College World Series : Stanford Wins on 10th-Inning Grand Slam, 6-5

In what certainly must rank as one of the most dramatic endings to a College World Series game, freshman Paul Carey hit an opposite-field grand-slam in the bottom of the 10th inning Friday to give Stanford a 6-5 victory over Louisiana State.

Carey’s homer, before a Rosenblatt Stadium crowd estimated at 13,000, came on a 1-and-1 count with one out off freshman Ben McDonald, and kept alive Stanford’s hopes of winning its first national baseball championship.

Had Stanford been defeated, it would have been ousted from the double-elimination tournament. The Cardinal lost to Oklahoma State, 6-2, Thursday night. Instead, it is LSU that goes home. The Tigers were beaten by Oklahoma State, 8-7, in the second round.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Texas beat previously undefeated Oklahoma State, 6-5, when Kevin Garner singled home Coby Kerlin from third base with none out in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The attendance for the nightcap was 15,411, which is the second largest crowd in Series history. Oklahoma State and Arizona State played before 15,678 in 1984.

By winning, the Longhorns remained in contention for the national championship. Stanford will play Texas tonight, with the winner advancing to Sunday night’s championship game against Oklahoma State.

For a while, it looked as if Stanford’s chances of becoming the second-straight Pacific 10 Southern Division team to win the College World Series--Arizona won last year--had come to an end.

LSU broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 10th, using two walks and two hits to score three runs. The key hit came with two out and the bases loaded. Catcher Craig Faulkner lined an 0-1 pitch to left that rolled to the wall and cleared the bases.

Before that, the Tigers’ clean-up hitter was only 2 for 16 in the Series. He did, however, drive in LSU’s second run of the game with a sacrifice fly.

Things really got tense for Stanford when Barry Manuel, LSU’s third pitcher, easily retired Frank Carey, the first batter in the bottom of the 10th, on a slow grounder to short.

“It was a very tough game . . . I was a little nervous,” said Stanford Coach Mark Marquess. “I was concerned after the pitcher used a good fastball to get our lead-off hitter out.

“We were down in the 10th, but we forced them to throw strikes and we got back in it. We saw in the stats that Manual had problems throwing strikes. We thought he could give us some baserunners.”

Manuel, a junior right-hander with a 5-2 record and 8 saves, had allowed 41 walks in 58 innings going into Friday’s game. After geting Frank Carey on the grounder, he walked Ruben Amaro and Toi Cook. LSU Coach Skip Bertman then brought in McDonald.

McDonald, a 6-7 right-hander making only his 14th appearance, promptly hit Ed Sprague to load the bases. That brought up Paul Carey, who was batting .200 with 1 RBI in the Series and was 0 for 3 going into the 10th. But he hit a high fly that left the park at the 370-foot mark.

The home run was Carey’s 12th, nine of which have gone to left field, and gave him 60 RBIs for the season.

“I had a feeling it was going out,” the Cardinal right fielder said. “I thought I hit it well. It was a fastball, and I got the barrel on it. And the wind was blowing out.”

Marquess said the key to the inning was Amaro’s at-bat. “He was down 1-2 (in the count), and he made himself a tough out. He battled back to get a walk. That gave us a baserunner.”

Fortunately for Stanford, it got two more runners, and Carey’s clutch hit. The Cardinal hadn’t been getting many hits in the Series. Before the homer, Stanford had just 29 hits--none of them homers--in 134 at-bats, a .216 average.

“It’s a tough loss,” Bertman said. “Especially for Ben and Barry, the pitchers at that time. I can handle the loss, I’ll be back. I feel badly for the kids. We never stopped thinking we could win. . . . We thought we had it won.”

Of the game-winning homer, Bertman said: “The first pitch looked like a strike and it was called a ball. The second pitch was a ball and the kid helped us out by swinging at it. The third pitch, Ben got it too high and out over the plate.”

Stanford (51-17), which has won 11 of its last 12 games and 17 of 20, is assured of finishing at least third, which is its highest finish. Despite the loss, LSU (49-19) made its best showing at the Series. The Tigers finished fourth.