College World Series

For Scott Graham, it was a dream 15 years in the making. And when it happened, it was even better than he dreamed possible. Graham, a West Chester resident, was selected as one of the six umpires to officiate this spring's College World Series in Omaha, Neb. To top it off, Graham had the honor of working behind the plate for the championship game between Louisiana State and Miami on Saturday. It was a rare assignment for an umpire working his first College World Series. "I'm told that I was only the second one to ever do it," said Graham, still trying to absorb all that happened in Omaha.

While in high school, Robert "Tookie" Johnson gained almost as much attention for his unusual nickname as for his play on the baseball field. That was, until his senior year, when he played shortstop and batted .612 for Schalick, earning Inquirer first-team all-South Jersey honors. Despite his gaudy high school credentials, few could have envisioned the success in college baseball achieved by Johnson (who says that he received his nickname at the age of 1 month, but that he doesn't know how it originated)

Ray Suplee's two-run double highlighted a record-tying, 11-run sixth inning, as Georgia buried top-seeded Stanford, 16-2, in the College World Series yesterday. The 11-run inning was just the fifth in the 44-year history of the College World Series, but the second of the day by a Southeastern Conference team. John Cohen scored two runs and knocked in two others during Mississippi State's 11-run first inning, helping the Bulldogs eliminate Georgia Southern, 15-1. Mississippi State plays Stanford in a losers' bracket game tomorrow.

Tim Clark singled to spark a three-run fifth inning and added a homer last night as Louisiana State eliminated The Citadel from the College World Series with a 6-1 victory over the Bulldogs. The win gave the second-seeded Tigers (54-18) a rematch against Oklahoma State tomorrow night. LSU - which lost to the Cowboys, 7-1, on Monday - must beat Oklahoma State (55-16) twice to advance to Saturday's national title game. The Citadel, participating in the College World Series for the first time, finished its season 46-14.

Chance Wheeless homered leading off the bottom of the ninth inning to give Texas a 4-3 victory over Baylor last night and send the Longhorns into the championship round of the College World Series, which begins Saturday. Wheeless, who had made an error that helped Baylor take a 3-2 lead in the seventh, sent a long drive to right off reliever Ryan LaMotta. The Longhorns, unbeaten in three CWS games, tied the game at 3-all in the eighth when Nick Peoples ran over Baylor catcher Josh Ford in a violent collision at the plate to score on a sacrifice fly. J. Brent Cox was the winner in relief for Texas, which is in the CWS for the 32nd time, a record.

Sitting beside his father in the stands, Josh McKinley shaded his eyes beneath the bill of his baseball cap and watched the College World Series. To McKinley, then 13, this was baseball - soda-sticky seats, hot-sun afternoons, salty-peanut-dusted fingertips, cracked shells atop his sneakers, fathers teaching sons the game's fine points and American flags snapping in the Omaha breeze. The players ran in uniforms with clay-stained knees, winced at strikeouts, sprinted to every base and would have rather taken piercing line drives in the heart than let the ball go past.

Jeff Torborg can't flush managing out of his system. In effect, he is preparing to make the moves for four baseball teams this weekend - the Phillies and Cardinals, and the participants in tomorrow's championship game of the College World Series, Oklahoma and Georgia Tech. Torborg will be in Philadelphia Sunday night to work with play-by-play man John Rooney on CBS's radio coverage of the Phillies and Cardinals. Yesterday, Torborg was scheduled to trek from his Mountainside, N.J., home to Omaha, Neb., and intensify preparations to serve as Greg Gumbel's analyst for CBS's CWS telecast tomorrow from Rosenblatt Stadium (Channel 10, 1 p.m.)

Despite getting a series-record three home runs from J.D. Drew and two from Doug Mientkiewicz, Florida State was eliminated from the College World Series after losing yesterday to Southern Cal, 16-11, in Omaha, Neb. The victory moved the Trojans (47-20) into tonight's game against Miami (48-15). The Hurricanes beat USC, 15-10, in the opening game of the series. Drew finished 3-for-5 with five RBI and 12 total bases, also a series record. Nineteen players had hit two homers in a game.

As if college baseball didn't have enough offense, along comes a new "electric" bat that promises to give hitters an unlimited sweet spot and no more shakes from hitting the ball too close to the handle or near the end. Pity the pitchers. And the fielders. People who have tried the Copperhead ACX from Worth Inc., a major softball equipment manufacturer in Tullahoma, Tenn., about 70 miles southeast of Nashville, say the bat fulfills its promises. The company says youngsters learning the game will improve faster because they will get more hits.

Baseball star Chris Harvey has completed 2 days of classes at Vanderbilt University. Wait. Wasn't he a junior last school year at Germantown Academy? Indeed he was. But the 6-5, 220-pound Harvey, a first-team Daily News All-City catcher, used the summer to make himself eligible for enrollment at Vanderbilt and, well, he sounds extremely happy. "It does sting a little, the idea of missing out on your prom and your whole senior year of high school," Harvey said last night via cellphone.

