Texas baseball to face Stanford in winner-take-all supers Game 3

After falling short of the No. 8 Stanford Cardinal on the night of June 11, Texas baseball and head coach David Pierce will have one more game in the Stanford Super Regional on June 12. Texas will face Stanford in a winner-take-all Game 3 in this super regional after splitting the first two games in Palo Alto, CA, this weekend.

Pierce and the Longhorns won the first game of the Stanford Super Regional on June 10 thanks to a late-game rally that saw them put up five runs in the top of the ninth inning. Texas won Game 1 over the Cardinal by a score of 7-5.

Stanford then got revenge on the Longhorns in Game 2 of this super regional on June 11, by a comfortable score of 8-3. The Cardinal had a lead by a few runs for most of Game 2 against Texas but stretched its lead by scoring three runs in the top of the ninth inning.

Texas baseball and David Pierce now facing elimination in Stanford Super Regional

Quinn Matthews had a solid night for the Cardinal, striking out a super regional-best 16 Texas batters while allowing three earned runs in a complete game effort on the mound. Matthews gave Stanford the pitching performance it needed to have its bullpen available for the final game of this super regional on June 12.

Texas also should have most of its bullpen available for the winner-take-all Game 3 on June 12. While Texas did give up eight earned runs in the loss to the Cardinal to cap the weekend, it didn’t go that deep into the bullpen in each of the last two days.

Moreover, we still don’t know what the pitching matchup will be between Texas and Stanford in the final game of the Stanford Super Regional on June 12. But the start time was announced for Game 3, at 7 p.m. CT.

Game 3 of the Stanford Super Regional is also set to be broadcast live on ESPN.

Texas could roll with a pitcher-by-committee approach against Stanford in Game 3. Or, it could give the call on the mound to the 6-foot-6 redshirt sophomore right-hander Tanner Witt. Last weekend, though, Witt did have a rough outing in an eventual win on June 4 in the Coral Gables Regional against the No. 9 Miami Hurricanes.

Miami got to Witt for three earned runs in just two innings in his fifth start since returning from injury on May 1 against the TCU Horned Frogs.

If Texas does come away with a win over Stanford in Game 3, it will advance to the College World Series for the third year in a row. Pierce and the Longhorns have also made it to Omaha for the College World Series in each of their last four postseason appearances, dating back to the 2018 season.

Pierce’s squad just suffered its first loss of the postseason after sweeping clean through the Coral Gables Regional last weekend and winning the first game of supers on June 10. Texas will take a record of 41-21 (15-9 Big 12) into the final game of the Stanford Super Regional on June 12.