” Stanford head coach David Esquer said after the game. “And that's saying a lot because we've got some really good ones and there's been a lot of good ones during my years as a player and even beyond but that would that was one for the ages for sure and Quinn’s was you know spectacular tonight and we couldn't drag him off the mound when we wanted to and in the dugout we couldn’t get him to not go back out but just his will for this team has just been amazing. And I got to hand it to our team for coming back out after maybe letting one get away from us last night and big hit by Eddie for sure there at the end and just some great at-bats and our team really had to gut it out against a very good pitcher and then we're going to do it again tomorrow. So it's gonna be it'll be an exciting game three and we're gonna have our hands full because that's a really good ball club.”
“Against a team like that, it’s a little bit of a war,” Mathews said of pitching a complete game against the Longhorns. “I mean, there’s high points and really low points in a war. I mean, kid turned on a first pitch fastball that was probably off the plate and I was like, that shocked me for the triple. And then I mean, you kinda deal with the emotions throughout. That’s probably the toughest thing. The physical stuff for me, it is what it is. But like the mental side and mental battle of hey, I’ve had success against this kid with this pitch twice tonight, can I get him a third time or should I do something to deviate off of that? Like, those little things that throughout nine innings, you’re seeing a lineup I think four times through tonight. Which is a lot. Especially when you’re as good and as deep as they are. When you’re kinda throwing the kitchen sink from any one to any nine, I mean, they weren’t really giving up at-bats, which I would have loved to have seen. The eighth and ninth inning we’re ahead by a couple runs, they kinda just roll over and die, but unfortunately it’s a good ball club over there and they didn’t do it.
After both teams went scoreless in the 1st inning, Stanford was the first team to score in the top of the 2nd inning. Stanford was playing as the “road” team for game two of this three-game series. Alberto Rios got walked with no outs before Malcolm Moore singled up the middle to advance Rios to second base. Thanks to a balk, both runners advanced to second and third base as Drew Bowser was at the plate. Bowser would strike out swinging for the first out of the inning after which Saborn Campbell was walked, loading up the bases. Temo Becerra then flied out to center field to left center, bringing home Rios. After that, Eddie Park singled to second base, advancing all runners one base, making them loaded. Tommy Troy was up next to the plate and flied out to center field to left center, ending the top of the inning. 1-0 lead for the Cardinal.
In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Texas did not respond as Mathews was able to keep the Longhorns scoreless through two innings. After Eric Kennedy doubled to center field with one out, Mathews struck out back-to-back batters swinging, keeping it a 1-0 lead for the Cardinal.
In the top of the 3rd inning, Stanford was unable to expand their lead despite getting runners in scoring position. Carter Graham singled to right center after which Braden Montgomery was walked. Rios then flied out to left field for the first out. Moore reached on a fielder’s choice as Graham advanced to third base while Montgomery was out at second. Bowser then flied out to left field to end the top of the inning. Still a 1-0 lead for the Cardinal.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Texas responded with two runs. Mitchell Daly singled to right center after which Jared Thomas tripled to right field, bringing home Daly. Peyton Powell then struck out swinging after which Dylan Campbell flied out to left field, bringing home Thomas. Garret Guillemette grounded out to third base to end the bottom of the inning. It was now a 2-1 lead for Texas.
Stanford immediately responded in the top of the 4th inning. With two outs and Park on first base, Troy doubled to right center to bring home Park. Graham then struck out swinging to end the top of the inning. It was now tied 2-2.
In the bottom of the 4th, Texas did not score any runs as only Kennedy got on base by hitting a single with one out. The other three batters for the Longhorns all struck out as Mathews added three more strikeouts to his total.
In the top of the 5th inning, Stanford took the lead once more. Montgomery singled to left field to get the party started after which Rios struck out swinging for the first out. Moore then doubled to left field, bringing Montgomery home. This ended Lebarron Johnson’s day on the mound as Travis Sthele came in to pitch. Bowser would then come to the plate, going yard to left field, bringing home Moore. Stanford did not score any more runs the rest of the inning. 5-2 lead for the Cardinal.
In the bottom of the 5th, nobody for Texas got on base as Mathews secured two more strikeouts to go along with a ground out. Mathews continued to mystify the Longhorn batters. Stanford remained in front 5-2 at the end of the 5th.
In the 6th inning, nobody scored for either team and there wasn’t a pitching change. A single from Rios in the top of the inning advanced Montgomery to second base with two outs, but Moore struck out swinging to end the top of the inning. In the bottom of the inning, Porter Brown doubled to right center with two outs only for Kennedy to fly out to center field to end the inning.
After Stanford did not score in the top of the 7th, Texas was able to add one run in the bottom of the 7th. With two outs, Daly homered to left field, making it a 5-3 game. Thomas then struck out swinging to end the inning.
