Tough Omaha Opener for USC Leaves Small Margin for Error

USC, seeking its 13th national championship, will begin play in the College World Series against Florida State before a national television audience, the NCAA Division I baseball committee announced Monday.

The Trojans play the Seminoles Saturday at 9:30 a.m. PST at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha.

The eight-team World Series begins Friday with Clemson (50-16) playing San Jose State (41-22) and Stanford (47-15) playing Louisiana-Lafayette (47-18) in one bracket.

USC (43-18) plays Florida State (51-17) and Louisiana State (48-17) plays Texas (46-19) Saturday night in the other bracket.

Dick Rockwell, chairman of the committee, said CBS specifically requested the USC-Florida State game for the Saturday morning slot.

“Both have national reputations,” Rockwell said. “There’s an East Coast-West Coast rivalry. I think one could look at that as a marquee matchup.”

The double-elimination tournament concludes June 17 with the championship game televised by CBS.

All other World Series games will be televised by ESPN or ESPN2.

This is the second year that the baseball committee seeded teams nationally before the 64-team tournament began.

Four of the national seeds--No. 2 LSU, No. 4 Clemson, No. 6 Florida State and No. 8 Stanford--made it through four-team, double-elimination regionals and best-of-three super-regionals to reach Omaha.

Louisiana-Lafayette, which defeated No. 1 South Carolina in a super-regional, and San Jose State, which beat No. 5 Houston, are making their first World Series appearances.

And their presence has created a perception of imbalance in the brackets.

Consider:

* Including this year’s series, Stanford, Clemson, San Jose State and Louisiana-Lafayette have a combined 23 World Series appearances and two national championships, both won by Stanford in 1987 and ’88.

* USC, Florida State, Texas and LSU have a combined 77 World Series appearances and 20 national titles.

“It’s clearly a tough draw,” USC Coach Mike Gillespie said. “Certainly, the marquee names are in that one [bracket].”

USC is seeking its second championship in three years. The Trojans defeated Arizona State in the 1998 championship game to win their first title since 1978.

USC finished fourth in the Pacific 10 Conference this season, only a game behind Stanford, UCLA and Arizona State, which tied for the championship. The Trojans won a regional at Fullerton, then defeated No. 3-seeded Georgia Tech twice last weekend at a super-regional in Atlanta to extend their nation-leading winning streak to 15 games.

Florida State has not won a title in 17 previous World Series appearances. The Seminoles lost to Miami, 6-5, in last year’s final and also lost in 1986 to Arizona and in 1970 to USC.

Florida State advanced to this year’s series with a super-regional victory over Miami.

“We know enough about [Florida State] to know that they are really good,” Gillespie said. “They were hot at the beginning of the year, had their struggles through the middle of the year and rallied at the end.”

Louisiana State, the dominant team of the 1990s, won the last of its four titles in 1997 and is unbeaten in four championship-game appearances. The Tigers won a regional and defeated UCLA in consecutive games in a super-regional at Baton Rouge, La.

Texas is making its 28th World Series appearance, its first since 1993 and its first under Augie Garrido, who has a chance to become the first coach to win titles in four decades. Garrido led Cal State Fullerton to championships in 1979, 1984 and 1995.

Texas won a regional at Arizona State and defeated Penn State in a super-regional at Austin, Tex.

Clemson is making its ninth World Series appearance and first since 1996. The Tigers have never reached the title game. Clemson swept a home regional and super-regional to advance to Omaha.

San Jose State made the playoffs for only the third time, the first since 1971. The Spartans defeated Florida twice in a regional at Waco, Texas, then upset Houston on the road in a super-regional.

Stanford is making its 12th World Series appearance and third in four years. Stanford was extended to a final game by Alabama in a regional and by Nebraska in a super-regional--both at Palo Alto.

Louisiana-Lafayette won a regional it hosted, then advanced to the series with a 6-3 victory over top-seeded South Carolina in a super-regional at Columbia, S.C.

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College World Series

Schedule and times for the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha for the double-elimination tournament:

FRIDAY

* Game 1--San Jose State (41-22) vs. Clemson (50-16), Noon

* Game 2--La.-Lafayette (47-18) vs. Stanford (47-15), 4 p.m.

SATURDAY

* Game 3--Florida State (51-17) vs. USC (43-18), 9:30 a.m.

* Game 4--LSU (48-17) vs. Texas (46-19), 7 p.m.

SUNDAY

* Game 5--Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, Noon

* Game 6--Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 4 p.m.

MONDAY

* Game 7--Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, Noon

* Game 8--Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 4 p.m.

JUNE 13

* Game 9--Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 winner, Noon

* Game 10--Game 7 loser vs. Game 8 winner, 4 p.m.

JUNE 14

* Game 11--Game 5 winner vs. Game 9 winner, 4 p.m.

JUNE 15

* Game 12--Game 7 winner vs. Game 10 winner, Noon

JUNE 16

* Game 13--Game 5 winner vs. Game 11 winner, Noon*

* Game 14--Game 7 winner vs. Game 14 winner, 4 p.m.*

JUNE 17

* Game 15--Game 11 or 13 winner vs. Game 12 or 14 winner, 2:30 p.m.

NOTE: Game 13 will be necessary if the winner of Game 9 also wins Game 11. Game 14 will be necessary if the winner of Game 10 also wins Game 12. If only one game on Friday, June 18, is necessary, it will start at 3:30 p.m. If the winners of Games 11 and 12 are undefeated, there will be no games on Friday and the national championship game will be Game 13.

All times Pacific; * if necessary