The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- July 5, 1999

Miami claims baseball title in a Sunshine State finale

BY TY HALPIN
STAFF WRITER

OMAHA, Nebraska -- When the pressure of a championship game is fused with a fierce rivalry, the result -- at least in the NCAA College World Series -- is a tightly contested game.

In the 1999 championship contest, Miami (Florida) and Florida State staged a hard-fought, well-played ballgame. The Hurricanes outlasted the Seminoles, 6-5, winning the school's third NCAA title.

The eye of the Hurricanes -- first baseman Kevin Brown -- homered in the second inning June 19 and stroked a bases-loaded double in a five-run fifth to lead Miami to its first championship in six tries under coach Jim Morris. Morris became the only coach to bring his team to the College World Series in each of his first six seasons.

Miami and Florida State, teams that met six times before the final day in Omaha, didn't need much in the way of motivation. The natural rivalry makes each game more than just another contest.

"We've gone after each other all year, and we've been fortunate to win five times by one run and six times overall," Brown said. "It was a great win for us."

With Florida State leading, 2-1, Miami freshman Marcus Nettles led off the fifth with a bloop single to left and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Nettles scored on Kris Clute's single to right. Bobby Hill followed with a single to center, and Clute scampered to third. Brian Seever grounded to Florida State shortstop Brett Groves for the second out, but rather than throw home to try to get Clute, Groves opted for the force at first.

After Florida State hurler Blair Varnes walked the next two batters, loading the bases, Brown cleared them with a double to the gap in right.

Michael Neu worked the last two innings for Miami, retiring the side in the ninth for his 16th save. When he struck out Kevin Cash to end the game, the Hurricanes flooded the field in celebration.

"I was trying to make the right pitch and focus," Neu said about recording the last out. "We were one pitch away from the national championship. The game is not over until you get the last out. I was trying to stay composed. What a great feeling."

The Hurricanes' victory denied Seminoles coach Mike Martin from winning his first title in his 11th trip to Omaha in 20 seasons. Martin decided to start freshman Varnes, who injured a knee ligament in the pile when the Seminoles won their super regional game and had not pitched in Omaha. Alex Santos started for Miami and worked five innings to pick up the win.

"This has been an incredible season for us," Morris said. "I can't say enough about our team and how we've really kept things together all year. This is the reward for a lot of extremely hard work. I think everyone would agree that it's worth it."

Notes

The championship game crowd of 23,563 increased the total attendance to a record 206,639 over 10 sessions, a record average of 20,664. Combined with more than 320,000 in attendance for the regionals and more than 100,000 at the super regionals, the 1999 Division I Baseball Championship became the second of the NCAA's 81 championships to exceed 600,000 in attendance (this year's Division I men's basketball tournament drew an all-time record of 720,685) .... Miami led the CWS field in batting and pitching. The Hurricanes batted .312 and were the only team in the tournament with an earned-run average under 4.00 with a stingy mark of 2.25 .... Florida State second baseman Marshall McDougall didn't bring home the NCAA championship trophy, but he did take home the Jack Diesing Sr. Most Outstanding Player Award. McDougall hit three home runs and drove in eight runs in the CWS.

Game 1

Oklahoma St. -- 000 -- 010 -- 101-- 3 -- 6 -- 2

Alabama -- 020 -- 323 -- 01x--11 -- 15 -- 1

Thom Dreier, Ryan Herrmann (4), Jeremy Krismer (8); Justin Smith, Scott Murphy (7). W -- Smith. L -- Dreier. S -- Murphy. HR -- Carlos Gautreaux (Oklahoma St.), Erik Smallwood (Alabama), Jeremy Brown (Alabama), Antonio Bostic (Alabama).

Game 2

Rice -- 202 -- 000 -- 000 --4 -- 9 -- 4

Miami (Fla.) -- 000 -- 041 -- 21x --8 -- 9 -- 0

Mario Ramos, Jeff Nichols (5), Jesse Kurtz--Nicholl (7), Marc Gwyn (8); David Gil, Vince Vazquez (7), Michael Neu (9). W -- Gil. L -- Nichols. HR -- Will Ford (Rice), Bobby Hill [Miami (Fla.)]; Kris Clute [Miami (Fla.)].

