CS Long Beach Wins on Homer in Ninth : Baseball: Speakman gives the 49ers a 12-11 victory over Clemson in a game that nearly breaks College World Series record for length.

By the time catcher Willy Speakman stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning Monday, it had been a long afternoon for Cal State Long Beach.

Speakman had allowed a College World Series record-tying seven stolen bases by Clemson in a second-round elimination game. Long Beach had blown three leads before tying the score, 11-11, in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Then Speakman hit a 1-1 pitch from Eric Bradford into the left-field bleachers, ending the second-longest nine-inning game in series history. The 12-11 victory moved sixth-seeded Long Beach (45-21) into a third-round game against seventh-seeded Creighton (50-21) today at 4:37 p.m. PDT.

“I was just trying to concentrate on getting on,” said Speakman, a junior from West Covina who had one previous home run this season. “I tried to put everything behind me. It was great. It was the best feeling I’ve had--ever.”

The game lasted 3 hours 57 minutes, four minutes short of the record. There were 362 pitches.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said. “It wasn’t very pretty.”

It certainly wasn’t. Long Beach designated hitter Scott Talanoa drove in four runs as the 49ers took leads of 3-1, 7-4 and 10-7.

But Clemson, which led Division I with 9.97 runs per game, rallied each time, stunning the 49ers with four runs in the eighth inning.

Jeff Miller started the rally with a single to center field and, one out later, moved to second on Billy McMillon’s pinch-hit single to right. Long Beach relief pitcher Todd Taylor entered, and Speakman misfired on a pickoff throw down the right-field line to advance both runners.

Taylor walked Kevin Northrup to load the bases. Michael Spiers, brother of Milwaukee Brewer shortstop Billy Spiers, chopped a ball to the left side of the pitcher’s mound. Taylor and third baseman Jason Giambi charged the ball and no one covered third base, the only place the 49ers had a play. Spiers was safe with an infield hit and Clemson trailed, 10-8.

Jim Crowley followed with a sacrifice fly to left to cut the lead to one run, and Joe DeBerry singled to left to tie the score. Giambi approached the mound to talk to Taylor, again leaving third base open and allowing Spiers to steal the base uncontested.

Taylor worked the count to 1 and 2 on Eric Macrina, and Spiers broke for home. But all Taylor, a left-hander, saw was DeBerry breaking from first base and he tried to pick him off. “I heard the shortstop yell, ‘Home! Home! Home!’ but I was already in no man’s land,” said Taylor, who improved to 8-2 with the victory. “I was throwing to first, and I couldn’t make the adjustment.”

Spiers scored for an 11-10 lead and Long Beach appeared doomed after Giambi led off the bottom of the eighth inning against Bradford with a single, but then was caught stealing. Talanoa walked, Alan Burke drove a ball to the warning track that was caught and Brent Cookson singled to put runners on first and second with two out.

Pinch-runner John Mancha replaced Talanoa, and Ed Christian singled to left. Mancha stumbled rounding third base and would have been out at the plate had it not been for a poor relay throw from third baseman Jeff Miller.

Speakman’s homer was the 18th hit of the day for the 49ers and improved their record to 29-0 in games in which they score 10 or more runs.

“I just can’t believe how good they really are,” said Clemson Coach Bill Wilhelm, whose team finished 60-10 (.857), the best winning percentage in Division I. “We could not throw the ball past them.”

Long Beach’s victory was its first in four College World Series games.