Omaha, Neb. ? Chris Kolkhorst was dazed as he scored the winning run for Rice in the first game of the College World Series championship series.

Kolkhorst came around from second base on Stanford pitcher Kodiak Quick’s throwing error, giving the Owls a 4-3 victory in 10 innings Saturday night.

“I really didn’t know what happened,” Kolkhorst said. “I crossed the plate, guys were coming out of the dugout, and I saw the first baseman on the ground.

“I don’t know who I asked, but I asked someone, ‘Did we win?'”

The answer was a resounding yes.

Stanford starter Ryan McCally pitched into the 10th and issued a leadoff walk to Kolkhorst, who moved to second on Dane Bubela’s sacrifice. Quick came on and struck out Vincent Sinisi, but Austin Davis hit a soft grounder that the Stanford reliever picked up to the left of the pitcher’s mound.

Quick’s hurried throw sailed past first baseman Brian Hall, who collided with Davis and was flat on his back as Kolkhorst scored the winning run. Hall was not seriously injured.

It was the second straight walkoff victory for Rice. The Owls advanced to the championship series with a 5-4 win over Texas on Justin Ruchti’s hit in the bottom of the ninth against ace reliever Huston Street.

“It’s funny that the things that are the most fun sometimes are the most stressful,” Rice coach Wayne Graham said.

Rice's Chris Kolkhorst makes a game-saving catch at the wall on a ball hit by Stanford's Danny Putnam in the eighth inning. Kolkhorst went on to score the game-winning run in the Owls' 4-3, 10-inning victory Saturday night in the opening game of the College World Series championship series in Omaha, Neb.

Graham said his team was lucky to win the way it did.

“We caught a break,” he said. “I’ll take it.”

The teams meet in the second game of the best-of-three series Sunday, with Rice (57-11) needing a victory to claim the school’s first national title in any sport. Stanford (50-17) must win to keep alive its hopes of winning its first CWS title since 1988.

“We lost the game on the last play, but there were so many other plays that affected the game,” Stanford coach Mark Marquess said. “We had chances to score some runs, and there were some great defensive plays by them. That happens. It’s magnified when it’s that play.”

Rice’s Jeff Niemann, bidding to become the first unbeaten 18-game winner in Division I history, didn’t get a decision after pitching eight strong innings.

He gave up three runs — two earned — in the first, but then shut out the Cardinal on three hits before David Aardsma (7-3) relieved him in the ninth. Aardsma allowed one hit and struck out one in two innings.

Niemann retired 11 in a row between the fifth and eighth innings, consistently throwing fastballs clocked in the mid-90s. Of his 117 pitches, 80 were strikes.

“I wasn’t going to change my gameplan because things didn’t go right in the first inning,” Niemann said. “I stuck with it. I kept going after them with what got us here, and the defense picked me up time and time again.”

Niemann caught a big break before leaving. After walking Ryan Garko with two outs in the eighth, Kolkhorst robbed Danny Putnam of a run-scoring hit with an over-the-shoulder catch on the warning track in left field just before running face-first into the wall.

“The guy hit it pretty good and it was slicing away from me,” Kolkhorst said. “I knew I could get it. I caught it, hit the wall, fell down and hung on.”

Niemann thanked Kolkhorst at the postgame news conference for making the play.

“I was hoping he would get to it,” Niemann said. “The ball was going, he was going. Thankfully he got it. That turned the game around and gave us momentum. That’s what we needed.”

Jonny Ash, who hit his first career homer in Thursday’s elimination-game win over Cal State Fullerton, started the scoring when he drove Niemann’s 3-2 pitch into the right-center field bleachers in the first.

Carlos Quentin followed with an infield single and scored on Garko’s double. The RBI was Garko’s school record-tying 92nd.

Garko made it 3-0 when he scored an unearned run when Jed Lowrie reached on first baseman Vincent Sinisi’s throwing error. Sinisi fielded Lowrie’s grounder cleanly but was off-target with his throw to Niemann, who was covering first.

“I thought our guys hung in there extremely well after it looked like Stanford was just going to bludgeon us to death,” Graham said.

The Owls got a run back in the third when Kolkhorst tripled off McCally (7-3) and scored on Bubela’s sacrifice fly.

Rice tied it with two runs in the sixth. Bubela doubled and scored on Davis’ RBI single to make it 3-2. Davis advanced to second on the throw to the plate, and went to third after Craig Stansberry popped up to right field. Enrique Cruz tied it with a single past the outstretched glove of shortstop Tobin Swope.

This is the first year since 1948 that the CWS has used a best-of-three format to determine the national title.

“They’ve got to beat us one more time,” Marquess said. “Hopefully, we’ll have a good game tomorrow. It will be tough. They’re good. That’s why they’re here.”