The Shot Heard 'Round the... Gulf?

The following is some detailed context to one of the greatest moments in college sports history.

So growing up in Baton Rouge I didn't get all that much exposure to things outside the realm of food (damn good) and sports (also good). It's no coincidence Louisiana is prime pickin's for high school athletes... there's nothing else to do. But it's not altogether a bad thing. Watching a college baseball team with 5 national championships in 10 years is certainly rare. Well between 1991 and 2000, the LSU Tigers did just that. 1996 was a special year. The Tigers went 43-13 in the regular season including a 20-10 SEC conference record. Even thought I was only 10, I'll always have vivid memories of LSU feeling like the underdog that year. Florida swept the Tigers in the regular season and again beat them in SEC Tournament play. Disappointed with a poor SEC tourny showing, The Tigers bounced back in the first stage of the post-season, regional play. They hosted UNLV, Austin Peay, and Georgia Tech coming out on top after all was said and done. On to Omaha...

After a win against CWS-rival Wichita St. the Tigers again had to face SEC foe Florida Gators. No one thought they had a chance. Florida had beaten them all of the 4 times they faced each other that year. I think it's something in the water because LSU always seems to rise to the occasion in Omaha. They won 9-4. The Tigers then had to wait a day to see who they would play out of the losers bracket. Guess who? Florida. This one was a pitchers' duel but the Tigers again won 2-1. Although Florida had beaten the Tigers 4 our of 6 games that year, LSU won when it counted. After those two games I'm sure Coach Bertman and his crew felt on top of the world sending UF back to the Florida heat. The task was not done, though.

Regulars to Omaha, UMiami Hurricanes, had also sweep their bracket. While LSU would eventually send a handful of their players to the pros, so would Miami. Most notably, Alex Cora and Pat Burrell. Their line-up terrorized pitchers all year and batted in 8 against the Tigers to pull ahead 8-7 in the 9th inning. After batting catcher Tim Lanier around to 3rd base, Bertman opted to pitch-hit. He decided to put in Warren Morris. A year before and no one would have second guessed the decision, but Morris had sat out the entire year with a lingering wrist injury: he didn't have one recorded at-bat in 1996. Call it luck...call it... nevermind it was luck... Either way, first pitch: walk-off homerun. HOLY SHIT.

I can't stress how amazing and unlikely that outcome is in that situation. The ball cleared the right-field fence by a few inches but it cleared it. No one could believe what just happened. I was in New Jersey with my family and ran out the door and down the street screaming at the top of my lungs "Hurray!" or some other corny exclamation followed closely by my dad who was doing the same, probably with his shirt off. Miami shortstop Cora was not only amazed... he was devastated. I used to laugh and remember how just laid there, face down in the infield dirt, crying into his hat. I still kinda chuckle, but I do feel sorry for him. The odds are better to come home to Carmen Electra in your bed. To this day, his homer is the only walk-off championship-winning home run in College World Series history. In addition, it is the only 2-out, ninth inning, walk-off home run in a championship of any collegiate or professional level. It had such an impact on my dad that he decided to bring me to the CWS the next two year and skip the family vacations altogether (where I saw LSU win in '97 and, ironically, two Pac-10 teams slug it out as USC beat ASU 21-14 in '98).

I still get pumped up about the CWS even if LSU or USC aren't playing. This I have to credit to Warren Morris's one hit in 1996.