College Baseball World Series : Going to Long Beach, Abbott Didn’t Expect to Get to Omaha

Kyle Abbott was more than a little skeptical when the Cal State Long Beach baseball team adopted “Shock the World” as its motto before the season began.

Long Beach, after all, was coming off a 14-45 record in 1988. And Abbott, a pitcher who transferred from UC San Diego to Long Beach last fall, thought the 49ers would be fortunate to be at the .500 mark when the season ended.

Last weekend, as Long Beach swept through the National Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s West I Regional at Tucson, Abbott still wasn’t sure he believed the 49ers could be 50-13 and headed for their first appearance in the College World Series.

“We’re shocking ourselves,” Abbott said. “Any guy who says he thought we were capable of this from the start is blowing steam. It’s been a big surprise--for all of us.”

The same might be said of the 6-foot-4, 190-pound Abbott, who has blown away hitters and emerged as a projected first-round pick in Monday’s amateur draft. After toiling in relative obscurity for two seasons on the Division III level at UC San Diego, the junior left-hander from Mission Viejo is 15-2 with a 2.37 earned-run average and has set Long Beach records this season for wins, innings at 132 2/3, and strikeouts at 138.

Abbott or freshman right-hander Andy Croghan will start Saturday when Long Beach plays Texas in an opening-round game of the 44th College World Series.

Long Beach is seeded seventh in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament that begins today at Rosenblatt Stadium with top-seeded Florida State (52-16) playing No. 8 North Carolina (41-16-1) and No. 4 Wichita State (63-15) meeting No. 5 Arkansas (50-14).

No. 3 Miami (48-16) meets No. 6 Louisiana State (52-15) Saturday after Long Beach plays No. 2 Texas (51-17).

This year’s tournament will serve as a showcase for Abbott and some of the nation’s most highly regarded pitchers.

LSU features junior right-hander Ben McDonald, a 6-7, 217-pound junior right-hander who is expected to be selected by the Baltimore Orioles as the first player chosen in the draft.

Freshman right-hander Alex Fernandez of Miami, a first-round draft choice last year who turned down a reported $150,000 offer from the Milwaukee Brewers, is 15-1 with 169 strikeouts in 140 2/3 innings. The Hurricanes also have senior right-hander Joe Grahe, 14-4, who set a school record with 186 strikeouts in 164 innings.

Kirk Dressendorfer of Texas, a sophomore right-hander, follows Roger Clemens and Greg Swindell as the latest in a long line of pitchers who have led the Longhorns to a record 25 World Series appearances. Dressendorfer, an All-American last season, is 16-2 and figures to start Saturday against Long Beach.

“I transferred from San Diego because I wanted to play against the best players in the country,” Abbott said. “It’s going to be fun to see some of the guys like McDonald that I’ve heard so much about.”

Dave Snow, who took over the Long Beach program last June after four successful seasons at Loyola Marymount, said he didn’t know anything about Abbott when the player called, asking about the possibility of transferring.

Snow watched Abbott pitch just one game during the summer.

“Kyle was a little wild but you could see that he had a good arm,” Snow said. “The tools were there.”

Abbott, whose father, Larry, played in the Oakland Athletics’ organization, was only hoping to earn a spot in the Long Beach rotation and secure a scholarship for next season.

At Mission Viejo High, Abbott was a self-described, “above average” pitcher and an honorable mention All-American water polo player.

He planned to trade his spikes for Speedos at UCSD, which does not award athletic scholarships, but changed his mind just before school began and went out for baseball. After compiling a two-year record of 13-2 at UCSD, Abbott began searching for a larger forum to display his improving talent.

“I always thought I had the ability to pitch at the Division I level,” said Abbott, who Thursday was named a first-team All-American by Baseball America magazine. “I wasn’t sure that it would happen this year, but I wanted to put myself in a better position to sign a professional contract.”

Aided by Snow and pitching coach Wally Kincaid, Abbott has increased the velocity of his fastball, improved his concentration and refined his changeup, slider and curve. He has pitched three shutouts and eight complete games in 19 starts, including a 10-6 victory over Arizona in the regional semifinal.

There has, however, been some adversity.

Abbott and teammate Glenn Evans were arrested in April for allegedly trying to take five compact discs from a store in Signal Hill. The players’ arraignment was postponed from May 3 to June 14.

Abbott is eager to put the incident and the season behind so he can begin his professional career.

Only after the 49ers shock themselves, and the rest of the college baseball world, one more time.