| | Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. -- Even Jeremy Witten's trip to the 1996 College
World Series can't compare.
Witten, a fifth-year senior, swore he would never be able to top
the emotion he felt when Louisiana State beat Miami for the 1996
title on Warren Morris' two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of
the ninth.
|  | | Stanford's Craig Thompson connects for a grand slam. |
He's had a change of heart.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to match this," Witten
said.
Brad Cresse singled off Justin Wayne in the bottom of the ninth,
scoring Ryan Theriot from second as the Tigers beat Stanford 6-5
for their fifth CWS championship since 1991.
Theriot slid across home plate, jumped up and tossed his batting
helmet into the air. His teammates surrounded him, then seconds
later, they all made a beeline for Cresse, who was standing alone
between first and second.
The celebration continued as family, friends and fans poured
onto the Rosenblatt Stadium field. The players donned championship
T-shirts, hats and -- in typical LSU style -- Mardi Gras beads.
"We always knew this was a national championship team and we
weren't going to let it work out any other way," Ray Wright said.
Blair Barbier wouldn't let them.
Barbier, the team captain, huddled the players together in the
dugout before the eighth inning. He had two questions for them:
"Can you believe? Do you believe?"
His teammates answered him with three runs in the eighth and the
game-winner in the ninth, improving to 5-0 in championship games. Theriot started the ninth-inning rally with a single to left, and Mike Fontenot followed with a walk, setting up Cresse's heroics.
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LSU coach Bertman to return for another season
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- As tempting as retirement might seem after
winning his fifth national championship in 10 years, Louisiana
State coach Skip Bertman says he'll be back at least another season.
Bertman, 62, has been on a year-to-year basis with LSU since
1997, considering retirement at the end of each season. But he
decided to return to the Tigers for the 2001 season, even before
LSU's 6-5 victory over Stanford on Saturday at the College World
Series.
"It might have been tempting there for a few minutes to pull a
Dick Vermeil," said Bertman, referring to the St. Louis Rams coach
who retired after winning the Super Bowl in January.
"But what if I get another group like this one? Then I'd really
be missing out," said Bertman, LSU's coach the last 17 years. And
besides, "I've already promised the recruits that I'd be here."
With Saturday's win, Bertman improved to 826-308-2 at LSU,
including 29-13 in 11 trips to Rosenblatt Stadium.
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Cresse, LSU's leading hitter this season, stepped to the plate
having gone 1-for-12 in the series with eight strikeouts. He lined Wayne's 0-1 pitch over the infield, and Theriot easily
beat left fielder Andy Topham's throw home.
"You always want to go out winning the national championship,
and it came true," Cresse said. "Last night, I dreamt about being
up at the plate with winning run on base. I dreamt of a home run,
but I'll take a single."
Trey Hodges (5-2) pitched four scoreless innings for his second
win of the tournament. He also picked up a save and was selected
the CWS' most outstanding player. Hodges retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced.
"I could really care less who got the win or the MVP as long as
we got the ring," Hodges said.
Wayne (15-4) gave up four hits and four runs in relief of
starter Jason Young, Stanford's ace.
Coach Mark Marquess pulled Young after giving up four hits and
two runs in four innings. The move backfired -- eventually.
Wayne started the fifth inning and seven of his first nine outs
were strikeouts, four of them looking. But LSU (52-17) tied it at 5 in the eighth inning with two home runs.
"We figured we would have to use both of them," Marquess said.
"I thought Jason was getting a little tired after two times
through the lineup. At this stage, I don't worry about the pitcher of record. I
felt Justin's slider was a good match for them. And it was. They
didn't get a hit until the eighth. But it was a tough decision."
Barbier, after fouling off three pitches to stay alive, reached
out and slapped Wayne's 2-2 changeup over the left-field fence to
make it 5-3. It was Barbier's ninth homer of season and third of
the CWS. Then Wayne walked Wally Pontiff, and with two outs, Witten lined a
two-run homer into left.
"This team has a lot of guts," said Witten, the only current
LSU player to win three championships. "We score with two out and
we never give up. There's a lot of fight in this team. That's why
we love this team."
Stanford (50-16) had been undefeated in CWS championship games.
The Cardinal looked to make it 3-0 in title games and claim their
first championship since 1988 with an early lead.
Chris O'Riordan and Topham hit back-to-back singles to start the
fourth. With one out, LSU starter Brian Tallet hit Damien Alvarado
to load the bases, setting up Craig Thompson's grand slam.
Thompson ripped Tallet's 2-1 pitch on a line over the left-field
fence for his 12 homer of the season. His second career grand slam
gave Stanford a 4-2 lead.
Tallet allowed 11 hits and five runs in five-plus innings. "He battled them and left runners on base all day," LSU coach Skip Bertman said. "He gave us a chance to stay in the ballgame."
Especially since the Tigers had little going offensively.LSU scored two runs off Young in the second, but didn't get another hit until Barbier's homer in the eighth.
In the second, Pontiff doubled to lead off the inning and
Cedrick Harris followed with an RBI single. Harris scored three
batters later on Theriot's ground ball to second base.
The Cardinal took a 5-2 lead in the sixth on John Gall's two-out
single, scoring Alvarado. They left the bases loaded, though, when
Barbier made a diving stab on O'Riordan's ground ball down the
third-base line and threw him out at first.
An even bigger defensive play came in the third when Wright
reached over the right-field fence and pulled back what would have
been a two-run homer of the bat of Edmund Muth.
"The whole game was up and down but we just kept pecking
away," Harris said. "They had a lot of momentum, but fortunately
it swung back to us. And because of that, we're national
champions."
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