COLLEGE WORLD SERIES : Davis Introduces Himself to LSU, and 49ers Win, 10-8

Eddie Davis grew up in New Orleans, attended a baseball camp conducted by Louisiana State Coach Skip Bertman during his junior year in high school and longed to play for the Tigers.

Davis, however, apparently got lost in the shuffle because LSU did not recruit him.

“We didn’t know about him,” Bertman said.

They know about him now.

Davis’ two-out, pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the eighth inning preceded a solo shot by Kevin Curtis that helped Cal State Long Beach to a 10-8 College World Series victory over LSU Wednesday before 13,727.

Long Beach has won three consecutive games since losing its opener to LSU and is one victory away from playing for its first national title. The 49ers will play LSU again Friday in an elimination game, the winner advancing to Saturday’s title game.

Oklahoma State must defeat Wichita State today and again Friday to keep Wichita State from advancing to the championship game.

“I felt bad when (LSU) didn’t recruit me,” said Davis, the only non-Californian on the Long Beach roster. “I mean, growing up in Louisiana, who wouldn’t want to play there?

“This feels pretty sweet.”

Davis, a 6-foot, 185-pound outfielder selected by the Dodgers in the 20th round of last week’s amateur draft, went to Southern University for a semester, transferred to Cerritos College for two seasons at the urging of his uncle, then wound up at Long Beach.

He started the World Series batting .229 with four homers and 23 strikeouts in 109 at-bats, and had made the final out in the 49ers’ 7-1 loss to LSU and left-hander Mike Sirotka in their first Series game.

Long Beach was trailing, 8-6, when 49er Coach Dave Snow called on Davis with Eric Martins at first on a fielder’s choice and Sirotka (11-6) pitching in relief.

“I just thought he could come into a ball and get it into the air,” Snow said.

Davis worked the count to 2-1, then blasted a shot over the 408-foot sign in center field.

“I made up my mind that if he was going to beat me, it was going to be on curveball or slider,” Sirotka said. “If I’m a hitter, I’m thinking fastball. I got a slider up and he hit it out.”

That brought up Curtis, who had helped start LSU’s six-run sixth inning when he dived unsuccessfully for a ball hit by Jim Greely that resulted in a run-scoring triple.

Curtis hit a 3-2 fastball over the right-field fence, giving Long Beach a 9-8 lead.

“Eddie dealt the blow--that was a shocking occurrence,” Curtis said. “I just used the fact that I had seen Sirotka the whole game the first time we played them. I went up there knowing he would throw me away.”

Jeff Liefer, who had given Long Beach a 5-2 lead with a three-run homer in the fifth, then bunted for a single, stole second and scored on Rudy Rodriguez’s single to left.

Gabe Gonzalez (4-2), who pitched the final 3 1/3 innings, retired the side in the top of the ninth.

Long Beach won despite Martins’ two errors at second base in LSU’s six-run sixth, which gave the Tigers an 8-5 lead. The errors were the 49ers’ first in 29 innings and only their third and fourth in eight postseason games.

Bertman, whose 1991 team rode an emotional high to the national championship, said Long Beach will be difficult to beat Friday.

“Long Beach has an edge because they pieced it together today and still won,” Bertman said. “Making two errors is very unlike them, and it isn’t likely that they will make those mistakes again.”

Long Beach players said their focus will remain on playing hard for nine innings, regardless of the situation.

“We’re a team that’s really on a roll,” said Liefer, who also singled in the third inning. “Everyone on this team thinks we can beat anyone in the nation.”