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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 2004)
Sports The Battalion Page 3 • Monday, June 28, 2004 ft own Cal State Fullerton Astros defeat Rangers corrals Longhorns and trj wnersii SIKWil icysaii and As nbeK ng slit, entsi I theitt too II‘. orsft tudef ;onsf d thf Underdog Titans win fourth World Series title against favored Texas By Eric Olson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS After struggling at the start of the season, Cal State Fullerton ended it in championship style. Jason Windsor pitched a five-hitter, Kurt Suzuki’s RBI single capped off a three-run sev enth inning and Cal State Fullerton won the College World Series with a 3-2 victory over Texas on Sunday. The Titans won the best-of-three championship series 2-0 — a surprising end to a season they started 15-16. The 22 losses are the most by a national champion since Stanford had 23 in 1988. “I’m in shock. I’m in awe,” Fullerton coach George Horton said. “These guys I’ve been hon ored to coach have kept surprising me and sur prising me and surprising me. This is the great est turnaround in Cal State Fullerton history.” Fullerton also won national titles in 1979, 1984 and 1995 — all under cur rent Texas coach Augie Garrido. “It makes it even more special to accomplish this competing against your mentor and against someone who laid such a strong foundation for Cal State Fullerton,” Horton said. The Longhorns, the top seed in the field, had moved through the tournament with a string of lop sided victories that made them the prohibitive favorite against Cal State Fullerton. “It appeared by the way we were playing that we were the best team and would win this tourna ment, which makes it even harder for the players to understand or accept,” Garrido said. “We did our best. They did better.” Windsor was strong in throw- ing his second complete game of the CWS. He struck out 10 and walked one. Windsor shut out South Carolina on a three- hitter in the Titans’ opener, and he pitched three innings of shutout relief Thursday in another win over the Gamecocks. In 21 innings, Windsor gave up 11 hits and two runs, struck out 29 and was named the tour nament’s Most Outstanding Player. “It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Windsor said of his perfonnances. “It will take a few days and some relaxation. I look at it on paper and it looks great and sometimes I don’t believe it’s me.” Windsor, a senior right-hander, finished the season with 12 straight wins and nine complete games after losing four of his first five starts. “His numbers are mind-boggling,” Horton said. “You can’t do it any better than that. The thing I was worried about was whether we would go to the well too many times using Jason.” Garrido said Fullerton did a good job of capi talizing on its opportunities in the seventh inning. Suzuki lined a two-out single into left field, scoring Ronnie Prettyman from second for the go-ahead run. Suzuki had been 2-for-20 in the College World Series before his big hit. “I just didn’t press,” Suzuki said. “Every time I got out, Coach Horton stayed positive with me. I came up that last at-bat and said I want to be the man.” Fullerton, held to five hits over the first 6 1-3 innings, broke through after Texas starter Sam LeCure was relieved by Buck Cody (1-2) with the Longhorns leading 2-0. Pinch-hitter Brett Pill tripled in the seventh on Cody’s first pitch, scoring Bobby Andrews to cut Texas’ lead to 2-1. “My teammates told me he throws a lot of fastballs in, and that’s what he gave me,” Pill said. “I was lucky enough to get a piece of it.” A wild pitch by Cody scored pinch-runner Brandon Tripp with the tying run. Prettyman reached on a throwing error by Texas shortstop Michael Hollimon, and later scored from second on Suzuki’s hit off J. Brent Cox. LeCure turned in a solid effort, holding the Titans to five hits and one run over 6 1-3 innings. He struck out five and walked none. LeCure stayed in the game after getting hit on the right ankle by a hard comebacker by Justin Turner in the fifth inning. The ball ricocheted to third baseman David Maroul, who threw out Turner to end the inning. LeCure hopped back to the dugout, and a few minutes later was throwing in the bullpen. “I thought that was too minor a thing to take me out of the game and hurt the team’s chances,” LeCure said. “I felt I would be able to continue to be successful. In the seventh inning, it was get ting to me. It was tightening up.” But after LeCure left in the seventh,* the Texas bullpen couldn’t hold the lead and blew its third save opportunity of the Series. Texas took 2-0 lead against Windsor, who saw his scoreless innings streak end at 27 2-3 innings. Dooley Prince doubled leading off the game and Taylor Teagarden reached on a fielder’s choice before Hunter Harris drove both in with a single to center. Windsor, who hadn’t given up a run in five appearances since June 4 against Minnesota, said the 34 pitches he required to get out of the inning did not take a toll. “I wasn’t too worried about the pitch count because of the pitches I have in my repertoire,” Windsor said. “I’m capable of using one or two pitches and getting some quick innings.” During one stretch, Windsor retired 22 of 24 batters. “He’s unreal, the biggest competitor I’ve ever seen,” Fullerton left fielder Danny Dorn said. “He’s been doing it all year. He just puts up zeros.” Cal State first baseman P. J. Pilittere had been using the phrase “Think how good it’s gonna feel” all through the season as Cal State struggled, open ing the season 15-16. He began writing the saying down in the