In the 8th inning, neither team scored nor was there a pitching change. Nobody got on base at all for the Cardinal while the only batter to get on base for the Longhorns was Campbell, who was walked with one out. This kept it a 5-3 game at the end of the 8th inning.
In the top of the 9th inning, Stanford added three more runs. With the bases loaded and one out, Park singled to left center to bring home Moore and Campbell while Becerra advanced to third base.
“It was really cool,” Park said of hearing the crowd chant his name after his clutch hit. “It actually reminded me of when we played Texas State last year when there was a little chant going on. I just soaked it all in. I thought it was really cool.”
Troy then struck out swinging, but Park stole second base and advanced to third base on a throwing error by Guillemette at catcher, while Becerra came home to score. It was now an 8-3 lead for the Cardinal. At this point, Texas made their second pitching change of the inning as Chase Lummus had to come in for Andre Duplantier II, who replaced Sthele earlier in the inning. Lummus forced Graham to ground out to end the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the 9th inning, the big question was whether or not Mathews would finish the game or if someone else would come in for relief to close out the game. Mathews struck out Kennedy after which pinch hitter Jayden Duplantier grounded out to short stop for the second out. Jack O’Dowd then doubled down the right field line, sparking a conversation at the mound between Mathews and pitching coach Thomas Eager. Mathews affirmed to Eager that he would get the next batter out and indeed he would. Daly grounded out to Troy at third base, who was able to complete the throw to Graham at first base to end the game. Stanford won 8-3, evening up this best-of-three Super Regional series.
“Yeah, I mean, I had a feeling that he was gonna kinda say what he said,” Mathews said of his meeting with Eager. “Which was hey Quinn, let’s have an adult conversation. And I said, I’m gonna get this kid out. There ya go. And he said come back up here because he walked off the mound and I turned my back to him. And he goes let’s actually have a conversation and I was like ok, what’s up? Like you know this guy. Are you good with Brandt coming in to face one and two potentially and I said no, I’m not. But he’s not going to face one and two so don’t worry about it. Let’s get this kid out and that was basically the conversation.”
For Stanford, Quinn Mathews is obviously the big story. He was phenomenal in this game. 156 pitches thrown and 16 strikeouts is simply incredible. In his final game at Sunken Diamond, Mathews had a performance for the ages.
“Yeah, I mean, probably,” Mathews said when asked if that was the greatest pitching performance of his career. “We can talk about that; it really doesn’t matter if we’re getting ready for tomorrow. Unfortunately, my performance is done for the weekend. But like I said, it wouldn’t be a normal Monday in the postseason if Stanford wasn’t playing.”
“Well, we knew that the game was going to be in his hands,” Esquer said of Mathews. “So it was going to be decided either they were going to take a lead early and put us behind, but we were going to let the game in his hand. We weren’t going to run him out there if we had no chance to win. But we certainly were going to let him be out there was long as we could.” On top of Mathews’ incredible pitching, Stanford’s offense also was good enough. Eight runs is a somewhat modest game by their offensive standards, but in truth, that’s a really solid night. Giving Mathews run support has been an issue all season long, but not in this game. The Cardinal bats did their job.
As far as what the pitching plan is for Monday night, Mathews says he’s got three outs in him, but Esquer made it clear he will not be pitching given the marathon performance he just had. Others will need to take the Cardinal the rest of the way. I would guess the only other active pitcher besides Mathews who we won’t see is Joey Dixon given he started on Friday but given he didn’t got as deep into the game, I suppose he might be a in position to give the Cardinal an out or two, though I would doubt it. This game is going to be up to the Cardinal bullpen.
“Yeah, he’s not getting three outs tomorrow,” Esquer affirmed of Mathews. “He’s not getting three outs tomorrow. We got 27 really good ones out of him today and just that performance was just incredible. I’m glad as many fans that came out had a chance to see it and I think he got a little energy from those fans in the eighth and ninth inning. Just helping him into the dugout, which was great.”
While it's not clear yet who will start for Stanford, I would reckon we’ll see a lot of Nick Dugan. He hasn’t yet pitched this weekend and he was definitely the number two pitcher for the Cardinal in their regional. The thing to look for will be whether or not they start him and try to ride him as deep into the game as possible or if they’ll start someone else like Matt Scott and have him come in for mid-relief. I could see it going either way.
“Good question,” Esquer said of the pitching plan. “We’re gonna piece it together. Yeah, we probably do, we do best in the postseason on the last day, which is just piece it together and next guy up and just try to score enough runs behind them to support them.”
Touching quickly on Texas, this is a disappointing loss, but they can’t be surprised. They knew Stanford was going to come in hungry and not give them a trip to Omaha for free. The key thing for them is to regroup on Monday night and take advantage of the fact that they won’t have to face Mathews again.
As for when Monday night’s game will be, that will be at 5:00 PM PT on ESPN and KZSU radio. The winner will go to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
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