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| E-mail this story to a friend Bertman calls CWS win 'The best one' By SCOTT RABALAIS
OMAHA, Neb. -- The kings of the late comeback are once again the kings of the college baseball world. The LSU Tigers rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the eighth inning of Saturday's College World Series final to win the NCAA championship, beating the Stanford Cardinal 6-5 before 24,282 fans in Rosenblatt Stadium. It was LSU's fifth NCAA baseball title since 1991, their first since 1997 and their second dramatic comeback in five years. In 1996, Warren Morris hit a two-run home run with two out in the bottom of the ninth to defeat Miami 9-8. This time, senior catcher Brad Cresse connected for the winning blow. Struggling through the series with only one hit in 12 previous trips to the plate, Cresse smashed a ground ball through the Stanford infield into left, scoring shortstop Ryan Theriot from second base to end the game. "I struggled all World Series long," said Cresse, who led the nation this season with 30 home runs and 106 runs batted in. "Fortunately, I was in a spot where I was able to come through." It was only the third time that the College World Series championship was won in the bottom of the ninth inning. LSU has not lost in five appearances in college baseball's title game. The Tigers finished the season 52-17, going undefeated (13-0) in postseason play for the first time ever. "Of all the national championships, this is the best one," said LSU coach Skip Bertman, who said he will return to coach the Tigers in 2001. The team will return to Baton Rouge today, arriving at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport shortly after 11 a.m. LSU officials have asked that fans not meet the team at the airport but instead attend a celebration scheduled for noon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The LSU women's track and field team, which won the NCAA outdoor track and field title on June 3, will also be honored. For most of the game it looked as if LSU baseball fans would have nothing to celebrate this time. LSU grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning, but fell behind 4-2 on one swing of the bat: a grand slam to left field by Stanford first baseman Craig Thompson off Tiger starting pitcher Brian Tallet. The Cardinal (50-16) added another run in the sixth while LSU couldn't get a hit from the second inning until one out in the eighth off Stanford pitchers Jason Young and Justin Wayne. Then, Tiger third baseman and team captain Blair Barbier hit a homer to left to make it 5-3. After designated hitter Wally Pontiff walked, left fielder Jeremy Witten hit a two-run homer just out of the reach of Stanford left fielder Andy Topham. That blast tied the game 5-5. LSU relief pitcher Trey Hodges then got through the ninth without allowing a Stanford runner to reach base, setting up the Tigers' heroics in the bottom half of the inning. Theriot led off with a single to left and went to second base when second baseman Mike Fontenot drew a walk off Wayne. With one strike, Cresse then came up with winning hit as Theriot beat the throw from left field home. "I visualized Brad (getting a hit) in the ninth," Bertman said. "But I had him hitting a homer." Cresse's hit was big enough to touch off bedlam in a stadium populated by thousands of LSU fans. Tiger players mobbed Cresse in a mad pileup near second base as LSU fans scrambled over the outfield wall to join the celebration. Afterward, there were hugs and kisses and tears among LSU fans, coaches and players. Nearby, a female Tiger fan scooped up infield dirt near the spot where Cresse's ball traveled into left. Meanwhile, Stanford's dejected players and coaches watched in silence from the first-base dugout. "It's truly amazing," Stanford coach Mark Marquess said of LSU's fifth title in 10 years. "I wouldn't expect that it could be done, but it has. "Sometimes you give a game away. But they (LSU) beat us. They earned it." Hodges, who won two of LSU's four games here, was named the College World Series' most valuable player. He is the fourth Tiger to win the award. The championship moves LSU into a tie with Arizona State for second-most NCAA baseball titles behind Southern California (12). LSU has now won 34 national championships combined in men's and women's sports. |
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