2003 College World Series Game 13
Complete CWS Index

By John Manuel
June 19, 2003

OMAHA--Cal State Fullerton and Stanford are physically incapable of playing a boring game in the 2003 College World Series, but they're finally done with each other.

The Titans started the season by sweeping Stanford in a three-game series, winning the series for the first time since 1997, and they started the CWS by beating the Cardinal again.

But to get to the championship series against Rice, Cal State Fullerton would have to go through Stanford again, and those regular-season meetings meant nothing. Stanford won Wednesday to force a one-game bracket championship, and then won the deciding game in memorable fashion.

Thursday night, they played another epic that will go down in Stanford lore and Titan infamy. The Cardinal roared back from a 4-1 deficit with a pair of two-run homers, then won it 7-5 in the 10th inning on Danny Putnam's two-run blast. It was the first loss for Cal State Fullerton in 45 games this season when it had led by three runs.

"It was a dream," Putnam said. "It's the best baseball moment I've ever experienced. My initial reaction was just a lot of adrenaline and seeing the emotion of my teammates. It was unbelievable."

The victory means Stanford will play Rice for the national championship, with the three-game series starting Saturday at 6 p.m. Omaha time. The Cardinal, winner of 22 of its last 24 games, will play for the title for the third time in four years, having lost in the one-game championship in 2000 to Louisiana State and in 2001 to Miami.

Stanford coach Mark Marquess had not made a decision yet, but said senior righthander Ryan McCally was the most likely starter for the championship series opener, while Rice will go with 17-0 sophomore righty Jeff Niemann.

"It was kind of a different game--we gave them a lot of baserunners but we somehow found a way to win," Marquess said. "We played with a lot of heart."

The Cardinal's hero on the mound was reliever David O'Hagan (7-1), who came into the game with a 5.61 ERA, highest on the staff, in 25 appearances. He entered with two outs in the sixth, struck out the first batter he faced and worked out of jams in the seventh and eighth. He loaded the bases in the eighth with a hit and two walks with two outs, but retired Kyle Boyer--mired in an 0-for-13 slump at the time--with a flyout to center on a 3-2 pitch.

"David pitched great," Marquess said. "He didn't want to make it easy on himself or us. He scared me a little, but he made some great pitches and won some big spots for us."

The biggest spot was in the 10th, when Putnam connected against righthander Darric Merrell (4-1), who was making his first Series appearance this year. Putnam's homer wasn't a total surprise, as he has swung a hot bat all postseason and now has 21 RBIs in Stanford's 10 games. His 2-for-5 effort Thursday kept his Series average at .400, and he has two homers and nine RBIs in five CWS games.

Fullerton didn't have a hitter who was that hot in Omaha, and especially Thursday. The Titans got seven walks and took six doses, in the Titan lingo for HBPs, but left 15 runners on base. It was the second night in a row the losing team had 15 LOB, two shy of the CWS record.

"We're a little devastated," Fullerton coach George Horton said. "It was not in the cards today. We left 15 on, 10 in scoring position. We hit a lot of drives right at them."

The Cardinal had taken an early lead with a two-out rally in the first. Consecutive singles by Carlos Quentin, Ryan Garko and Putnam brought home the first run, with Putnam getting his 19th postseason RBI. But Fullerton scored the game's next four runs and starter Jason Windsor settled down as the Titans seemed to take control of the game.

But Stanford came back with the long ball. With two outs in the sixth, Jed Lowrie singled and Chris Carter followed with his second homer of the Series, a two-run shot to make it 4-3. "Carter's home run was huge," Marquess said. "It got us back in the game."

Fullerton got a run back in the bottom half as Justin Smyres singled home Jason Corapci. But after Carter's homer in the sixth, the Titans faced a dilemma. A cut on Windsor's thumb already had delayed the game for 13 minutes in the middle of the inning, giving the bullpen a chance to get lose and pitching coach Dave Serrano time to mull his choice.

He decided to skip his middle relief and went right to closer Chad Cordero, but the move backfired. Cordero got the last out of the sixth, but Stanford roughed up Cordero in the seventh to tie the game, with and unlikely hero doing the deed.

After Tobin Swope's smash found third baseman Ronnie Prettyman's glove for the first out, Sam Fuld followed by lining a double to right field, bringing up Jonny Ash. The Cardinal's hottest hitter in this Series, Ash improved to 11-for-22 for the tournament with his biggest hit. He turned on a 2-2 Cordero fastball that was left up in the zone, lining it just over the right-field fence for his first career home run, tying the game.

"Coach (Dean) Stotz, one of our assistant coaches, called that a couple of weeks ago," Ash said. "I was hitting in the cages and he said, 'Jonny, in a couple of weeks in Omaha, you're going to get one for us.'"

Ash's homer tied a game that Fullerton had controlled for the most part. The Titans are famous for using hit batsmen as a weapon and were leading the nation with 112 HBPs coming into the game. They moved into third place all-time in Division I with six more, using two to take the lead in the third, but with a price.

Prettyman took the first dose, a glancing blow, to lead off the frame. Justin Turner, trying to bunt, then took the next one, right in the head. After being helped off the field, Turner was taken to Bergan Mercy Hospital for a CT scan and x-rays. He escaped without serious injuries, though he turned his right ankle in trying to get out of the way and had a cut lip, a slightly chipped tooth and some bruising. With the left side of his face swollen, he returned to the bench when the game went to extra innings.

"That gave us another reason to win the game," Windsor said. "It was kind of an emotional boost."

But no Titan could provide the offensive boost needed to beat the Cardinal. Cal State Fullerton owned the regular-season series between the two, out-scoring Stanford 25-7 in sweeping the series.

In Omaha, that didn't matter. Stanford moves on, and the Titans go home.