The only way to beat Stephen Strasburg is to outlast him, apparently.

The San Diego State junior righthander turned in yet another brilliant performance Friday against Brigham Young, striking out 15 and walking two while allowing just two hits over seven shutout innings. But the Cougars pounced on the SDSU bullpen after Strasburg’s night was finished and escaped with a 4-2 win.

Strasburg has reached double digits in strikeouts in all five of his starts this season. Kirk Kenney brings us this amazing tidbit: of the 45 players who appeared in starting lineups against Strasburg this year, just two have avoided striking out—Nevada’s Shaun Kort and BYU’s Kasey Ko.

Strasburg’s updated season line: 4-0, 1.57 with 74 strikeouts, seven walks and 21 hits in 34 innings. Strasburg is averaging an otherworldly 19.58 strikeouts per nine innings. The 13-week schedule is almost certain to keep Strasburg from making a run at Derek Tatsuno’s single-season record of 234, but let’s see how close he can get. Strasburg is averaging 6.8 innings per start. If he maintains that pace and his strikeout rate over 13 starts, he’ll finish with approximately 192 strikeouts in roughly 88 innings. Looked at another way, he’s averaging 14.8 strikeouts per start so far. If he keeps that pace up and gets two postseason starts—say, one in the Mountain West Conference tournament and one in regionals—he’ll finish 222 strikeouts. A 16th start (in super regionals) would give him 236 whiffs and the record.

Just food for thought. For now, let’s simply enjoy the ride.