Quinn Mathews left it all on the field for the Stanford Cardinal on Sunday.
Pitching to keep Stanford’s season alive in an NCAA Super Regional game against Texas, the senior hurler threw a Herculean 156-pitch complete game to set up a Cardinal win.
Matthews’s masterful performance ended with 16 strikeouts, one walk, three runs allowed, and eight hits as Stanford won, 8-3.
“I told ’em I was good to go, and they weren’t going to get the rock out of my hand,” Mathews said after the game.
The 22-year-old left-hander, who appears likely to be drafted next month, was pitching on short rest Sunday, according to The Athletic’s Keith Law.
Prior to the NCAA Tournament, Mathews had been given seven days of rest for nearly every start this season.
During the NCAA Regionals, Mathews had already thrown on short rest — throwing 66 pitches against Texas A&M on three days rest to help the Cardinal to a win on June 5.
Read Related Also: Top Russian general knew about Wagner rebellion plan: report
Mathews, who has thrown at least 100 pitches in 15 out of 17 starts this year, is the latest in a string of college pitchers who have expended all of their energy to get their teams across the finish line.
After throwing a 123-pitch complete game on June 2, Southern Mississippi’s Tanner Hall was tapped to start another game on June 5, in which he lasted two innings and threw 30 pitches.
Johns Hopkins graduate student Gabriel Romano threw 164 pitches to set up a decisive Division III national championship game last Thursday.
The last starter to throw 135 or more pitches in an MLB game was Tim Lincecum in his 2013 no-hitter, per Law.
Mathews, who is ranked 119th on MLB.com’s prospect rankings for the upcoming draft, surpassed his previous career-high of 128 pitches with his outing on Sunday, which also established his highest strikeout mark.
Stanford, which reached the College World Series in 2021 and 2022, is hosting Texas for a winner-take-all game on Monday night.