Game 3

Texas A&M -- 011 -- 100 -- 000 --3 -- 8 -- 1

Florida St. -- 130 -- 020 -- 01x --7 -- 7 -- 1

Casey Fossum, Chris Russ (8); Nick Stocks, Chris Chavez (5). W -- Chavez. L -- Fossum. HR -- Shawn Schumacher (Texas A&M), Matt Diaz 2 (Florida St.), Ryan Barthelemy (Florida St.).

Game 4

Stanford -- 003 -- 112 -- 101 --9 -- 13 -- 1

Cal St. Fullerton -- 000 -- 020 -- 000 --2 -- 6 -- 5

Jason Young; Adam Johnson, Marco Hanlon (6), George Carralejo (7), Kirk Saarloos (8). W -- Young. L -- Johnson. HR -- Joe Borchard (Stanford); Josh Hochgesang (Stanford); Edmund Muth (Stanford); Craig Patterson (Cal St. Fullerton).

Game 5

Alabama -- 000 -- 001 -- 000 --1 -- 5 -- 1

Miami (Fla.) -- 000 -- 111 -- 32x --8 -- 14 -- 2

Manny Torres, Jonathan Blankenship (7); Alex Santos, Michael Neu (7). W -- Santos. L -- Torres. S -- Neu. HR -- Kevin Brown [Miami (Fla.)].

Game 6

Oklahoma St -- 000 -- 100 -- 010 --2 -- 10 -- 2

Rice -- 010 -- 020 -- 31x --7 -- 13 -- 0

Matt Smith, Rusty Rushing (7); Kenny Baugh, Jeff Nichols (8). W -- Baugh. L -- Smith. HR -- Toby Rhodes (Oklahoma St.), Jason Gray (Rice).

Game 7

Florida St. -- 100 -- 000 -- 401 -- 6 -- 9 -- 3

Stanford -- 042 -- 110 -- 11x --10 -- 9 -- 2

Jon McDonald, Chris Ginn (5), Chris Whidden (7), Mike Smalley (8); Justin Wayne, Dan Rich (7), Tony Cogan (8). W -- Wayne. L -- McDonald. HR -- John Gall (Stanford).

Game 8

Cal St. Fullerton -- 011 -- 020 -- 000 --4 -- 9 -- 2

Texas A&M -- 110 -- 000 -- 000 --2 -- 10 -- 3

Matt Sorensen, Kirk Saarloos (9); Matt Ward, Chris Russ (7). W -- Sorensen. L -- Ward. S -- Saarloos. HR -- David Bacani (Cal St. Fullerton).

Game 9

Rice -- 000 -- 010 -- 130 --5 -- 5 -- 1

Alabama -- 003 -- 010 -- 011 --6 -- 11 -- 0

Marc Gwyn, Jeff Nichols (3), Jesse Kurtz--Nicholl (8), Mario Ramos (9); Justin Smith, Scott Murphy (9). W -- Murphy. L -- Ramos. HR -- Damon Thames (Rice) 2.

Game 10

Cal St. Fullerton -- 100 -- 010 -- 000 --2 -- 7 -- 2

Florida St. -- 022 -- 300 -- 00x --7 -- 13 -- 0

Jon Smith, Marco Hanlon (3), Kirk Saarloos (4), Ruben Jurado (8); Chris Chavez. W -- Chavez. L -- Smith. HR -- Marshall McDougall (Florida St.), Matt Diaz (Florida St.).

Game 11

Miami (Fla.) -- 100 -- 130 -- 000 --5 -- 8 -- 2

Alabama -- 020 -- 000 -- 000 --2 -- 6 -- 3

Darryl Roque, Vince Vazquez (6), Michael Neu (8); Jonathan Blankenship, Scott Murphy (5). W -- Roque. L -- Blankenship. S -- Neu.

