For the first time in recent College World Series history, two teams unbeaten in tournament play will meet for the NCAA Division I championship.
Wichita State (66-12) and Louisiana State (54-18) each are 3-0 in the tournament. Winners of the two brackets in the modified double-elimination tournament did not go unbeaten in the four previous years of the current format.Regardless of who wins Saturday's game, the champion will be the first to sweep through the CWS without a loss since Texas in 1983. There have been 10 unbeaten champions in the 45-year history of the event.
"History will be made here in the short format," Wichita State Coach Gene Stephenson said.
Stephenson and LSU coach Skip Bertman said it should be an excellent final, because both teams are hitting well and their pitching has been good.
The Shockers will start right-hander Tyler Green (11-1), who had 14 strikeouts in nine innings without a decision in a 3-2, 12-inning CWS win over Creighton Monday night. LSU will go with right-hander Chad Ogea (13-5), who has pitched only 3 1/3 innings in relief in the tournament.
"Tyler Green is a magnificent pitcher like we saw the other night," Ogea said Friday. "You have to keep your concentration up the whole game against a team like this or before you know it they have runners at second and third."
Green said he admired Ogea and the Tigers but wouldn't alter what he has been doing on the mound.
"I don't think you want to go out and do anything different," Green said.
"Whatever got you here is what you do," Ogea said.
Tigers slugger Lyle Mouton, who has three home runs in the tournament, said LSU hitters will have to be patient against Green and try to lay off the knuckle curve of the hard-throwing, first-round major league draft pick. The sharp-breaking pitch goes with Green's fastball of 90-plus mph.
"We haven't seen anything like that," Bertman said. "I don't know if our hitters are good enough to lay off that pitch."
LSU, led by Mouton's .600 average, is hitting .348 in the series. The Shockers are hitting .265.
Still, Wichita State is the team with championship game experience. The Shockers lost in the 1982 final 9-3 to a Miami team on which Bertman was the pitching coach. Wichita State won the title in 1989, beating Texas 5-3.