Stanford Sweeps Texas Tech, Advance to Omaha
By Steve Parkhurst
June 12, 2021
LUBBOCK — When the Stanford Cardinal went into the NCAA Super Regional in Lubbock on Friday and dominated offensively and with Brendan Beck on the mound in a 15–3 victory, it was hard to imagine that the encore for the Cardinal would be better.
Alex Williams took the ball for Stanford in the Texas heat on Saturday with his ball club one win away from going to Omaha, and with a powerful Texas Tech team on the verge of elimination.
Williams opened up the game by striking out the side.
With two outs in the bottom of the first, Brock Jones (3-for-5) hit a solo home run to give the Cardinal an early lead for the second day in a row.
Tommy Troy (1-for-2) hit a two-out two-run opposite-field home run to take a 3–0 lead in the second inning.
Williams was cruising as the Red Raiders could get nothing going against the right-handier.
In the top of the fifth, Williams had an 0–2 count on the lead off batter when his next pitch brushed up against Cole Stilwell to lose the count and put a runner on first. Williams walked the next batter to put two runners on with no outs. He then proceeded to strike out Nate Rombach, popped-up Cal Conley to the catcher, and then struck out Kurt Wilson to escape the frame.
Williams showed plenty of emotion coming off of the mound and the only concern about him at that point had to be whether he could come back from the emotional high to keep working over the Red Raider batters. He did.
Jones followed his first inning home run with a grand slam in the sixth to push the Stanford advantage to 8–0.
Jones then added a solo shot to right-center in the eighth, his third home run of the day was more than the total number of hits by the Red Raiders against Williams all day.
“I tell our team every day that our team is based on pitching and defense and a different hero every night,” said Stanford head coach David Esquer. “It sure was Brock and Alex Williams today.”
Williams (4–2) went the complete game for the two-hit shut out with ten strike outs. The 9–0 victory sends Stanford (38–15) to Omaha for the eighteenth time in school history and the first time since 2008.
“I was just going pitch by pitch, getting one out at a time and when it was my time to go, the other guys would pick me up. I guess my time never came today. So, that was fun.” Williams
“I thought Williams was dominant today,” said Texas Tech head coach Tim Tadlock. “I just think Stanford was really good. I think the better team won the last couple of days.” -
(Photo courtesy of Texas Tech Athletics)