Game 12

Florida St. -- 000 -- 204 -- 200 --8 -- 14 -- 1

Stanford -- 300 -- 030 -- 000 --6 -- 9 -- 2

Nick Stocks, Zach Diaz (5); Brian Sager, Mike Wodnicki (5), Dan Rich (5), Austin Coose (7), J.D. Willcox (9). W -- Diaz. L -- Rich. HR -- Sam Scott (Florida St.).

Game 13

Stanford -- 200 -- 000 -- -- 700 -- 200 -- 0 --11 -- 16 -- 0

Florida St. -- 111 -- 400 -- -- 002 -- 200 -- 3 --14 -- 19 -- 1

Jason Young, Tony Cogan (9); Jon McDonald, Mike DiBlasi (7), Chris Whidden (7), Chris Ginn (7), Chris Chavez (10), Mike Smalley (10), Nick Stocks (12). W -- Stocks. L -- Cogan. HR -- John Gall (Stanford), Edmund Muth (Stanford), Karl Jernigan (Florida St.), Marshall McDougall (Florida St.) 2, Sam Scott (Florida St.), Kevin Cash (Florida St.), Ryan Barthelemy (Florida St.).

Championship Game

Florida St. -- AB -- R -- H -- RBI

John--Ford Griffin, lf -- 2 -- 0 -- 1 -- 2

Marshall McDougall, 2b -- 5 -- 0 -- 1 -- 0

Matt Diaz, rf -- 4 -- 1 -- 2 -- 0

Sam Scott, dh -- 4 -- 2 -- 1 -- 1

Jeremiah Klosterman, c -- 5 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Kevin Cash, 3b -- 4 -- 0 -- 1 -- 1

Chris Smith, cf -- 4 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Brett Groves, ss -- 2 -- 1 -- 0 -- 0

Ryan Barthelemy, 1b -- 4 -- 1 -- 1 -- 0

Blair Varnes, p -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Chris Whidden, p -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Totals -- 34 -- 5 -- 7 -- 4

Miami (Fla.) -- AB -- R -- H -- RBI

Bobby Hill, ss -- 2 -- 1 -- 2 -- 0

Brian Seever, cf -- 4 -- 0 -- 1 -- 1

Manny Crespo, rf -- 2 -- 1 -- 0 -- 0

Lale Esquivel, 3b -- 3 -- 1 -- 1 -- 0

Kevin Brown, 1b -- 4 -- 1 -- 2 -- 4

Mike Rodriguez, lf -- 3 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Marcus Nettles, dh -- 3 -- 1 -- 1 -- 0

Greg Lovelady, c -- 4 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Kris Clute, 2b -- 3 -- 1 -- 1 -- 1

Alex Santos, p -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Vince Vazquez, p -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Michael Neu, p -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Totals -- 28 -- 6 -- 8 -- 6

Florida St. -- 011 -- 000 -- 210 --5 -- 7 -- 1

Miami (Fla.) -- 010 -- 050 -- 00x --6 -- 8 -- 2

E -- Whidden, Hill, Crespo. DP -- Florida St. 3. LOB -- Florida St. 10; Miami (Fla.) 5. 2B -- Brown. 3B -- Barthelemy. HR -- Scott, Brown. SB -- Hill. SH -- Crespo. SF -- Griffin.

Florida St. -- IP -- H -- R -- ER -- BB -- SO

Blair Varnes (Loser) -- 6.0 -- 8 -- 6 -- 6 -- 4 -- 1

Chris Whidden -- 2.0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 2 -- 2

Miami (Fla.) -- IP -- H -- R -- ER -- BB -- SO

Alex Santos (Winner) -- 5.0 -- 4 -- 2 -- 1 -- 5 -- 4

Vince Vazquez -- 2.0 -- 2 -- 2 -- 2 -- 2 -- 2

Michael Neu (Save) -- 2.0 -- 1 -- 1 -- 1 -- 0 -- 2

WP -- Varnes, Vazquez. Umpires -- Rich Fetchiet, Dan Pedersen, Bill Davis, Randy Bruns. T -- 2:50. A -- 23,563.