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Rice, Stanford Ready for CWS Showdown

Posted on: Saturday, 21 June 2003, 06:00 CDT

Stanford knows all about Rice's heralded pitching staff. And the Cardinal think they have the hitters to give the Owls trouble in the College World Series championship round.

"They've got good pitching and I think we've got a good offense, so I think it will be a great battle," Stanford outfielder Danny Putnam said. "We've got some good pitching left and they've got some good hitters, so it's going to be some real balanced and exciting games."

When it comes to pitching, Rice coach Wayne Graham thinks it's about quality, not quantity. Graham said he has nine "able-bodied pitchers" ready for the title series, including Saturday's starter Jeff Niemann (17-0). The team with the second-best ERA in the nation at 2.74 also has Wade Townsend (11-1), Philip Humber (10-3) and ace closer David Aardsma (12 saves).

"When you have eight guys like his eight guys, you can get away with it," Stanford pitching ace John Hudgins said. "Most teams go with 10, 11 or 12 pitchers."

Like the Cardinal (50-16), who have a staff of 12, but used many of them in coming back from the losers' bracket to beat Cal State Fullerton twice, including Thursday night's 7-5 victory in 10 innings.

Coach Mark Marquess is hoping his staff will be able to regroup and challenge Rice (56-11), which is going for its first national title in any sport, in the best-of-three series.

"This rewards teams like Rice, who have won three games here," Marquess said. "But it's nice we get a day to rest, too."

Ryan McCally (7-2), who threw seven innings Tuesday in a 13-6 win over South Carolina, was named the Cardinal's starter late Friday. He'll take on Niemann, a 6-foot-9 right-hander who is well-rested. He hasn't thrown since his opening-round 4-2 win over Southwest Missouri State last Saturday.

"He's a big guy and everything, and he's got good stuff, but he's still got to throw the ball over the plate and that's how you have to go about it," Stanford outfielder Carlos Quentin said. "It'll be fun - a challenge."

Marquess has to come back with a staff that has already thrown five games in the past week and could play three more in the next three days. He was short-handed in Thursday night's semifinals, when erratic David O'Hagan provided 4 1-3 innings of three-hit, shutout relief in the win.

"We don't have the experience, maybe, with a lot of our guys," Hudgins said. "We have a lot of younger guys who haven't really pitched in big spots."

Hudgins (13-3) might be called upon to quickly bounce back. He has started two games at the CWS, throwing eight innings of two-hit ball in an 8-0 opening win over South Carolina, then he scattered four hits in a 5-3 win over Fullerton to keep the Cardinal alive Wednesday.

"I really don't know what they want to do with me there," Hudgins said. "I'm just going to out and throw whenever they want. There's only one game left for me. I'll just go out and try to do my best."

Ideally, Hudgins would like to be throwing in a deciding game Monday. A loss Saturday could force him into action to stay alive Sunday, however.

"I probably wouldn't have my best stuff on Sunday, but I'd go out there and battle," he said.

For the Cardinal to win their third national title, and first since 1988, their hitting will have to step up against Rice's pitching.

Leading the charge is catcher Ryan Garko, the Pac-10 co-player of the year, who tops the Cardinal with a .407 batting average, 18 homers and 91 RBIs. Putnam, who has 16 homers - including the game-winner in Thursday's game - and 66 RBIs, and Quentin (.400) will also be counted on.

"All through the playoffs, it's been one great pitching staff after another," Garko said. "This is going to be our toughest matchup. I guess that's the way it should be. To win the national championship, you should have to beat all the best teams. This is the best team we've faced all season."

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