Friday, June 14, 2002
Close not enough for Cardinal
Stanford back 4th straight year; Irish first foe
The Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. — Stanford coach Mark Marquess never gets tired of Omaha in June.
The Cardinal are back at the College World Series for the fourth straight year and hoping to erase the bitter memories of losing in the last two title games.
“It's a thrill to be back,” Marquess said Thursday, the day before the tournament starts with a doubleheader. “It's never happened when we've come four straight years. It's a special group.”
Stanford and Nebraska are the only teams back from last year's field. Texas and Clemson played here two years ago, and Rice was a 1999 participant. Georgia Tech, South Carolina and Notre Dame are making their first appearances here in a while.
“There's an element of luck there. You don't like to admit it, but it's there,” Marquess said.
The Cardinal have the most recent title of any of this year's teams, winning consecutive championships in 1987-88. They were close to adding another two years ago but let a three-run lead get away in the eighth inning and lost 6-5 to Louisiana State. Last year's 12-1 loss to Miami wasn't as much of a heartbreaker but was equally disappointing.
“Last year we were young and inexperienced. This is a different team,” Marquess said.
As popular as Stanford has become in Omaha, the crowd favorite clearly will be Nebraska. The Cornhuskers made their first trip to the Series last June, and Rosenblatt Stadium was packed for their two games.
The trip quickly turned to disappointment as the Huskers lost one-run games to Cal State Fullerton and Tulane.
“It was almost like it didn't happen, because we were here and we were gone,” Nebraska coach Dave Van Horn said.
Van Horn is trying to keep the Huskers' emotions a little more level this time. The attention the Huskers got from the time fans lined the street in Lincoln to see the team bus drive off to Omaha to the first game drained the players last year, Van Horn said.
“This time went the opposite way, so nobody saw us. We tried to just low-key everything,” Van Horn said.
The Series opens today with Georgia Tech (51-14) playing South Carolina (53-16), followed by Nebraska (47-19) and Clemson (52-15).
“We're here, and hopefully we're going to stay a little while longer,” Clemson coach Jack Leggett said.
The Tigers played in just three games when they were here two years ago, getting knocked out by Louisiana-Lafayette when the Ragin' Cajuns scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth.
“I've seen a lot of funny things happen here,” Leggett said. “You can throw anything and everything out at this time of year.”
South Carolina is in the World Series for the sixth time, but this is the Gamecocks' first trip here since 1985.
Georgia Tech is back for just the second time. The Yellow Jackets' only other appearance ended in a loss to Oklahoma in the 1994 title game. Georgia Tech's lineup that year included current major leaguers Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Varitek and Jay Payton. This year the Yellow Jackets feature 15 freshmen.
“They're not playing like freshmen anymore. They had a grueling schedule and they passed the test,” said South Carolina coach Ray Tanner, whose Gamecocks beat the Yellow Jackets 8-3 in February.
On Saturday, Notre Dame (49-16) plays Stanford (45-16) in the early game, and Texas (53-15) and Rice (52-12) meet for the third time this year. Texas won both earlier meetings.
“All of us sitting at the podium had the same dream when fall ball started. No doubt about it or we wouldn't be here,” Rice coach Wayne Graham said.
The Longhorns are in their 29th World Series, eight more than any other school. Coach Augie Garrido also led Cal State Fullerton to titles in 1979, '94 and '95.
Notre Dame was the last team to qualify. The Fighting Irish's super regional at Florida State was delayed a day by rain. The Irish won it in three games with a 3-1 win Monday, knocking out the top-seeded Seminoles.
It's Notre Dame's first College World Series since 1957.
“The understatement of the year is that we're very happy to be here. It only took us 45 years go get here,” Notre Dame coach Paul Mainieri said. “To be up here on this podium with these legendary coaches is kind of overwhelming to me.”
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Close not enough for Cardinal
