Posted on: Thursday, June 14, 2001

Stanford advances to College World Series final

Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. — Stanford coach Mark Marquess said throughout the College World Series that he never expected his team to get this far.

The Cardinal lost their starting rotation from last season and had no seniors on the roster, but they defied the odds and surpassed their coach's expectations by reaching the championship game for the second straight year.

"They've surprised me all year," Marquess said after Stanford beat Cal State Fullerton, 4-1, last night. "They're very hard workers, and there's a lot of competition within the team to play."

Jeremy Guthrie (13-4) pitched seven strong innings, and Brian Hall and Ryan Garko homered to lead Stanford (51-16) to its fourth College World Series title game.

"Coach kept telling us that he didn't expect us to be here, but we definitely expected to be here," said third baseman Andy Topham, whose two-run single in the fourth gave the Cardinal a 3-0 lead. "We knew we could get back to Omaha. And once you get here, anything can happen."

Stanford, which won national championships in 1987 and '88, and lost to Louisiana State last season, will play either Miami or Tennessee in Saturday's title game. The Hurricanes will advance if they win today's game.

Guthrie allowed one run, four hits, struck out five and walked two for the Cardinal, who won their fourth straight game and ninth of the last 10.

"We have no excuses," Titans coach George Horton said. "We came out knowing it would be a game like this, so we were hoping to score some runs. But it was too much pitching and too much defense."

Guthrie rebounded nicely from his last outing, when he gave up five runs and eight hits in just 1° innings in the College World Series opener against Tulane.

"It feels really good to come back and pitch," said Guthrie, who lost his shutout in the seventh on Mike Rouse's RBI double. "We looked over some film Friday and saw some things to fix."

Jeff Bruksch pitched the last two innings and tied the College World Series record with his third save for the Cardinal, who also beat the top-seeded Titans (48-18) 5-2 in 10 innings Sunday. The save was the fourth of his career at the College World Series, also tying a record.

"Beating Cal State Fullerton means a lot to us because we respect them," Marquess said. "They are a great team and for us, this was a huge win. This was typical of the type of season we've had."