OMAHA, Neb. -- It's been difficult for pitchers and coaches to stop Miami's Charlton Jimerson in the College World Series.

Even his own coaches can't do it sometimes.

The Hurricanes' speedy center fielder surprised third-base coach Gino DiMare when he dashed from first to home on a single Thursday in Miami's win over Tennessee.

DiMare called for Jimerson to stop at third. Stopping wasn't an option for Jimerson.

"As soon as that ball was hit I'm thinking score," he said. "If he holds me up in time, I'm going to stop. But it was a little late so I came home. We laughed about it."

Jimerson, who hit leadoff homers in Miami's first two games in the CWS, had four stolen bases in Thursday's 12-6 win. He leads the CWS with seven steals.

He's always had the speed, but until this year, Jimerson didn't have many opportunities to use it. Just a career .240 hitter before this year, he hit .306 for the season and is hitting .400 in the postseason entering Saturday's championship game against Stanford.

"I focused a little more," he said. "I didn't change much on my swing. I think it was my mental approach going to the plate."

Jimerson's turnaround in baseball isn't much compared to what he's been through in life. Abandoned by his parents when he was 15, he was raised by his sister, Lanette, who is five years older.

Jimerson, a senior from Hayward, Calif., who went to Miami on an academic scholarship and walked onto the baseball team, graduated last month with a degree in computer science.

The high-tech world will have to wait. Jimerson was drafted by the Houston Astros last week and he still has one very important college game to play.

Jimerson says he owes everything to Lanette, now a teacher in California. She will be at Rosenblatt Stadium Saturday.

"There's no chance she's going to miss the championship," he said.

Mission accomplished
Stanford pitcher Jeremy Guthrie had a lengthy layoff between pitching starts.

After his freshman season at BYU in 1998, Guthrie spent two years as a Mormon missionary in Spain and didn't touch a baseball until returning to the United States last summer.

When he resumed his college baseball career this year after transferring to Stanford, he wasn't sure what to expect.

"If it didn't work out, it wasn't meant to be," Guthrie said.

Guthrie went 13-4 this season, clinching the Cardinal's spot in Saturday's championship game with a 4-1 win over Cal State Fullerton Wednesday.

Burke bits
When Tennessee's Chris Burke popped out in the ninth inning of the Volunteers' loss to Miami Thursday, it ended one of the best careers in Southeastern Conference history.

Burke, a junior shortstop who was drafted by Houston with the No. 10 pick, was 7-for-18 with six stolen bases in the College World Series and finished the season with 118 hits -- one shy of the SEC record held by Auburn's Jay Waggoner.

Burke, the SEC player of the year, holds the conference mark with 105 runs scored in a season, and broke several of Todd Helton's school offensive records.

"As I grabbed the bat to go to the plate for the last time, there were a lot of things going through my head," Burke said. "I can't ask for anything more than to end my career here in Omaha. I wish it would have been on top, but it didn't work out that way. My three years at Tennessee were a magical time."

Fashion police
Miami's uniforms were a hot topic of conversation during the Hurricanes' victory over Tennessee on Thursday.

Miami wore its all-gray road uniforms for the first time at the College World Series, and improved to 11-0 overall when wearing them.

"I think they have 32 uniforms ... if you count them all, tops and bottoms," Stanford right-hander Mike Wodnicki said. "But I looked at them on TV and they were cool. A little different, though."

But Wodnicki said he prefers the simple, traditional style of Stanford's uniforms.

"We've been wearing these for a long time and the style hasn't changed much," Wodnicki said. "But when you put on that Cardinal and white, or Cardinal and gray, you sense that tradition and the tradition at Stanford and all the guys who put it on before you. It's a great honor to be able to wear this uniform."

Around the bases
The championship game matchup between Miami and Stanford is the teams' seventh meeting, first since the Cardinal won 15-7 in the West II Regional in 1991. ... Miami's Kevin Brown has nine career College World Series hits, eight for extra bases. In 1999, Brown had two home runs and two doubles. He has two homers, two doubles and a single this year. ... Stanford is 0-for-2 in stolen-base attempts in the College World Series, while Miami is 12-for-16, including seven by Charlton Jimerson.