Trojans Are Going to Omaha

FRESNO —  Mike Gillespie has not stepped foot inside Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha since 1961, the year he played outfield for USC and scored the only run in the Trojans’ College World Series championship-game victory over Oklahoma State.

“I just made up my mind that when I went back to Omaha, I would go with a team,” said Gillespie, USC’s ninth-year coach whose team advanced to the College World Series Sunday with a 9-2 victory over Long Beach State in the NCAA West Regional at Beiden Field. “I’m looking forward to seeing the place again.”

USC (45-19), which had lost to Long Beach, 4-3, earlier in the day, advances to the College World Series for the 18th time but the first since 1978, the year the Trojans won their last of 11 national championships.

USC joins Cal State Fullerton, Tennessee, Florida State, Clemson and Oklahoma as teams that have qualified for the eight-team double-elimination tournament that begins Friday. Two other regional championships will be decided today.

Top-seeded USC defeated sixth-seeded Middle Tennessee State and third-seeded Fresno State once and second-seeded Long Beach State twice to win what was regarded as perhaps the most competitive regional.

“The bunts we got down this weekend, the sacrifice flies--there are a lot of good things that we did that won’t show up in the box score,” said USC outfielder Geoff Jenkins, who drove in 10 runs in the tournament. “A lot of guys came up big.”

None bigger than Brian Cooper, a junior right-hander from Glendora who gave up two runs, nine hits and struck out a career-high 11 in the championship game. Cooper (7-2), voted the most outstanding player in the regional, was pitching on two days rest after earning the victory against Middle Tennessee State with a six-inning, eight-strikeout performance.

“[Cooper] has a real good slider,” Long Beach third baseman Jeff Liefer said. “His fastball looked a lot faster than it actually was because he was using his slider so much.”

Long Beach (38-25-1) forced the final game by defeating USC less than 12 hours after defeating Pepperdine, 9-5, in a game that started late Saturday and did not end until after midnight. Kyle Wilson (13-3) limited USC to three hits in eight innings and Gabe Gonzalez earned his 20th save as the 49ers held off the Trojans.

The loss put USC in a familiar, but uncomfortable position. In 1988, the Trojans won their first three games of the West Regional here, then lost twice to Fresno State on the final day. USC also was unbeaten in the 1990 South Regional at Baton Rouge, La., but lost twice to Louisiana State on the final day. The Trojans were also eliminated on the final day in 1993 at Austin, Tex., and 1994 at Baton Rouge.

Shortstop Gabe Alvarez said the Trojans were not about to let the same thing happen again.

“After that loss [to Long Beach], we were pumped up and we talked about going out there and playing to win rather than playing not to lose,” Alvarez said. “We had to find a way to handle that situation.”

Cooper set the tone by striking out the side in the top of the first. Alvarez then hit his second home run of the day, a three-run shot to center in the bottom of the first against Steve Hueston (2-2).

Cooper found that cushion comforting.

“I knew after that first inning our bats would be ready,” he said.

Long Beach Coach Dave Snow had the same feeling.

“That kind of gave them the push that led to the shove,” he said.

Long Beach pulled to within 3-1 in the second on Jason Minici’s 10th homer, but USC increased its lead to 5-1 in the fifth.

Liefer hit his 13th homer, his fourth of the tournament, in the ninth inning against Ben Tucker.

“We’ve had some teams at USC that were capable of reaching the World Series, but were not able to get there for a variety of reasons and circumstances,” Gillespie said. “This team pulled together when it had to and got over the hump.”

* SOUTH WINNER: Cal State Fullerton beat Rice, 8-7, to win South Regional. C3