Stanford players reveal how Omaha experience will help them during College World Series

No. 8-seed Stanford is set to make its third-straight appearance in the College World Series Saturday afternoon against top-seeded Wake Forest, the most of any team in the field this season.

Despite the seeding discrepancies, the Cardinal’s experience at Charles Schwab Omaha trumps the Demon Deacons by a mile. Wake Forest is in the midst of its best season in almost 70 years, but Stanford is respected in this tournament and is expected to hold their own against the NCAA Tournament’s top dog.

“I think the big advantage is that we’ve been here, we’ve played here,” Stanford pitcher Quinn Mathews said. “You know the ground. You know the field. You know the atmosphere, and you know what it’s like to try and go to sleep at night, honestly, with the jitters, the energy, the adrenaline of being here. The excitement amongst the team, the practices. Everything is amplified a little bit.

“I also think there’s a little bit of a disadvantage because, as you said, you are so familiar with the things. You have a certain set of expectations as a team here for the third time.”

If Mathews is comfortable — it might not bode well for the nation’s top team. His last start, which came Sunday during Game 2 of the Stanford Super Regional vs. Texas, saw the senior throw a complete game on 156 pitches in an 8-3 win.

He finished the game giving up three earned runs on eight hits and one walk. He struck out a whopping 16 batters during the matchup — good for the first 15+ strikeout game by a pitcher in an NCAA Super Regional since 2019.

If Charles Schwab Field Omaha is a good stadium for amplifying one’s game, there’s no bigger stage for Mathews to carve up some batters and keep his team’s postseason alive. The same goes for the Cardinal batters.

“I think it’s just getting your feet on the ground and stuff. I think we know what it takes,” left fielder Alberto Rios said of the field. “I think we’ve been here, gosh, three times for some people. It’s just a familiar territory. We know what it takes. We know what we need to do, and I think it’s just a matter of time before we just go out there, play our game and let the chips fall where they will.”

Rios, alongside Mathews, were two of 25 semifinalists for the 2023 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award. Rios, the 2023 Pac-12 Player of the Year, batted an astounding .481 (26-for-54) during the month of May for the Cardinal, belting eight doubles, eight more home runs and 25 RBI over a 13-game span.

Stanford will put their experience to the test when the Cardinal opens up CWS play against Wake Forest at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT) live on ESPN. The Demon Deacons have opened as heavy (-300) favorites, per Caesars Sportsbook.