Trojans Retire 12th Title With 21-Run Salute

Wes Rachels fancies himself something of a baseball historian, and in his next trip through the record book, he won’t have to look long to find a familiar name:

* Most runs batted in in a College World Series championship game: 7, Wes Rachels, USC, 1998.

He’ll also find the names of some USC teammates and a few Arizona State opponents, all of whom assaulted the record book Saturday the way they assaulted each others’ pitchers. When the smoke had cleared, the Trojans had won the championship by a touchdown, er, 21-14, in a game in which 29 records fell and 18 others were equaled, according to an unofficial compilation issued by the NCAA, which will still be counting into next week.

“I’ve never played in a game like that, never,” said Rachels, voted the series’ most outstanding player. “An eight-run lead wasn’t safe. A six-run lead wasn’t safe. A three-run lead wasn’t safe.”

The folks in the bleachers weren’t safe, not with balls flying out of Rosenblatt Stadium. USC’s Robb Gorr hit two homers, Rachels and Brad Ticehurst hit one and Jason Lane finished a record-breaking series with a ninth-inning grand slam.

Arizona State countered with a grand slam by Michael Collins and homers by Jeff Phelps, Andrew Beinbrink and Casey Myers to finish off a series in which 62 homers were hit, another mark.

The Trojans had 23 hits, five by Rachels and Jeremy Freitas.

“We had lots and lots of heroes today . . . and we needed every one of them,” said USC Coach Mike Gillespie, who won his first College World Series as a coach, after winning one as a player on one of Rod Dedeaux’s 11 Trojan champions.

“We were looking up there at 14 runs and saying, ‘We’ve got 14 runs and it’s not enough. And 16 runs, and it’s not enough.’ ”

It never seemed enough, perhaps until the ninth inning, after Lane’s grand slam had generated the 21-14 lead and USC had Jack Krawczyk on the mound, seeking his record-setting 23rd save of the season, 49th of his career.

“Everything you’ve learned in the past you forget because he throws so slow,” Arizona State’s Mikel Moreno said. “He throws 78 [mph], and that’s like a softball player. . . . It’s kind of easy to pitch in the ninth inning with a seven-run lead. I don’t know how easy it would have been with a tied ballgame or a one-run ballgame.”

Few would have known Saturday, for the game was tied only at 0-0, and not for long. And USC held leads of 9-8 and 14-13 for a time.

There was enough concentrated nuttiness to last a baseball lifetime, and to make short days for both starting pitchers and most of the relievers.

“Nobody was tricking anybody,” Arizona State Coach Pat Murphy said.

Before USC (49-17) trotted out starting pitcher Rik Currier, it had staked him to a 3-0 lead on Gorr’s first homer. Currier responded by striking out the side in the first inning and was rewarded with five more runs in the second, three of them on Rachels’ homer and another on Gorr’s second shot.

Arizona State starter Ryan Mills, the first-round draft choice of the Minnesota Twins and the sixth pick overall, was victimized, but he became only the drum major in a parade of Sun Devils who walked onto the mound and slumped off.

Arizona State (41-23) scored five times in the second inning, and the tone was set for a game in which there were four five-run innings.

And a game that, for all of the power hitting, was probably decided by a ball that wasn’t hit at all.

In the seventh inning, with USC ahead, 11-8, Morgan Ensberg singled and, two outs later, Freitas also singled and Seth Davidson walked to load the bases.

By then, Chad Pennington, the third of five Arizona State pitchers, was on the mound, looking directly at Ensberg, who twice bluffed running well down the line, then cut short on the bluff, while Rachels was at the plate.

With a 1-and-2 count, Ensberg stole home, sliding under the tag of Greg Halvorson.

Rachels then singled in Freitas and Davidson.

“The steal of home made a big momentum change,” Murphy said.

One reason was because it was so unorthodox, considering the situation: a three-run lead, bases loaded, two outs, with Rachels, who was four for four at the time, batting.

“Because of that very unusual situation, people have a very hard time believing that we have done it before,” Gillespie said. “In spite of the fact that it obviously makes no sense, it obviously was successful. We didn’t worry about it being smart.”

Instead, it helped generate a 14-8 lead that still wasn’t safe.

“It’s definitely a sign of the times,” Murphy said. “It’s a little discouraging. . . . How many would LSU have scored today? It could have been an embarrassment.”

And 21-14 isn’t?

It remained for the Trojans to score twice in the eighth inning on Ticehurst’s homer, and five times in the ninth to nail down the title.

And to make Rachels’ college career come full circle.

“I remember in 1995, sitting on the bench crying, and seeing the looks on the faces of all the seniors,” he said of the Trojans’ 11-5 loss to Cal State Fullerton in the championship game. “I’ll never forget that moment.

“Now the tears are tears of joy. I’d like to dedicate this to my dad and all players who have never gotten to feel this way.”

Dr. Arthur Rachels died in 1997 of prostate cancer.

Gillespie also was choked up at the idea of the Trojans’ becoming the first team to win the championship after losing its first game in the series since Arizona in 1980.

“We just couldn’t allow ourselves a week ago to think we would be playing in a championship game,” he said. “We had to concentrate on winning the next one, and winning the next one.

“To have faced what we have faced, to have done what we have done, goes beyond my ability to describe it.”

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Smashing

Among the records set in the College World Series:

* Most runs, championship game, team: 21, USC

* Most runs, championship game, both teams: 35

* Most hits, championship game, team: 23, USC

* Most hits, championship game, both teams, 39

* Most RBIs, player, championship game: 7, Wes Rachels, USC

* Longest championship game: 3:59

* Most hits, player, series: 15, Jason Lane, USC

* Most total bases, player, series: 31, Jason Lane, USC

* Most home runs, all teams, series: 62

* Consecutive College World Series without a shutout: 3, 1996-98

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES TITLES WON

USC: 12

Arizona State: 5

Louisiana State: 4

Texas: 4

Arizona: 3

Cal State Fullerton: 3

Minnesota: 3

California: 2

Miami: 2

Michigan: 2

Oklahoma: 2

Stanford: 2

Georgia: 1

Holy Cross: 1

Missouri: 1

Ohio State: 1

Oklahoma State: 1

Pepperdine: 1

Wake Forest: 1

Wichita State: 1