College Baseball World Series : Titans’ Garcia Makes Fast Work of Miami, 9-3

The finer points of what he was doing may have escaped Longo Garcia as he pitched against the University of Miami in Cal State Fullerton’s opening game of the College World Series.

He knew things were going well. He also noticed that the innings didn’t seem to last very long after the fourth.

There was a reason. After allowing three runs over the first four innings, Garcia shut out Miami the rest of the way while retiring the last 13 batters.

Garcia’s strong pitching helped the Titans beat the Hurricanes, 9-3, before a record crowd of 16,060 Saturday night at Rosenblatt Stadium.

“I noticed the game started going by quicker,” he said.

Garcia (10-5) scattered 6 hits and struck out 8 while walking only 2, and earned his second complete-game victory in Fullerton’s five postseason games.

And once again, he got his victory in the white home jerseys that he says are his lucky charm.

Garcia, who admits to being “probably the most superstitious person you know,” hasn’t had many good outings in the gray jerseys Fullerton wears on the road.

In both of his postseason appearances, the Titans have been the designated visitor, given a choice of uniform.

“I just asked,” Garcia said after the game, motioning toward Coach Larry Cochell. “He came through.”

The Fullerton offense, obviously, came through as well.

Fullerton (42-16) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on two singles and a walk, but fell behind, 2-1, in the third when Garcia gave up doubles to Jose Trujillo and Mike Fiore, as well as a single.

Miami stretched that lead to 3-1 in the fourth, when a run scored on a walk, a stolen base, a wild pitch and a single.

But Fullerton went ahead for good in the fifth, with a four-run inning highlighted by a three-run homer by first baseman Keith Kaub.

It was Kaub’s 20th home run of the season, and his fourth in Fullerton’s five postseason games.

The lead seemed safe in the ninth, when right fielder Jim Osborn came to bat with two out and the bases loaded.

“The next thing I knew, I had two strikes on me,” Osborn said. “I was looking fastball, and he tried to challenge me.”

The result was a grand slam, the first of his career, on only Osborn’s sixth home run of the year.

For Miami (51-13-1), it was a bit of a frustrating outing. The Titans scored all nine of their runs with two out.

“My hat’s off to them. They hit the ball,” said Hurricane ace Joe Grahe (13-5), who pitched 8 innings and took the loss. “You can’t play just two outs an inning.”

Fullerton will play Stanford in the second round Monday night.

Miami, which won the national championship in 1982 and 1985 and has been in the World Series 9 of the past 11 years, will play Fresno State in an elimination game Monday.

“We didn’t play the way we did to get here,” Miami Coach Ron Fraser said. “Hopefully, we’ll do that on Monday.”

Garcia, in earning his complete-game victory, coaxed Miami’s leadoff batter, Jorge Robles into an 0-4 performance, and kept him off the bases for the first time this season, breaking a 66-game on-base streak.

He did it with his usual assortment of off-speed pitches, plus an occasional fastball.

“That’s my game, keeping the hitters off-balance,” he said.

“He’s a good pitcher,” said Fiore, who went 2 for 4 and was the only Miami batter to get more than one hit off Garcia. “He was by no means exceptional, but he did a great job of keeping us off balance. He did what he had to do.”

Cochell praised his pitcher.

“I thought he was outstanding. He did what he does best--get the breaking ball over for strikes. He’s what I call a closer. When you give him a lead, he’s in control.”

Stanford 10, Fresno State 3--Frank Carey hit a two-run homer, and Ron Witmeyer drove in three runs to lead the defending champion Cardinal over the Bulldogs.

“The biggest advantage we have is it’s just like playing at home to us,” said Carey, who had a single and triple in addition to his homer.

Lee Plemel (11-8) went the distance for the Cardinal. The senior right-hander, who has won his last five starts, yielded 9 hits, struck out 3 and walked 1. John Salles suffered his first loss in 16 decisions this season. He gave up 7 hits and 7 runs in 4 innings.

Carey, whose homer in the third inning was only his second this season, went 3 for 5 and scored twice. The junior second baseman led off the first inning with a triple, and scored on a fielder’s choice. Witmeyer’s triple highlighted a three-run fifth inning that gave the Cardinal a 7-3 lead.

Ed Sprague led off the bottom of the seventh with his 20th homer of the season to to increase the lead to 8-3. The Cardinal added two runs in the eighth.