Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Saturday, June 10, 2000

Cardinal cage
Cajuns in CWS

Hawaii's Justin Wayne
on the mound next
for Stanford

By Kalani Simpson
Special to the Star-Bulletin



OMAHA, Neb. - Stanford fired the first of its double barrels yesterday while the second barrel got to watch from the best seat in the house.

Justin Wayne - Punahou graduate, first round draft pick and Stanford all-American - saw his roommate, Jason Young, pitch the Cardinal to a 6-4 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette in the first day of the College World Series.

And now, he's next.

Stanford advances on to a winner's game in the double elimination bracket, facing Clemson on tomorrow. Wayne, Hawaii's highest professional draft choice ever, picked fifth overall by the Montreal Expos last week, will be the starter. He can't wait."You talk about the fans, the parents and friends, it's just unbelievable," he said amid the calls of autograph-seeking kids following the Stanford win.

"The energy that comes about of being in Omaha. And you get the overall feeling of man, you just want to impress people.''

Young impressed early, before a crowd of 23,830 (a new Session I record), mixing overpowering fastballs and devilish changeups. He used a mere 17 pitches to strike out the side in the first inning, and was in control for a comfortable 4-0 Cardinal lead through four innings.

But Louisiana-Lafayette made it interesting by tagging Young with a two-run bomb in the fifth inning and solo homers in the seventh and eighth innings.

Round-trippers accounted for half of his six hits over 7° innings.

Stanford's two solo homers would stand up as the winning runs.

The second half of Stanford's one-two pitching punch comes next: Wayne, who will take the mound on national television, (ESPN, 9 a.m. HST).

---

Experience, pitching
key in Stanford’s
opening victory

Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. -- Stanford reminded Louisiana-Lafayette who had been to the College World Series before.

The Cardinal took advantage of some control problems last night and sent the Ragin' Cajuns, who are in the CWS for the first time, one loss away from a trip home with a 6-4 win.

"It's difficult to come here and play for the first time for anybody. I think that's why experience does help," Stanford coach Mark Marquess said. "It's not the end all, but it certainly helps if your players know what to expect."

The win set up a showdown tomorrow between Stanford and Clemson, which beat San Jose State 10-6 earlier yesterday.

The Cardinal (48-15) got a solid performance from starting pitcher Jason Young and closer Jeff Bruksch to win the CWS opener for the sixth time in their last seven trips.

Although Young gave up three home runs, he kept the damage to a minimum by keeping the Ragin' Cajuns off the bases. Two of Louisiana-Lafayette's homers were solo shots and the third was with one man on.

Young (9-1), who picked up two wins for the Cardinal in last year's CWS, gave up six hits and four runs in 7-1/3 innings. Bruksch pitched 1-2/3 scoreless innings, striking out three, for his 13th save.

Louisiana-Lafayette (47-19) and San Jose State (41-23) will play in tomorrow's elimination game.

Clemson 10, San Jose St. 6:

Clemson got an early surprise from San Jose State, but quickly turned the game around with 10 runs in two innings.

"We knew we were going to score some runs off these guys. We just got in a groove, and hitting is contagious," said Patrick Boyd, whose three-run homer highlighted the Tigers' eight-run second inning..