By Eric Olson
The Associated Press

Texas' Michael Hollimon (14) is greeted by teammates Ruben Gonzalez (45) and Eric Sultemeier, second from right, after he hit a home run in the third inning. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

OMAHA, Neb. - Texas faces a tough challenge if it hopes to repeat as champions of the College World Series.

The Longhorns must beat Rice twice in two days in order to advance to the best-of-three championship round of the CWS. Rice, which beat the Texas in the two games between the teams this season, needs one win to advance.

"We can't look at it like we've got to win two games," Texas relief pitcher Huston Street said. "We've got to go inning by inning and can't get ahead of ourselves. We'll go out and play our best ball and see what happens from there."

Rice beat the Longhorns 2-1 in the regular season and 12-2 on Monday at the CWS.

Stanford will also be facing an opponent it has had trouble with. The Cardinal must beat Cal State Fullerton twice in two days to advance. Fullerton, which has beaten Stanford four times this season, needs just one win.

Fullerton swept the Cardinal by scores of 7-3, 10-2 and 8-2 in the regular season and won 6-5 here on Sunday.

"We've played them eight times over the last two years, so we all know what we're getting in to," said Stanford pitcher John Hudgins, who will get the start Wednesday. "It's a battle."

The Longhorns (50-19) eliminated Miami on Tuesday night with a 5-1 victory. The Cardinal (48-16) ousted South Carolina with a 13-6 win.

Texas freshman Sam LeCure held Miami to one run over 6 2-3 innings and Street retired all seven batters he faced as Texas advanced.

The defending national champions would have been eliminated with a loss.

"I want to be that guy who goes out there when the team needs a win," LeCure said. "I like that pressure on my shoulders."

Texas coach Augie Garrido said LeCure's competitiveness rubbed off on the team, which played error-free defense.

"You could see he was going to pitch with no fear," Garrido said.

Street picked up his 14th save of the season and became the first pitcher to record five saves in his career at the CWS.

The Longhorns managed only six hits, but four Miami pitchers issued eight walks.

Both Miami CWS losses came against Texas. The Longhorns won 13-2 on Saturday.

"Tonight was a better game," Hurricanes coach Jim Morris said, "but we gave them too many opportunities with walks and didn't get any hits with runners on base."

LeCure (5-0) allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out two. The only run he gave up came on Brian Barton's RBI double in the sixth.

Texas scored three times against Miami starter Brandon Camardese (9-2) in the third inning. Michael Hollimon hit his third homer of the season leading off the inning, and Dustin Majewski later doubled in two more runs.

Stanford 13, South Carolina 6

Stanford's Danny Putnam said he just wanted a couple of hits. He did a lot better than that.

Putnam went 4-for-5 with a homer, double and five RBIs as the Cardinal stayed alive.

"On those little questionnaires of what's your best baseball experience, this might go down as one of them," Putnam said.

Stanford had 17 hits, the most allowed by the Gamecocks (45-22) this season.

Putnam drove in a run with a first-inning single, another with a third-inning double, two more with a seventh-inning homer and yet another with a single in the eighth.

Jonny Ash was 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBIs and Carlos Quentin 3-for-3 with two RBIs as Stanford faced four South Carolina pitchers.

Stanford starter Ryan McCally pitched six shutout innings and gave up one run before leaving after the seventh. McCally allowed six hits, walked four and struck out two in his first start since pitching a complete-game victory against Illinois-Chicago on May 30 in the NCAA regionals.

"He was fantastic today," Stanford coach Mark Marquess said. "For not pitching for two weeks, he had great stuff."

McCally wouldn't necessarily agree.

"That was one of the toughest wins I've ever gotten," he said. "I was fighting my control, which is usually my strong point. I didn't have a real go-to pitch. A lot of times, I just said to myself, 'That one worked last time. I'll throw it again.' "

The Gamecocks left nine runners on base through the first five innings, largely because of the strong defense backing McCally.

"We hit 12 or 14 balls right on the screws, but they came up with the plays to keep us off the board," Gamecocks coach Ray Tanner said. "I wish we could have pushed a few across early. We had our opportunities. They pushed them across, we didn't."

Stanford opened a 4-0 lead in the third against starter Chris Hernandez (5-5). Ash and Quentin led off with singles. Putnam doubled in Ash, then Quentin and Putnam scored on Chris Carter's single up the middle.

College World Series

At Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha, Neb.

Double Elimination

Friday, June 13

Bracket 1

Stanford 8, South Carolina 0

Cal State-Fullerton 8, LSU 2

Saturday, June 14

Bracket 2

Rice 4, Southwest Missouri State 2

Texas 13, Miami 2

Sunday, June 15

South Carolina 11, LSU 10, LSU eliminated

Cal State-Fullerton 6, Stanford 5

Monday, June 16

Miami 7, Southwest Missouri State 5, SW Missouri elimintaed

Rice 12, Texas 2

Tuesday, June 17

Stanford 13, South Carolina 6, South Carolina eliminated

Texas 5, Miami 1, Miami eliminated

Wednesday, June 18

Game 11 - Cal State-Fullerton (50-14) vs. Stanford (48-16), 2 p.m.

Game 12 - Rice (55-11) vs. Winner Game 10, 7 p.m.

Thursday, June 19

Game 13 - Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 11, 2 or 7 p.m., if necessary

Game 14 - Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 12, 7 p.m., if necessary

Note: Game 13 will be 2 p.m. only if Game 14 is necessary

Championship Series (Best-of-3)

Saturday, June 21

Game 1 - Bracket 1 Winner vs. Bracket 2 Winner, 7:05 p.m.

Sunday, June 22

Game 2 - Bracket 1 Winner vs. Bracket 2 Winner, 2:35 p.m.

Monday, June 23

Game 3 - Bracket 1 Winner vs. Bracket 2 Winner, 7:05 p.m., if necessary