By John Manuel
June 22, 2003

OMAHA--Sunday's second game of the College World Series championship series started much as the first did, with Stanford taking an early 3-0 lead.

This time, Rice couldn't come back to win. John Hudgins made sure of that.

The junior righthander, starting on three days' rest, won his third start of the CWS. He handled the Owls for seven innings and 131 pitches to lead the Cardinal to an 8-3 victory. Stanford tied the championship series at one game apiece and forced a deciding third game Monday night at 6 p.m. Central.

Hudgins (14-3) was coming off a complete-game win against Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday in which he threw 135 pitches, yet he was sharp and had the same velocity he had shown in his previous two starts. The Rangers third-round pick had thrown 117 pitches and held an 8-1 lead entering the eighth inning, but started the frame anyway and ran out of gas, giving up a walk, a double and a two-run single to Matt Ueckert, the DH who drove in Rice's three runs. Reliever David O'Hagan got the last six outs for the Cardinal, but Hudgins was the story.

"This game was all about John Hudgins," Stanford coach Mark Marquess. "I've been to the College World Series a number of years, and I can't remember who started three games and pitch like John has.

"He started a shutout (against South Carolina). He comes back on four days' rest in an elimination game and wins. Then he comes back today on three days' rest in an elimination game. We've had some great pitchers at Stanford, but I've never had a pitcher on any of my teams accomplish what John has accomplished. It's unbelievable. I don't know that it can be matched."

It's not certain any professional scout would want it matched, as Hudgins has thrown 350 pitches in 10 days, but he has become the eighth pitcher to win three games in one CWS. He has allowed six runs (five earned) in 24 innings in the CWS for a 1.88 ERA, while striking out 15 and walking six. He also has become the 10th pitcher ever with four career Series victories.

Hudgins said he didn't have his best stuff against the Owls, but was able to work around it with good command.

"I didn't have a live anything as far as a pitch goes, but I had control," he said. "Not being a power pitcher, I'm still able to spot my pitches without my best stuff, whereas a power pitcher might struggle if he's throwing 88 instead of 95. I'm never going to threw 95 ever, so I have learned how to pitch with my stuff. My effectiveness is a matter of command rather than raw stuff.

"I can't go tomorrow, but my arm feels OK."

Hudgins got the better of his duel with Wade Townsend (11-2), who kept Rice in the game for six innings before the Owls fell apart in both halves of the seventh. Cardinal center fielder Sam Fuld began the bottom half of the first by homering on Townsend's second pitch to give Stanford a 1-0 lead. It was Fuld's 23rd career College World Series hit, tying the record set from 1973-75 by Texas' Keith Moreland.

Stanford scratched out two more runs in the third off Townsend in a rally started by the bottom of the order. First baseman Brian Hall, mired in a 3-for-31 slump, singled to lead off and moved to third on a double by shortstop Tobin Swope, who was 2-for-22 in the Series entering the game.

Townsend struck out Fuld and red-hot Jonny Ash and seemed on the verge of escaping, but uncorked a wild pitch that scored Hall. Carlos Quentin blooped the next one to right field for a single, bringing home Swope and giving the Cardinal a 3-0 advantage.

"I thought I threw OK," Townsend said. "I made some pitches when I needed to, but they did a good job of staying aggressive and getting some big hits. I was a little disheartened when it was over because I kind of feel like I let my team down."

But Townsend's defense let him down in Stanford's five-run seventh, when the game was decided. The Owls had a rally in the top of the inning, putting two on with two out, but Austin Davis' ground ball was fielded in short right by second baseman Jed Lowrie for the third out.

"We do that with some hitters if they pull the ball," Marquess said of the tactic, which also has allowed Lowrie to go deeper as a cutoff man for Quentin, who continues to play with a severe elbow injury. "It gives us more angles to cut down balls, and it's worked for us."

Stanford's defense hadn't worked much of the game. The Cardinal missed four fly balls total, including a pair of foul popups. Quentin stumbled and whiffed on Ueckert's first RBI single in the fourth. But Rice's defense and Townsend collapsed in the bottom of the seventh.

Again, the bottom of the lineup struck for the Cardinal as Lowrie led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Townsend walked Chris Carter, and Hall followed by laying down the predictable sacrifice bunt attempt. But first baseman Vincent Sinisi bobbled the ball, loading the bases with the error.

Swope followed with a walk to force in a run, and Fuld hit the next pitch toward Sinisi. He flubbed the grounder again, scoring another run, and Ash chased Townsend with another huge hit, a two-run double off the wall that made it 7-1.

Quentin's sacrifice fly off reliever Josh Baker finished the scoring for the inning, but the damage had been done. Sinisi continued to have a forgettable Series personally with the two errors, his second and third all season--all of which have come in the championship series, all leading to runs. He was flawless in his first 615 chances coming into the Series, and his 1-for-5 day at the plate left him 2-for-21 offensively. His overall average has dropped from .355 to .336.

"He's pressing, but that can change," Rice coach Wayne Graham said. "Everybody at some point in their life will press a little bit. Good athletes can make accommodations. The good ones overcome it, and we expect Vincent to overcome this and have a good game tomorrow."

Graham wasn't around to see the pivotal seventh, having been ejected after the top of the sixth for arguing balls and strikes with umpire Terry Manors. The discussion seemed to have passed peacefully, but Manors ran Graham after it seemed the argument had ended.

"Obviously you're going to comment at times on the strike zone," said Graham, who said he did not curse and had not been ejected all year. He said it was his fourth ejection in 12 years at Rice. "Some are acceptable. And some evidently are not. Tony's a good umpire. If he thinks I stepped over the line, then I agree. It surprised me, but it's his call."

Both managers have made their call for Monday night's championship game. Stanford will start freshman lefthander Mark Romanczuk (12-1, 3.72), who has pitched twice in the CWS with poor results (7 2/3 IP, 11 H, 7 R). The Owls will go with sophomore righty Philip Humber (10-3, 3.40), who struck out eight in 3 2/3 innings against Texas but also gave up five walks and three runs on Wednesday night.

"This is why I play baseball," Romanczuk said. "This is why we get up at 7 a.m. all year to do our running. I'm really excited to pitch with the national championship on the line. I have had two games to make notes (on Rice's hitters) and I've had sufficient rest. There's no reason why I shouldn't give our team a good chance to win."

If he needs directions on how to do that, he need look no further than John Hudgins.

Rosenblasts

• Rice also came out on the short end of a controversial play in the eighth, when it scored two runs off Hudgins and had reliever Kodiak Quick on the ropes. O'Hagan relieved with runners at the corner, two runs in and no outs, but got a double-play grounder from Justin Ruchti. Ueckert, the runner at third, wasn't allowed to score on the play when Paul Janish was called for obstruction on his slide into second base. Stanford turned the double play despite Janish's effort.

"It did surprise me, but by rule it was the right call," said Swope, who said Janish slid past the base and made contact with the shortstop, both no-nos in college. "It was not malicious, but he definitely did come across the bag and make contact with my ankle."

• Ash had only one hit Sunday, the key double, and stands one short of the single-Series record of 15, set in 1998 in six games by Southern California's Jason Lane. Lane also got the win in the championship game that year. Ash tied the Series record by reaching 32 at-bats for the tournament and will break the mark, set in 1952 by Art Moossman, with his first tomorrow.

• While Sinisi struggled with the glove, the Owls had several nifty plays turned in, especially by Janish at shortstop. He ranged to his left to start a double play on Ryan Garko in the first inning. He turned another DP against Garko by making an over-the-shoulder catch of a short popup in the sixth, then turning and doubling off Quentin, who had been running from first base.