Stanford Stops Fullerton to Reach Saturday’s Final

Cal State Fullerton played a typically solid game against Stanford on Wednesday night in the College World Series and came away with what has become a predictable result.

Stanford defeated the Titans, 4-1, behind a stellar effort from pitchers Jeremy Guthrie and Jeff Bruksch and eliminated Fullerton before a crowd of 20,221 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

It was top-seeded Fullerton’s second loss to fourth-seeded Stanford in this World Series and the fourth in five games this season. The Titans are 1-10 in the last 11 games between the perennial powers.

“It was too much pitching and too much defense,” said Fullerton Coach George Horton, whose team finished 48-18. “I think we hit three balls hard all night. Guthrie was just way too much for us.”

Stanford (51-16) advanced to Saturday’s national championship game for the second year in a row and the fourth time in 13 World Series appearances. The Cardinal, which lost to Louisiana State in last year’s final, will play second-seeded Miami or unseeded Tennessee as it tries to win its third national title--and its first since winning its second in a row in 1988.

Tennessee must defeat Miami today and Friday to prevent the Hurricanes from returning to the final for the second time in three years.

Guthrie (13-4), a sophomore, rebounded strongly from his performance last Friday, when he surrendered five earned runs and eight hits in 1 1/3 innings in the Cardinal’s 13-11, come-from-behind, series-opening victory over Tulane.

On Wednesday, he gave up one run and four hits in seven-plus innings before Bruksch came in to pitch the final two innings and earn his third save of the series.

“My fastball had a little downward movement,” said Guthrie, who played at Brigham Young as a freshman and transferred to Stanford last fall after a two-year Mormon mission in Spain. “All my pitches were working for me.”

Guthrie retired the side in order five times in the first six innings--and the Cardinal turned a double play after he gave up a single to Shane Costa in the third. On a night when the wind was blowing 22 mph and a tornado watch was in effect for most of the game, Guthrie retired 13 batters on groundouts and struck out five.

Fullerton shortstop Mike Rouse was the only Titan to hit the ball in the air. He hit a fly ball to center field in the second inning and drove in a run with a double to right in the seventh.

“That was the only mistake Jeremy made all night,” said Stanford catcher Ryan Garko, who hit a mammoth home run over the batting eye in center field to give the Cardinal a 4-0 lead in the sixth. “Other than that he was almost perfect.”

Fullerton left-hander Jon Smith (11-3), a senior who pitched five innings in the Titans’ series-opening victory over Nebraska, gave up four runs and six hits in six innings against Stanford.

Stanford, which had no walks and no strikeouts, took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Brian Hall’s second home run of the season. Hall, a freshman outfielder, also made a big defensive play and scored the go-ahead run in Stanford’s 5-2, 10-inning victory over Fullerton on Sunday.

The Cardinal scored two runs in the fourth after Smith hit Garko with a pitch with one out. Carlos Quentin and Johnny Ash both hit singles to load the bases and Andy Topham, who was 0 for 10 in the series, followed with another to drive in two runs.

Garko homered in the sixth to give Guthrie more than enough.

The Titans finally broke through in the seventh when Rouse’s two-out double scored Jason Corapci, who had walked and advanced to third on a groundout and fielder’s choice.

Fullerton threatened in the eighth after Costa led off with his second hit against Guthrie.

Bruksch came on and got Shawn Norris to hit a fly ball to right field for one out. With David Bacani at the plate, Costa tried to advance on a pitch in the dirt and was thrown out by Garko. Bacani drew a walk after a long at-bat, but Bruksch got Guzman to hit a ground ball back to the mound and he threw to first to end the inning.

Bruksch struck out the first two batters in the ninth and got Brett Kay to hit a fly ball to right.