By Jerry Briggs
For The JB Replay
Working on only two days rest, Quinn Matthews pitched four scoreless innings of relief, and the Stanford Cardinal clinched the title in the NCAA Stanford Regional Monday night, downing the Texas A&M Aggies 7-1.
Braden Montgomery and Malcolm Moore homered to lead the offensive attack.
Additionally, Moore and Saborn Campbell each enjoyed three-hit nights and scored twice for the Cardinal, who had been on the brink of elimination after a loss to A&M two days ago.
Since A&M’s 8-5 victory over Stanford Saturday, the Cardinal won three games in 48 hours.
First, they played an elimination game Sunday afternoon and downed Cal State Fullerton, 6-5. With the victory, they moved into the finals against A&M needing two wins to claim the regional title.
They took the first step in that process Sunday night, beating the Aggies, 13-5, to set up a winner-take-all game on their home field Monday night. The Cardinal won that one, too, using four pitchers to hold A&M to one run on seven hits.
Matthews (9-4) was the winner, allowing five hits but, nevertheless, working out of jams consistently while striking out five. The lefty threw 66 pitches on two days rest after throwing 114 pitches in a start last Friday against San Jose State.
San Antonio’s Nathan Dettmer (1-4) took the loss despite a strong effort in which he struck out eight in six innings. The righthander, a Johnson High School graduate, started and yielded four runs on six hits.
A&M scored its only run in top of the second on a solo home run from freshman Jace LaViollette. It was the 21st homer of the season from the 6-foot-6 outfielder from Katy Tompkins.
Stanford (42-17 on the season) went 4-1 in winning the regional title. The Cardinal is expected to host the best-of-three Super Regional this weekend against the Texas Longhorns (41-20).
The Longhorns advanced after going 3-0 to win the Coral Gables Regional in Florida.
NCAA regionals
How the Texas teams fared
Texas: (41-20) Beat host Miami for the title on Sunday in Coral Gables, Fla.
Texas Tech: (41-23) Lost to host Florida in the title game Monday in Gainesville, Fla.
TCU: (40-22) Defeated host Arkansas Monday to win the title in Fayetteville, Ark.
Texas A&M: (38-27) Lost to host Stanford in the regional title game at Stanford, Calif.
Dallas Baptist (47-16) Lost to Oral Roberts in the finals Sunday at Stillwater, Okla.
Sam Houston State: (39-25) Eliminated after three games at Baton Rouge, La.