College World Series : Stanford Adds Baseball to Its 1987 NCAA Collection

Stanford used a revitalized offense, its usually steady defense and strong pitching performances by Jack McDowell and Steve Chitren Sunday night to win the College World Series by beating Oklahoma State, 9-5.

It’s the first national championship in baseball for Stanford, but the school’s fourth this year. The Cardinal won NCAA titles in men’s swimming, water polo and women’s tennis.

By winning, Stanford kept the College World Series title in the West. West Coast teams have now won 7 of the last 10 titles. Of those, Pacific 10 Southern Division teams have won five, including two straight. Arizona won last year.

A Rosenblatt Stadium crowd of 14,132 watched Stanford get 15 hits and turn four double plays that extinguished Oklahoma State scoring opportunities. They also saw McDowell and Chitren pitch out of several tight spots.

“Our hitting came alive. . . . We had the balance of good pitching, timely hitting and the defense. We played incredibly defensively the whole tournament,” said Cardinal Coach Mark Marquess, the first baseman on the 1967 Stanford team that finished third in the Series.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “It makes all the hard work worthwhile. It’s unbelievable. I really feel great for guys like (designated hitter Mark) Machtolf and (shortstop David) Esquer. Esquer is walk-on and he’s starting for a national championship team. . . . It’s unbelievable.”

Machtolf, a reserve most of the season, and Esquer both were named to the all-tournament team. Machtolf batted .429. Esquer, who took part in most of Stanford’s 12 double plays in the tournament, hit .350 and drove in 6 runs, including 2 Sunday night.

Paul Carey, Stanford’s freshman right fielder, was named the tournament’s most valuable player. He went 3 for 5, scored 2 runs and had 2 RBIs Sunday night. Overalll in the Series, he was 8 for 21, scored 9 runs and drove in 7.

“Paul Carey. . . I can’t say enough about him,” Marquess said. “He’s a freshman going on a senior with all that poise.”

Stanford, for all practical purposes, put the game away in the top of fifth inning. That’s when the Cardinal scored four times to take a 6-3 lead after the Cowboys had scored twice in the fourth.

The Cardinal used four hits--three doubles and Esquer’s squeeze which he beat out for a single--a walk, a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch. Oklahoma State scored its two runs in the fourth when Benny Castillo and Brad Beanblossom hit home runs on consecutive pitches off McDowell.

“I thought the key to the game was when we came back with four runs after they hit the two home runs in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead, “ Marquess said.

McDowell yielded 12 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), walked 3 and struck out 7 in seven innings, but pitched very well enough to keep the Cardinal in the game. The win raised his record 13-5. He lost to the Cowboys Thursday night, 6-2.

The junior right-hander worked out of a particularly sticky situation in the sixth inning. The Cowboys had two men on with two out and he had a 3-1 count on Ray Ortiz. But he got Ortiz to pop out to second. The on-deck batter was Robin Ventura, who had three hits in his first three at-bats.

Chitren entered the game after McDowell walked the first two batters in the eighth. Chitren, who gave up a three-run double against LSU on Friday, struck out Castillo and Beanblossom, hit Anthony Blackmon to load the bases, but then struck out Ortiz to end the threat.

“I love to come in then,” said Chitren, a sophomore right-hander who earned his 13th save of the season. “Being in that spot pumps me up. That’s what I did all year.

“I felt I had something to prove tonight after my bad outing against LSU. I felt really strong. I had good stuff the whole time.”

The win gave Stanford a 53-17 record and ended a three-game losing streak against Oklahoma State. The Cowboys had also beaten the Cardinal twice in the 1986 Midwest Regional at Stillwater, Okla.

Oklahoma State (59-13), which was seeking its second title--it won in 1959--instead became the first team in College World Series history to lose four title games.

“They put the ball in play much better tonight than they did Thursday,” said Cowboy Coach Gary Ward. “I thought we had our opportunities against McDowell, but we didn’t execute.”

College World Series Notes

Anthony Blackmon didn’t play in Oklahoma State’s wins over Arizona State and LSU. The senior center fielder was suspended for two games by the NCAA for an unsportsmanlike act after the Cowboys beat Texas A&M; to win the Mideast Regional at Starkville, Miss. Blackmon returned to the lineup against Stanford Thursday night and went 0 for 3, but had a sacrifice fly. He was 0 for 4 in Friday night’s loss to Texas. Blackmon batted .397 this season with 14 homers and 63 RBIs and stole 42 bases in 51 attempts.

Cowboy third baseman Robin Ventura, whose NCAA-record 58-game hitting streak ended when he went 0 for 5 Thursday night against Stanford, sprained his left ankle chasing a bloop single during the Texas game. “It’s a little sore, but it’s all right,” he said before taking batting practice. . . . Ventura, a sophomore from Righetti High in Santa Maria, wasn’t heavily recruited by California and Arizona schools. Only UCLA, California and UC Santa Barbara showed interest. “UCLA recruited me a little, but they took Scott Cline (Camarillo High) instead. Cal talked to me because my high school coach went to Cal. But they had (All-American third baseman) Lance Blankenship.” So how did he wind up at Oklahoma State? He can thank John Duval, a pitcher from San Luis Obispo who played at Oklahoma State in 1984. “(Duval) told the coaches about me and they had a someone look at me for them. They offered me a scholarship sight unseen.”

Stanford, which has already set a school record for wins (52)--the 1982 club that finished fifth in the Series with a 1-2 record won 49 games--went into the game having won 41 of its last 50 since losing two straight to UCLA to start Pac-10 Southern Division play. . . . Only 16 home runs had been hit in the first 14 games. That’s the lowest total since 16 were hit in 1982. . . .Oklahoma State first baseman Jimmy Barragan was the tournament’s leading hitter with a .533 average.