Texas St. beats Stanford 5-2, advances to regional final

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Levi Wells scattered eight hits and just two runs over eight innings, Jose Gonzalez hit two home runs and Texas State beat national No. 2 seed Stanford 5-2 Saturday night to advance to the finals of the Stanford Regional.

Texas State (47-12) plays the winner of Sunday morning’s loser-out game between Stanford (42-15) and UC Santa Barbara later in the day. A loss by the Bobcats would force a Monday finale.

Gonzalez hit a two-out solo shot in the bottom of the first, Eddie Park hit an RBI single for Stanford to make it 1-1 in the second before Gonzalez led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run to give Texas State the lead for good. Justin Thompson followed with a double down the line in left and, two pitches later, Wesley Faison hit a shot over the wall in left center to make it 4-1.

Ben McClain hit a lead-off double in the fifth and eventually scored when Thompson reached on a fielder’s choice and Drew Bowser hit a two-out single and then scored when Tommy Troy doubled one pitch later to trim Stanford’s deficit to 5-2 in sixth.

Wells (9-1) walked one and struck out six. Tristan Stivors threw two scoreless innings to earn his 18th save of the season.

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