College World Series : Stanford Completes a 3-2 Win

The pitching of Jack McDowell and Steve Chitren helped Stanford defeat Georgia, 3-2, Sunday in a rain-delayed first-round game of the College World Series at Omaha.

The game began Saturday night and ended Sunday afternoon.

“Everyone wanted to get the game over with,” Stanford Coach Mark Marquess said. “But we got a good outing out of McDowell last night. He did not have to throw 150 pitches, and Chitren did not have to throw 70. It worked out nicely, and we won a tight ballgame.”

McDowell, a junior right-hander, pitched the first six innings. He allowed just 4 singles, walked 2 and struck out 6 to improve his record to 12-4.

It took more than 12 hours for Pacific 10 Southern Division champion Stanford (49-16), the nation’s second-ranked team, to beat eighth-ranked Georgia (42-20).

A severe thunderstorm delayed the game for 1 hour 33 minutes after the fifth inning Saturday night. Play was resumed for about 20 minutes before another thunderstorm forced suspension of the game after 6 1/2 innings. By then, most of the crowd of 13,561 at Rosenblatt Stadium had departed.

The Cardinal led, 3-1, at that point after scoring two runs in the second inning on two singles, a stolen base, an error and a balk, and adding a run in the fourth.

Ed Sprague led off the Stanford fourth with a triple and scored on Paul Carey’s ground out for the eventual winning run.

“We were fortunate enough to get those first runs,” Sprague said. “We did not swing as well as we usually do.”

After play resumed Sunday at noon, CDT, the Bulldogs made it 3-2 on designated hitter Derek Lilliquist’s run-scoring, two-out double in the eighth inning. But Chitren got Rich Bielski to fly out and end the inning with runners at second and third.

Lilliquist, also Georgia’s starting pitcher, went the first five innings and lost for only the third time in 17 decisions.

Chitren, who picked up his 12th save of the season, yielded a single to Michael Turner in the ninth before Pat Swift grounded into a double play to end the game.

“I took it just like any other league appearance,” Chitren said. “I just wanted to throw strikes. It was not different than any other game.”

Arizona State became the first team ousted from the double-elimination tournament when it lost to Florida State, 3-0, Sunday afternoon. The Sun Devils were beaten in the first round by Oklahoma State, 8-3.

Left-hander Chris Pollack allowed only six hits and Ed Fulton lined a two-run homer to lead the fifth-ranked Seminoles (55-17). It’s the first time Arizona State (40-27) has been shut out this season.

Pollack (10-4) survived a rough start as the Seminoles committed four errors in the first five innings. Double plays helped Florida State out of potential trouble in the first and fifth innings, and Arizona State stranded two baserunners in the second and third innings.

The Seminoles broke up Mike Schwabe’s shutout in the seventh inning when Barry Blackwell was safe on an error, went to third on a single by Marc Giordano and scored on Don Erickson’s bunt single.

Georgia became the second team eliminated when the Bulldogs lost to Arkansas, 5-4, Sunday night. Arkansas (51-15-1) was defeated by top-ranked Texas, 13-6, Saturday.