When West Chester University opens play Saturday in the Division II College Baseball World Series, senior second baseman Joe Wendle will be key to their hopes of winning the title. West Chester (42-10) will play California State-Chico (40-17) at 1 p.m. at the USA Baseball National Training Center in Cary, N.C. The Golden Rams reached Cary by winning the Atlantic Region with Sunday's 6-0 victory over Kutztown. Chico won the West with a 7-3 win over Dixie State (St. George, Utah)

West Chester is headed to the World Series. Righthander Dylan Porter fired a four-hitter to lead the Golden Rams past Kutztown, 6-0, on Sunday, for the championship of the NCAA Division II Atlantic baseball regional. West Chester (42-10) earned a trip to the D-II College World Series in Cary, N.C. this weekend. The Golden Rams will open against Chico State of California (40-17) at 1 p.m. Saturday in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament. Porter (5-1) was masterful right from the first pitch at Owls Field in West Lawn, Pa. The senior from Chesapeake High in Pasadena, Md., scattered four hits over nine innings, walking one and striking out seven.

Baseball star Chris Harvey has completed 2 days of classes at Vanderbilt University. Wait. Wasn't he a junior last school year at Germantown Academy? Indeed he was. But the 6-5, 220-pound Harvey, a first-team Daily News All-City catcher, used the summer to make himself eligible for enrollment at Vanderbilt and, well, he sounds extremely happy. "It does sting a little, the idea of missing out on your prom and your whole senior year of high school," Harvey said last night via cellphone.

Michael Roth pitched 72/3 innings on three days' rest, and South Carolina won its second straight national championship with a 5-2 victory Tuesday night in Omaha, Neb., that completed a two-game sweep over Florida in the College World Series finals. South Carolina (55-14) became the first team to ever go 10-0 in an NCAA tournament and the first since Oregon State in 2007 to go unbeaten in a CWS. The Gamecocks' streaks of 16 NCAA tournament wins and 11 straight in the CWS are both the longest all-time.

There's still a possibility Jon Cross will find his way to Omaha, Neb., so he can watch at least a few games in the College World Series. If not, his new best friend will be a TV. No fewer than five products of Inter-Ac League or Catholic League schools can be found on rosters for the eight-team event, which begins today, and a million-kilowatt smile is affixed to Cross' face because three are graduates of Germantown Academy. Cross, Class of 1989, played baseball there.

Mike Dickson understands the value of tradition. The Gloucester County College head baseball coach has been associated with tradition-laden programs for the better part of 17 years. Tradition had plenty to do with his decision to attend Gloucester Catholic High School, where he was a part of the storied program's first Diamond Classic title and a state title in 1996. He participated in Brooklawn American Legion, which has a pair of World Series titles, and then coached at Rowan, when the Profs made a trip to the Division III World Series in 2004.

The College World Series will be played in Omaha, Neb., at least through 2030, under an agreement reached by the city and the NCAA yesterday. A long-term contract has been in the works for months, with much of the discussion centered on the construction of a new downtown ballpark to replace 60-year-old Rosenblatt Stadium. Plans for a stadium adjacent to the Qwest Center arena have been moving forward for weeks, and yesterday's "memorandum of understanding" promises a commitment of at least 20 years once the current contract expires in 2010.

Phillies first-round pick Joe Savery and Rice are unbeaten after two College World Series games for the second straight year. But Savery says the Owls are a very different team this time around. As always, the Owls are loaded with pitching. But now they appear to have the bats to get them back to the best-of-three championship round for the first time since they won the 2003 title. Last night's 14-4 victory over North Carolina followed Friday's 15-10 win over Louisville. The Owls have a total of 33 hits in the two games.

Chance Wheeless homered leading off the bottom of the ninth inning to give Texas a 4-3 victory over Baylor last night and send the Longhorns into the championship round of the College World Series, which begins Saturday. Wheeless, who had made an error that helped Baylor take a 3-2 lead in the seventh, sent a long drive to right off reliever Ryan LaMotta. The Longhorns, unbeaten in three CWS games, tied the game at 3-all in the eighth when Nick Peoples ran over Baylor catcher Josh Ford in a violent collision at the plate to score on a sacrifice fly. J. Brent Cox was the winner in relief for Texas, which is in the CWS for the 32nd time, a record.

Jovan Kirovski scored on a long shot in the 65th minute yesterday, and the United States beat New Zealand, 2-1, in Richmond, Va., in its final tune-up for the FIFA Confederations Cup. Kirovski's goal came when he sent a bending cross toward the net, and it appeared to deflect off a defender, altering its flight just enough to elude goalkeeper Michael Utting. The United States was playing without a full complement of players, coach Bruce Arena having released stars Landon Donovan, Clint Mathis, Tim Howard and five others to their Major League Soccer teams for the weekend.