USC Baseball Makes 20th Trip To College World Series Thanks To 15-Game Winning Streak; Trojans Go For 13th National Championship

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Upcoming Games Schedule: NCAA College World Series - Omaha, Nebraska Saturday, June 10 vs. Florida State - 11:30 a.m. (Central) - CBS-TV If Trojans win, they will play winner of LSU-Texas game on Monday, June 12, at 2 p.m. (Central) - ESPN. If Trojans lose, they will play loser of LSU-Texas game on Monday, June 12, at 6 p.m. (Central) - ESPN2.

LOS ANGELES -- The USC baseball team -- winner of 12 NCAA championships, more than twice as many as any other school -- is 43-18 in the 2000 season after stunning No. 1 Georgia Tech in Atlanta with two straight wins (7-2 and 6-3) in the NCAA Super Regional. USC will make its 20th appearance at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., as the hottest team in the nation with a 15-game winning streak. The Trojans also have won 16 of their last 17 games. USC began post-season play by winning the NCAA First-Round Regional at Fullerton, Calif., with wins against Virginia Tech (8-3), Loyola Marymount (13-5) and host Cal State Fullerton (8-3). USC finished the regular season with a 38-18 record and 16-8 in Pacific-10 Conference play with a fourth-place finish, one game behind tri-champions Arizona State, Stanford and UCLA.

RANKINGS -- USC is No. 4 in the latest Baseball America poll, No. 5 in Collegiate Baseball and No. 12 in the USA Today Baseball Weekly/ESPN Coaches' poll (as of May 21).

TEAM OF THE 20TH CENTURY -- No other university can match the collegiatebaseball tradition of USC, and it showed when Baseball America awarded the Trojans the title of "Greatest Program of the 20th Century" in its Feb. 1, 1999 issue. Troy has an unprecedented 12 NCAA championships (no other school has more than five), 36 conference titles and 19 College World Series appearances (second most in the nation). Legendary former coach Rod Dedeaux was named "Coach of the Century" by both Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America. Trojan players have been named All-American first teamers 41 times, and 81 players have gone on to play in the majors, including such stars as Tom Seaver, Fred Lynn, Ron Fairly, Randy Johnson, Mark McGwire, Jeff Cirillo and Bret Boone.

COACH'S CORNER -- Mike Gillespie, in his 14th season as the Trojans' headcoach, has a 562-311-2 (.643) career record and has led USC to the 1998national championship, three conference titles (1991-95-96), 12 trips tothe NCAA Regionals in 14 years (reaching the regional finals 10 times), and trips to the 1995, 1998 and 2000 College World Series (Troy finished as the nation's runner-up in 1995). He was named the 1998 National Coach of the Year, the Pac-10 Coach of the Year three times (1991-95-96) and the West Region Coach of the Year twice (1996-98). The starting leftfielder on USC's 1961 NCAA-winning team, he is one of just two men who both have been a head coach and played on championship teams.

USA BASEBALL -- USC coach Mike Gillespie will serve as Head Coach of the2000 USA Baseball National Team of collegiate all-stars that will play on the US WEST Red, White and Blue Summer Tour. USC assistant coach John Savage will serve as the pitching coach for Team USA. On April 19, pitcher Mark Prior was invited to the team trials to be held June 16-21 in Tucson, Ariz. Prior was a member of the 1999 USA National Team. On May 23,freshman pitcher Anthony Reyes was also invited to the team trials.

STREAKING TO THE FINISH LINE -- The Trojans have won 15 straight games (thefifth-longest streak in USC history) and 16 of their last 17 games. Duringthat 15-game span, the team has batted .360 with 26 home runs and 23 stolenbases. The pitching staff has a 2.27 ERA during the last 15 games. Theteam has outscored opponents by a 139-44 margin during the streak and has10 or more hits in 13 of 15 games. In 135 innings, the staff has allowed111 hits, walked 45 and struck out 157 batters. The last time USC won at least 13 consecutive games was 1995, when the Trojans reached the nationalchampionship game. The last time the Trojans won at least 11 straight was the 1998 season en route to the school's 12th national championship.

Longest Winning Streaks 23 games1942-43 22 games1973-74 19 games1955 16 games1948, 1949, 1971 15 games1963, 1972-73, 1978, 1988, 2000 13 games1962, 1966, 1970, 1995 *The top streak within one season is 19 games in 1955

HONORED TO HAVE YOU -- Junior Rik Currier was named Pacific-10 ConferenceCo-Pitcher of the Year, along with Stanford's Justin Wayne. Second basemanAnthony Lunetta earned Pac-10 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year honors. Catcher Beau Craig and third baseman Justin Gemoll earned All Pac-10 First-Team honors while Seth Davidson, Rob Garibaldi, Josh Persell, Mark Prior and Anthony Reyes were placed on the honorable mention list.

REALLY HONORED TO HAVE YOU -- Junior Rik Currier was recently selected tothe All-American Second-Team by Collegiate Baseball and The Sporting Newswhile senior Justin Gemoll was a All-American third-team pick by CollegiateBaseball.

GORILLA BALL, PART II -- The 2000 version of the Trojans probably will notmatch the 1998 national championship team's school-record 114 home runs in 66 games, but they will come close. This year, the Trojans have hit 90 home runs in 61 games, the second-most in school history. Justin Gemolland Beau Craig, who both had four home runs each last season, have combinedfor 34 this season (Gemoll-18 and Craig-16).