USC
LSU
Win Streak Halted By Tigers
June 12, 2000 | Baseball
June 12, 2000
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Louisiana State's Brad Cresse and his 30 home runs and 105 RBIs were no problem for Southern California on Monday.
Brad Hawpe was another matter.
Hawpe, who hits cleanup behind Cresse, had two three-run homers as LSU beat USC 10-4 in a winners' bracket game to snap the Trojans' 16-game winning streak.
The Tigers are one victory from advancing to the College World Series championship for the fifth time.
"He's an imposing presence," Hawpe said of Cresse. "He's got a lot of home runs and it's tough to hit behind those. I always feel like I have to hit one every time he does."
Cresse was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, but Hawpe more than made up for it.
With the Tigers trailing 3-0 in the sixth with just two hits off USC starter Mark Prior (10-7), Hawpe drove a 1-0 pitch high over the bleachers in right-center to tie it 3-all.
"He had thrown a lot of changeups to lefthanders. I just went out there looking for it," Hawpe said. "Sooner or later he was bound to leave one up over the plate. He did and I got a hold of it."
LSU (50-17) has won 11 straight games and remains the only unbeaten team in the postseason. In two CWS games the Tigers have scored 23 runs and hit five home runs.
Prior (10-7) took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. It was broken up by Ryan Theriot, who scored three times and drove in three runs for the Tigers, who have won four national titles in the five times they have opened the CWS 2-0.
Trey Hodges (4-2) allowed two runs and four hits in relief of Ben Saxson, who left in the fourth inning with a blister on his right middle finger.
Beau Craig and Alberto Concepcion homered for the Trojans (44-19), who committed four errors and used six pitchers, five in the final three innings. USC will play the winner of Monday night's elimination game between Texas and Florida State on Tuesday.
Southern California, which has won 12 national titles, is no stranger to the losers' bracket. In two previous trips under coach Mike Gillespie, the Trojans lost their CWS openers but went on to the national championship game both times. In 1998 USC lost to LSU in the opener and had to beat the Tigers twice to advance to the title game, which they won for the first time in 20 years.
"I think we're in better shape than we were two years ago," said shortstop Seth Davidson, who had an RBI single for the Trojans. "By playing them today, we know what they're all about."
USC looked like it was headed for the winners' bracket and two days off with a 3-0 lead through five innings on Craig's two-run homer in the fourth and Davidson's single. But the hot, muggy afternoon got to Prior in the sixth.
"A 3-0 lead against a team that good, that's a long way from being in control," Gillespie said. "I wouldn't say that we were relaxing or breathing easy."
Theriot broke up the no-hit bid with a one-out line-drive single over third baseman Justin Gemoll's head. Theriot went to third on Mike Fontenot's single to right and they both scored on Hawpe's ninth home run of the season.
LSU coach Skip Bertman noted Theriot's hit was what started the rally.
"He got a curveball and got it over the third baseman's head. That was a good thing for us because I heard some rumblings in the dugout about how we didn't have a hit," Bertman said.
Hawpe hit another three-run shot in the eighth on a 1-1 pitch from Pete Montrenes that also cleared the right field stands. Hawpe hit both homers with two outs.
Theriot gave LSU a 4-3 lead in the seventh after the Trojans' fourth error of the game. Ray Wright drew a one-out walk, then went to third when Prior's pick-off attempt got past Concepcion and bounced off the tarp into right field. Wright trotted in on Theriot's single to right. Concepcion homered to left to lead off the seventh.
By DOUG ALDEN
Associated Press Writer
