Quinn Mathews has 16 Ks, Stanford beats Texas 8-3, forces Game 3 at super regional

STANFORD, Calif. — Quinn Mathews threw 156 pitches and had 16 strikeouts — both career highs — in a complete game, Drew Bowser hit a two-run home run and Stanford beat Texas 8-3 Sunday night to avoid elimination at best-of-3 Stanford Super Regional.

The Cardinal (43-18) forced a decisive Game 3 on Monday with the winner advancing to the College World Series. Stanford and Texas, which used a five-run top of the ninth to win 7-5 in Game 1, are both trying to make their third consecutive trip to Omaha.

Mathews (10-4), who has thrown at least 100 pitches in 15 of his 17 starts this season, scattered eight hits and a walk to get the win.

After fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches, Malcolm Moore hit an RBI double to left that gave Stanford it first lead of the game in the top of the fifth. Travis Sthele replaced starter Lebarron Johnson, with one out and Moore on second, to face Bowser, who hit a two-run shot over the wall in left and stretched the Cardinal’s lead to 5-2.

Alberto Rios led off the top of the second with a walk and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Temo Becerra to give Stanford a 1-0 lead.

Mitchell Daly, who also hit a solo shot in the seventh, led off the bottom of the third with a single and Jared Thomas followed with an RBI triple before Dylan Campbell's sacrifice fly gave Texas (42-21) a one-run lead, but Tommy Troy answered with an RBI double in the top of the fourth to make it 2-2.

Daly hit a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh to trim the deficit to 5-3 but Eddie Park hit a two-run single in Stanford's three-run ninth that capped the scoring,

The Cardinal, who finished with 15 hits and six walks, stranded 13 runners on base, including eight in scoring position.