Tigers Slam the Door on Titans

LSU likes to call itself the “team of the decade.”

With two consecutive College World Series championships and four in the 1990s, LSU has earned that right. And the Tigers showed again Sunday against Cal State Fullerton why they are a threat to win another.

LSU hit an NCAA tournament-record five home runs in the fourth inning--two by catcher Brad Cresse--and six for the game, pounding the Titans, 14-3, to win the South II Regional in front of 6,844 at Alex Box Stadium.

The Tigers (46-17) earned their 10th trip to Omaha in the last 13 years. Fullerton finishes 47-17.

Cresse, who played for three years at Los Alamitos High before switching to Marina High, drove in seven runs in the game, six in the 10-run inning that devastated the Titans. His second homer came with the bases loaded.

Fullerton had walked Eddy Furniss intentionally to get to Cresse, making his second at-bat in the inning. “I took offense to that,” Cresse said.

Cresse connected on the first pitch from reliever Kirk Saarloos for the grand slam. He had hit a two-run homer earlier in the inning off Titan starter Greg Jacobs.

By the time the second homer left his bat, Cresse had his arms in the air, and waved them circling the bases to the delight of the LSU crowd. “I was really excited,” he said. “Besides us winning the World Series last year, that probably was the best moment I’ve ever had.”

Danny Higgins, Clint Earnhart and Wes Davis also homered in the fourth after Cedrick Harris homered in the third.

“Higgins’ homer was a cheapie, but the others were really hit,” Titan Coach George Horton said. “They took the air out of us with that fourth inning.”

A strong pitching performance by Doug Thompson made it easy for LSU.

Thompson (11-4) gave up only seven hits and two unearned runs in eight innings. “I wouldn’t have expected that at this time of the year against a club hitting .338 like Fullerton,” LSU Coach Skip Bertman said.

Aaron Rowand had two of those hits, including a two-run single in the third that gave the Titans a brief 2-1 lead. Rowand was the only Titan player selected to the all-tournament team.

Unlike Friday, in the first game between the two teams when the Titans matched LSU with four home runs, the Titans had none this time, though they finished with 14 for the tournament. But LSU had 20 in one fewer game.

“That’s all you can do,” Bertman said of the homers. “With a fungo bat, you can’t do any better than that.”

Cresse had four homers and 12 runs batted in for the tournament. His two in one inning tied an NCAA playoff record shared by several players and tied a Southeastern Conference record for eight total bases in one inning.

Horton couldn’t help lament that the Titans didn’t try to recruit Cresse two years ago. Horton said the Titan coaches thought Cresse would sign a pro contract. His father, Mark, is bullpen coach for the Dodgers.

“That probably was a coaching mistake,” Horton said. “I guess we shouldn’t blame the pitchers who threw the pitches to him. It looks like we should have tried to get him to come to our place.”

But Cresse said he shied away from Fullerton because of what he called Coach Augie Garrido’s reputation for “bunt-and-run” baseball.

“If Horton had been the coach I might have considered them more seriously,” Cresse said. “I like Horton’s style. They hit the ball. Maybe that’s why they’re here, and Garrido’s team is still back in Texas.”

But the Titans didn’t get enough extra-base hits Sunday to be competitive when the pitching struggled. Four of their 11 hits came in the ninth inning.

Fullerton used three pitchers in the fourth inning. Jacobs (4-4 ) left after going 3 2/3 innings and giving up eight runs on eight hits. “I thought I made good pitches, but they were hitting them,” Jacobs said.

Saarloos didn’t get an out against four batters in the fourth. Michael Garner finished the inning, and pitched part of the fifth. Ruben Jurado had the best effort, giving up only two hits and no runs in the final 4 1/3 innings.

“We got beat by what today was a better baseball team,” Horton said. “Our line drives didn’t go as far as theirs did. And when we hit them they were right at people. We talked about reversing the game like they did against us yesterday, but Thompson came right at us, and wouldn’t let us.”

For Horton, it was a day made even more difficult by having to miss the wedding of his older daughter, Michele, back home in Yorba Linda. Horton said it was the only time the wedding could be held because of scheduling problems because the groom is in the Navy.