dugout-during the NCAA regionals. Coming from behind to win the College World Series championship was a microcosm of the Titans’ season, Pilittere said. “We just found a way, and it feels pretty good right now,” Pilittere said. u, It makes it even more special to ac complish this com peting against your mentor and against someone who laid such a strong foun dation for Cal State Fullerton. — George Horton Cal State head coach By Stephen Hawkins THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Carlos Beltran leaped with his glove extended over the top of the wall, then dropped to the ground in a sitting position. Even he wasn’t sure he had made the catch until he looked into his glove. Beltran’s home run-robbing catch in the first inning proved huge, and the newly acquired outfielder scored the game’s lone run as the Houston Astros won 1-0 Sunday to end the Texas Rangers’ eight-game win ning streak. “When he came down and didn’t show it right away, I thought it got over,” said Roy Oswalt. “That saved the whole game right there.” Texas leadoff hitter Michael Young was already trotting halfway between second and third and umpire Ed Montague had signaled a home run. Then, Beltran got up and pulled the ball from his glove. “When I jumped, I saw the ball hit my glove, but when I went down and opened my glove, I was like, ‘Wow, I got this one,”’ Beltran said. “I was kind of shocked and surprised.” It was the third time this season Texas was shut out, and the Rangers’ first 1-0 loss at home since June 23, 1997, against Anaheim. “That’s impressive pitching on both sides,” Texas manager Buck Showalter said. “It goes back to one thing: Beltran’s catch.” Beltran was acquired from Kansas City in a three-way trade last Thursday. Oswalt (6-6), who didn’t walk a batter, over came extra-base hits in three consecutive innings for the win. He threw 74 of 109 pitches for strikes. Brad Lidge pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in six chances — completing the Astros’ seventh shutout. effery Washington • KRT CAMPUS Texas Rangers’ Eric Young reacts as he is called out after attempting to steal second base earlier this season at Ameriquest Field in Arlington. Ryan Drese (4-5) threw his second complete game for the Rangers, allowing six hits over nine innings and striking out four. “It stinks, but that’s the game,” Drese said. “It was a game that could very easily have been 0-0 in the ninth.” Houston got its lone run after loading the bases with no outs in the second — Beltran and Lance Berkman singled, and Mike Lamb walked. Beltran scored when Morgan Ensberg grounded in a dou ble play before Jose Vizcaino grounded out. After Alfonso Soriano’s two-out single in the first, Oswalt retired 12 straight batters — getting seven on strikeouts. “I got a few guys to chase the fastball out of the zone and got a few guys swinging at curve- balls in the dirt,” Oswalt said. “The whole game- plan was to keep the ball out of the middle of the plate, because they are so aggressive.” SPORTS IN BRIEF Franchione signs Stars make many one more recruit moves in draft A&M head coach Dennis Franchione announced the signing of another recruit Tuesday. Jay Lucas, from Baton Rouge, La., adds to the stellar 2004 sign ing class that is ranked as high as 13th in the nation by football recruiting Web sites such as www.rivals.com Lucas, who stands at 6 feet tall and weighs in at 225 pounds, played at Redemptorist High School where he helped his team win two consecutive state football titles. Lucas was named most valuable player of the champi onship game in his senior season after gaining 207 yards on 17 car ries. Lucas finished his high school career with 4,666 rushing yards and scored 59 touchdowns. Lucas isn’t expected to receive immediate playing time, as incumbent running backs Derek Farmer and Courtney Lewis should be receiving a majority of the hand-offs. DALLAS (AP) - The Dallas Stars made five picks and four trades on the first day of the NHL draft Saturday. Dallas used its first two picks on defensemen, taking Mark Fistric of Vancouver in the Western Hockey League 28th overall in the first round, and Swedish standout Johan Fransson 34th overall in the second round. The Stars got right wing Raymond Sawada of Nanaimo of the British Columbia Hockey League and another Swedish defenseman, Niklas Grossman, later in the second round. Left wing John Lammers was the 86th overall pick in the third round. With their trades, the Stars not only got extra picks this season, but added two third-round selec tions for the 2005 draft "We're very happy with the five players we drafted because we addressed some needs,” said Tim Bernhardt, the Stars' director of amateur scouting. Gordon wins at Infineon Raceway SONOMA, Calif. (AP) - Jeff Gordon wrapped up a near perfect weekend Sunday, starting from the pole and racing to an overpowering victory in the NASCAR race at Infineon Raceway. Gordon picked up his fourth vic tory on the 1.99-mile, 10-turn road course, winning for the third time from the pole. It also extended his own Nextel Cup record for road racing wins to eight and gave him three for the season and 67 for his career. Kurt Busch started third and vaulted past both Gordon and Rusty Wallace to grab the lead on the first lap, but Gordon quickly moved back into the top spot and stayed there the rest of the way except during pit stop sequences. Gordon quickly disposed of Kahne on the restart on lap 70, but it took him until lap 74 before he could work his way past former open-wheel racer Mears. Once Gordon got back on top, he was never challenged again. 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