OMAHA, Neb. -- Six Stanford seniors this season did what no other seniors had done in the storied history of Cardinal baseball. They made it to the College World Series all four of their seasons.

The past two years they advanced to the championship game. Thursday they faced elimination in a semifinal against a Texas team that beat them 8-7 in the second round.

Longhorn coach Augie Garrido had seen enough of this group to know they were not going to go easy. Stanford and Texas were meeting for the 11th time in 15 months and Garrido was right. The Cardinal jumped to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first with seniors Chris O'Riordan and Scott Dragicevich driving in two of the runs.

Then Texas relievers Jesen Merle and Huston Street shut the door, allowing just one hit over the last five innings.

"It was a tough game to lose,'' said Stanford coach Mark Marquess. "It was a great year for us. I'm very proud of this year's team, the seniors especially. Four straight years to the College World Series is quite an accomplishment. Not only that, but their leadership on and off the field has been a real credit to them.''

It was a senior infield for the Cardinal. Arik VanZandt manned first. O'Riordan was at second. Andy Topham played short and Dragicevich was at third.

Marquess said the foursome provided a solid defense that was one of the strengths of the team.

The other two seniors were pitchers, J.D. Willcox and Dan Rich. Neither made an appearance in the semifinal. Rich did get 3 1/3 innings of one-hit relief earlier to help Stanford get to the final four.

But for sophomore center fielder Sam Fuld and junior pitching star Jeremy Guthrie, the leadership was what they appreciated most from their senior teammates.

"It's hard to describe,'' Fuld said. "Ever since I got there, they were there to help me out. They were there to show me the ropes. I can't say enough about their leadership. All six have been a great inspiration to me.''

Guthrie said he benefitted from being surrounded by the seniors in the infield.

"If I was struggling, they would come talk with me and get me going and get me focused,'' he said. "Luckily I had a great infield and they offered a lot of leadership. They helped me tremendously.''