State Rivals Battle For Trip To Omaha
June 2, 2000
By MARK LONG
AP Sports Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Miami and Florida State are meeting earlier than expected this postseasonand sooner than either team wanted. The national championship, won last year byMiami, isn’t on the line, just a chance to play for one is.
The Hurricanes and Seminoles begin a best-of-three series Friday night inTallahassee in one of the eight NCAA super regional series. The winner advancesto the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. and the loser stays home for thefirst time in recent years.
“This will always be a big rivalry no matter what’s at stake,” saidright-hander David Gil, Miami’s Game 1 starter who has won 23 of his last 25starts. “But it’s all about going to Omaha now. We have to go out and playlike the defending national champions.”
The other best-of-three series, which begin Friday and continue throughSunday if necessary, feature Louisiana-Lafayette (45-17) at South Carolina(55-8), Mississippi State (41-18) at Clemson (48-16), Southern California(41-18) at Georgia Tech (50-14), San Jose State (39-21) at Houston (47-16),UCLA (38-24) at LSU (46-17), Penn State (45-17) at Texas (44-19), and Nebraska(50-15) at Stanford (45-14).
Miami beat Florida State 6-5 in last year’s title game, sending theSeminoles home without a championship for the 17th time in as many appearancesat the College World Series.
The Hurricanes (40-17-1) have been to Omaha six straight seasons, FloridaState (49-16) has made the trip five of the last six years and 10 of the last14, but still has the most appearances in the College World Series withoutwinning a title.
That adds up to two perennial powerhouses and two longtime rivals playingfor one spot in the eight-team CWS field.
“It’s a tremendous thing for college baseball,” said Seminoles coach MikeMartin, who will start right-hander Blair Varnes against the Hurricanes. “Itwill be a weekend to remember. What could be more exciting?”
Perhaps a rematch in Omaha.
“It’s a little disappointing that we’re playing,” Miami coach Jim Morrissaid. “We played for the national championship last year, and you would hopethat if you played them again, it would be in that same type of situation inOmaha.”
The Hurricanes have won 10 of their last 11 games and have won 12 in a rowin the postseason. Their last tournament loss was June 2, 1998, against LongBeach State.
They went 9-0 last year and swept through their regional bracket lastweekend, outscoring their opponents 44-14 in three games.
“We have a lot of confidence right now,” Miami outfielder Kevin Brownsaid. “We know the super regionals are a good time to step it up, and we’re ona roll going up to Florida State.”
Florida State, meanwhile, has rebounded from a late-season slide. The ‘Noleslost 10 of their final 19 games before regional play. But eight of those lossescame against teams still alive in the tournament – Clemson, Georgia Tech andMiami.
Penn State, noted more for football than baseball, will go to Texas withoutits coach, Joe Hindelang, who had a mild heart attack on Wednesday.
Hindelang, 54, has been told not to travel for two weeks, so if the NittanyLions should advance, he may not be able to make it to the College WorldSeries. Assistant coach Randy Ford will replace him.
