The Longhorns couldn’t get to Quinn Matthews and now face a decisive third game on Monday.
The Texas Longhorns couldn’t sustain the magic from Saturday evening, losing to the No. 8-seed Stanford Cardinal 8-3 on Sunday at Sunken Diamond in the Palo Alto Super Regional as the Cardinal received an iron man effort from ace Quinn Matthews.
After throwing 180 pitches last weekend the regional round, Matthews was held out on Saturday, but was dominant on Sunday in striking out 16 batters with one walk and three earned runs allowed on eight hits in a complete-game performance while throwing 156 pitches. Matthews was able to consistently work ahead in the count, often using his high-level changeup and Texas wasn’t able to get to him despite the elevated pitch count.
Texas right-hander Lebarron Johnson Jr. was able to work around a leadoff walk in the first inning, but faced more significant pressure in the second after another leadoff walk and a single to put runners on first and second with no outs. Opting against a bunt, Stanford paid for the decision with a strikeout on a sharp 2-2 slider from Johnson before loading the bases on a full count, reminiscent of Johnson’s second inning against Miami last week. The Cardinal opened the scoring on Sunday with a sacrifice fly to center field and loaded the bases again with an infield single before Johnson escaped the jam when center fielder Eric Kennedy made a running catch to retire Stanford slugger Tommy Troy.
A one-out bloop double into center field by Kennedy put a runner in scoring position for Texas for the first time in the bottom of the second. Designated hitter Jalin Flores wasn’t able to come through, however, striking out on a nasty changeup from Stanford ace Quinn Matthews, and second baseman Jack O’Dowd struck out, too.
The trend of leadoff runners reaching base continued for Stanford in the third with a leadoff single and Johnson’s fourth walk of the game. With the wind blowing from right to left field, the Cardinal just missed a three-run home run to left, grounded into a fielder’s choice, and lined out to left as Johnson once again avoided a big inning by stranding the fifth and sixth Stanford runners of the game.
Shortstop Mitchell Daly led off the third with a single into the right-center gap and first baseman Jared Thomas drove him home to tie the game at 1-1 with a triple down the right-field line.
After third baseman Peyton Powell struck out, right fielder Dylan Campbell came through with a sacrifice fly to left field to take the lead.
Stanford threatened again with a one-out double in the fourth, but that runner was eliminated at third on a fielder’s choice by Daly. Johnson wasn’t able to escape again, however, as the Cardinal tied the game on a double by Troy into the right-center gap, his first hit of the series.
In the fifth inning, the Horns finally lost contact when Johnson allowed a leadoff single and an RBI double before leaving the game after 4.1 innings during which he allowed four runs on seven hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Right-hander Travis Sthele, on in relief, promptly gave up a two-run home run on his first pitch, a hanging breaking ball Drew Bowser sent into the foliage beyond the left-field fence. In the sixth, Sthele was able to work around two two-out singles thanks to a strikeout.
Meanwhile, Texas struggled to threaten Matthews or even work deep into counts for much of the evening, although Daly came through with a two-out solo home run to left field in the seventh inning to cut the margin to two runs as Matthews hit 110 pitches.
With Texas needing to keep Stanford off the board in the ninth, Sthele allowed a leadoff single and a one-out bunt single and departed in favor of right-hander Andre Duplantier, who gave up a single to load the bases as the lineup turned over for Stanford and came through with a two-run single. Another run scored when catcher Garret Guillemette tried to throw out a basestealer and the ball went into right field, causing left-hander Chase Lummus to replace Duplantier.
Matthews came on again in the ninth and gave up a two-out double by O’Dowd, but managed to slam the door on the Longhorns to send the series to a decisive game three.
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