College World Series : Wichita State Can’t Handle Keller

Clyde Keller hears the baiting every time he takes the mound for Florida State.

Frustrated hitters at the plate and in the dugout are never shy or tactful with their requests for something more macho than Keller’s deceptive palmball.

“If they’re going to yell and scream about not getting enough fastballs, that’s fine,” said Keller, a senior right-hander from Carmichael, Calif. “But, I’m just going to go out and get them out with I’ve got.”

Keller had Wichita State in the palm of his hand Sunday night, pitching a complete-game, four-hitter as the top-seeded Seminoles defeated the Shockers, 4-2, in the second round of the College World Series before a crowd of 15,800 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Florida State (54-16), which remains unbeaten in the East Division of the eight-team double-elimination tournament, will play Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s game between Wichita State (64-16) and Arkansas (51-15).

Arkansas defeated North Carolina, 7-3, Sunday afternoon, eliminating the Tar Heels (41-18-1).

Wichita State arrived in Omaha with a .327 team batting average--the highest in the tournament. The Shockers, however, never got a bead on the 5-foot-9, 160-pound Keller (13-0) who struck out four and walked two.

Keller surrendered two runs in the sixth, then retired the final 11 batters he faced.

“His palmball comes in there looking pretty fat,” Wichita State catcher Eric Wedge said. “Then it just blows away.”

Bob Reboin broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning with a single off Wichita State starter Pat Cedeno (12-4) that scored Rocky Rau, who had singled to lead off the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice by Pedro Grifol.

Grifol, the Seminole catcher, provided the final run in the ninth with a solo homer to left off Shocker relief ace Jim Newlin.

“We took a big step forward in the first game,” said Wichita State Coach Gene Stephenson, whose team defeated Arkansas on Friday, “and a giant step back tonight.”

College World Series Notes

Cal State Long Beach (50-14) plays Louisiana State (53-16) today in a West Bracket elimination game and Miami (49-16) meets Texas (52-17) in a winner’s game. . . . Kyle Abbott (15-2, 2.37 earned-run average) will start for Long Beach against Curtis Leskanic (14-2, 3.00) of LSU. . . . Alex Fernandez (15-1, 1.60), a freshman right-hander, will start for Miami. Fernandez’s only defeat was a 6-5 loss to Texas in February. . . . Arkansas shortstop Rod Stillwell, who went to Thousand Oaks High, is a second-generation World Series participant. His father, Ron Stillwell, played shortstop for USC in the 1960 and 1961 World Series. The Trojans won one of their 11 national championships in 1961.