STARKVILLE — The Starkville Super Regional is set.
With No. 11 national seed Stanford (45-12) and No. 6 national seed Mississippi State (49-13) set for Game 1 of the NCAA tournament’s Starkville Super Regional at 2 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2), this breakdown of the Stanford pitching staff serves as the final installment of a position-by-position breakdown of the Cardinal.
Stanford will rely on Erik Miller, Brendan Beck, and Alex Williams to help it advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Miller and Beck have started 15 games this season and boast earned run averages of 3.15 and 3.25, respectively. Beck leads the team with 88 2/3 innings.
Williams has an 8-1 record in his last 10 starts. He has lasted at least six innings in his last four starts, while three were seven innings or longer.
Williams threw a complete game against Sacramento State in the opening round of the NCAA tournament’s Stanford Regional. He allowed three runs on six hits.
Stanford will turn to Will Matthiessen, Jack Little, and Austin Weiermiller out of the bullpen. Matthiessen is 6-2 with a 3.71 ERA in 15 appearances — seven in relief.
Little and Weiermiller have made 24 appearances apiece — all in relief. Weiermiller, who has two saves, likely will pitch in the middle innings. Little has 12 saves in 38 innings.
Jacob Palisch and Zach Grech also should see action. Palisch and Grech have 97 1/3 innings between them. Grech has the most appearances of any Stanford pitcher this year with 30.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.