The NCAA News - News and Features

May 18, 1998

Division I Baseball

Pitching trio may help Cardinal topple two-time defending champ LSU

Event: 1998 Division I Baseball Championship.

Overview: Top-ranked Stanford (40-8-1 overall and 21-6 in the Pacific-10 Conference Southern Division) is the favorite to dethrone two-time defending champion LSU from its perch among college baseball's elite. Stanford, which has been atop most of the polls since the first week of the season, has won five straight games and nine of its last 10. The starting trio of Jeff Austin (11-2 won-lost record, 2.59 earned-run average), Chad Hutchinson (9-3, 4.73) and Brent Hoard (3-2, 6.13) is as formidable as any threesome in the nation. Seven of Stanford's nine starters are hitting over .300, led by John Gall (.390), Jody Gerut (.335) and Joe Borchard (.326). Overall, Stanford is hitting .316 as a team with 76 home runs .... The LSU Tigers (40-13 overall, 20-7 in the Southeastern Conference) have proven this decade that they are as tough at tournament time as any team in the country. LSU has made six trips to the College World Series in the past nine years and has won four championships. The Tigers once again are stocked with power as three players have 20 or more home runs (Eddy Furniss, 22; Trey McClure, 22; and Brad Cresse, 21). The all-American Furniss also leads the team in batting average (.395), runs (65), hits (73), doubles (19), triples (3) and total bases (164) .... Perennial power Miami (Florida) (42-7) has put on an offensive show this season as the 'Canes have hit 95 home runs (one shy of the school record) and are averaging 10.4 runs per game. Four starters are hitting over .400 and nine batters are hitting better than .300. Miami's top two pitchers -- Alex Santos (11-1, 2.95) and Darryl Roque (11-1, 3.90) -- are 22-2 with a 3.37 ERA. Santos leads the staff with 114 strikeouts, 85.1 innings pitched and the lowest opponents' batting average (.212). Offensively, all-American third baseman Pat Burrell has overcome injures and is hitting .433 with 11 home runs and 35 runs batted in .... Other teams that will challenge for the title include Clemson, Florida, Florida State, South Carolina, Southern Cal and Wichita State.

Field: Forty-eight teams. Nineteen conference champions qualify automatically and five others will qualify via play-in competitions. The remaining 24 teams will be selected at large. Eight regional champions will advance to the College World Series.

Dates and sites: Regional competition will be conducted May 21-24 at on-campus sites. For the 49th consecutive year, the College World Series will be at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha, Nebraska, with Creighton serving as host. The CWS is set for May 29-June 6.

Television coverage: CBS will provide live coverage of a preliminary College World Series game May 30 and of the championship game June 6. ESPN and ESPN2 will provide live coverage of all other College World Series games.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1214 for bracket/schedule and 5003 for results. Scores and pairings from regional competition will appear in the June 1 issue of The NCAA News and championship results will be published June 15.