University Southern California Trojans
Field Nearly Filled for College World Series
June 04, 2001 | Baseball
June 4, 2001
By The Associated Press
The HuskerNation is ready for a 50-mile road trip - to the College World Series.
Nebraska, winners of its super regional over the weekend, will take the short trip from Lincoln to Omaha later this week for its first appearance in college baseball's eight-team, double-elimination tournament for the national title.
"We just ratcheted up the interest level in the total state of Nebraska," Jack Diesing Jr., president of College World Series Inc., said Sunday.
It's just the second time the CWS will have a team from Nebraska. In 1991, Creighton, a private Jesuit school in Omaha, made it to the CWS.
Husker football fans pride themselves on following their team all over the country - they nearly outnumbered Notre Dame fans early last year at a game in South Bend, Ind. - and should pack the 24,500-seat Rosenblatt Stadium when Nebraska opens against top-seeded Cal State Fullerton either Friday or Saturday.
After Sunday's super regionals, seven of the eight CWS teams were set. The second game of the Florida State-Georgia best-of-three series resumes Monday with the Seminoles leading 8-6 in the seventh inning. The Bulldogs won the first game Saturday.
On Sunday, Tulane joined the Huskers as first-timers in the CWS with a 7-1 victory over state-rival LSU, the defending national champions. Also winning their super regionals were Stanford and Tennessee.
On Saturday, Cal State-Fullerton, Miami and Southern California joined Nebraska in clinching CWS berths.
The first-round matchups in Omaha will be Nebraska vs. Cal State-Fullerton, Tennessee vs. Nebraska, Tulane vs. Stanford and Southern California vs. the Georgia/Florida State winner.
At Metairie, La.
Tulane 7, LSU 1
Beau Richardson allowed seven hits and struck out eight as the Green Wave (55-11) denied retiring LSU coach Skip Bertman another trip to Omaha.
Tulane won the best-of-three super regional, two games to one after dropping the opener 4-3 in 10 innings on Friday. The Green Wave won Saturday, 9-4.
During Bertman's 18 years at LSU, the Tigers won five national titles, made 11 CWS appearances and won seven Southeastern Conference titles. Bertman will take over as LSU's athletic director. LSU finished 44-22-1.
"For me to coach and get paid a lot of money and still get to go to work in a jogging suit was fantastic," Bertman said. "On Aug. 1, when I go to work in a tie, it'll be the first time in my life."
The crowd of 11,870 broke the attendance record for an NCAA regional set in Friday's first game, which drew 11,719.
At Stanford, Calif.
Stanford 3, South Carolina 2
Andy Topham hit a two-run homer in the fifth as Stanford advanced to its third straight CWS.
Mike Wodnicki (6-1) pitched 3 1-3 innings in relief to pick up the win. He allowed a run on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks. J.D. Wilcox recorded the final five outs for the save.
Chris O'Riordan had four hits for Stanford (48-16), which lost to LSU in last year's CWS title game.
Stanford won series, 2-1.
At Kinston, N.C.
Tennessee 6, East Carolina 3
Stevie Daniel's grand slam capped a five-run eighth inning as Tennessee rallied for the win.
The victory gave the Vols (49-15) a sweep in the best-of-three super regional. Tennessee (49-15) will play in its third CWS, and first since 1995.
In the eighth, the Vols opened with a walk and single and scored when reliever Glen Tucker overthrew third base while trying to get the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt. Chris Burke walked to load the bases, and Daniel followed with his homer to right-center.
Also:
At Athens, Ga., the Florida State-Georgia game, with the Seminoles leading 8-6 in the top of the seventh, was postponed by rain and will resume on Monday at 1 p.m. EDT.
Georgia leads the best-of-three super regional 1-0.
In Saturday's games:
- At Fullerton, Calif., Aaron Rifkin hit three homers and drove in six runs as Cal State Fullerton beat Mississippi State 9-3 to sweep the super regional and advance to the CWS for the 11th time.
- At Coral Gables, Fla., Charlton Jimerson hit a three-run homer and P. J. Prunty earned the decision as Miami beat Clemson 14-6 to sweep the super regional and move to the CWS for the seventh time in eight years.
- At Lincoln, Neb., Jeff Leise's single in the 10th drove in the go-ahead run as Nebraska beat Rice 9-6 to earn its CWS berth.
- At Los Angeles, Rik Currier pitched a five-hitter and struck out 11 as USC beat Florida International 6-0 to sweep the super regional.
