On June 7, 1990, Georgia baseball was battling the Stanford Cardinal in a two-game series that would determine who would go on to compete in the College World Series championship game. The Bulldogs had lost the day before 4-2 and were set to throw their right-handed standout, and future CWS Most Outstanding Player, Mike Rebhan against Stanford’s future big-league Hall of Famer Mike Mussina. In part three of The Red & Black’s series on Georgia’s 1990 national championship team, we take a look at their postseason run from Waterbury, Connecticut to Omaha, Nebraska. 

College baseball is a dog eat dog world. And in the first game of the 1990 College World Series Northeast Regional, the Bulldogs ate some home cooking.

At Municipal Stadium in Waterbury, Connecticut, they devoured the UConn Huskies 7-2 to break a five-game losing streak and whet their postseason appetite.

“We were playing up in the middle of nowhere Connecticut,” assistant coach Greg Appleton said. “We were away from all the pressure, and we just went up there and started playing good again.”

Wet feet in Waterbury

Maine and a top-seeded North Carolina tried and failed to stop the No. 2-seed Bulldogs from plowing through their double elimination regional. With Nebraska cornfields in their eyes, all that stood between Georgia and Omaha were the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. 

The New Jerseyans had to win twice to advance, but coming off a payback victory over the Tar Heels the day before, they weren’t ready to roll over just yet.

Then-sophomore catcher Terry Childers, who missed Georgia’s disastrous SEC tournament performance with a broken pinky sustained during the team’s even-more-unsightly final series in Baton Rouge, had a firm recollection of the Rutgers matchup. Well, part of it, that is.

Until recently, catchers were less of an obstacle and more of a target for runners barreling down the third baseline. Childers was on the receiving end of Rutgers fullback and center fielder James Cann, who knocked him out cold in a play at the plate.

“I mean this guy literally cleaned my clock,” Childers said. “It was ugly.

After flubbing a couple questions from team trainers, such as ‘What day is it?’, Childers missed the rest of the game. Little did he know his absence would make all the difference.

As Childers recovered at an area hospital, then-senior Tommy Owen filled in behind the plate. But with the Bulldogs down 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth, head coach Steve Webber pulled the backup catcher for freshman designated hitter and right-handed pitcher Tracy Wildes, who knocked a pinch hit dinger to send the game to extra innings.

The only catcher left on the roster was freshman J.P Stewart. It was his first time touching a live ball as a Bulldog. And it was a memorable experience.

Rutgers put one man on in the tenth. The next batter bunted, and Stewart scooped it cleanly. Whether from panic or just plain overthinking, he overshot first base and chucked it into the right field bullpen. It was over. Rutgers took game one.

“I remember he was coming off the field, and he was down,” then-senior Brian Jester said. “I remember catching him about halfway between the dugout and home plate, and I remember looking at him and saying ‘It’s okay, bud, we got you. We got this for you.’ And then we went back and pummeled them in game two and went to Omaha.”

Georgia beat Rutgers 20-9 in the win or go home rematch later that night. The Bulldogs were set for their second CWS appearance in four years, and this time, the lights at Rosenblatt Stadium weren’t quite as bright.

Pitching pretty 

On June 1, 1990, four-seed Georgia matched up with the other Bulldogs from down south, Mississippi State. Georgia had taken their regular season series 2-1, although State had routed the Athenians 22-6 the last time they’d shared the diamond.

But with All-American senior Dave Fleming on the mound, Georgia was confident.

“[Mississippi State] could never beat him,” Webber said. “Hell, I don’t know how many times he’d beat them over the course of his career.”

The left-hander stayed true to form, shutting out State 3-0 to give the 1990 team Georgia baseball’s first CWS win in history. Then-freshman left fielder Ray Suplee described it as the Diamond Dogs’ “you-have arrived moment.”

It was their tournament to lose. But legends loomed.

Next on the docket was perennial CWS contender Stanford and their future MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Mike Mussina. Everyone, including the Bulldogs themselves, considered Georgia the underdog. 

Webber gave then-senior Mike Rebhan the nod to start. It wasn’t a difficult decision, as Rebhan and Fleming, who combined to finish 25-11 in regular and postseason play, started all but one game in the 1990 CWS. 

For athletic director Vince Dooley, it was can’t-miss baseball.

“I was in Tampa at an athletic directors meeting,” Dooley said. “I kept going back and forth from Omaha to Tampa and back for a meeting and then back to see the next ball game,” Dooley said. “It was thrilling.”

18-inning man

While Dooley plugged his emergent program in the announcers’ booth, Rebhan showed the world what he could do.

Opposite Mussina, Rebhan threw a two-run complete game. Stanford’s pair came in the first sixth innings, and as the Bulldog offense struggled early against the Cardinal great, Mussina threatened to prove the odds-makers right.

Yet then freshman left-fielder Ray Suplee began a sixth inning explosion that eliminated any question as to the SEC-flops’ championship worthiness. With the bases loaded, he dinged a two-RBI shot off the left field wall. 

“I’m standing on second base,” Suplee said. “I see my now-wife and my parents in the stands. The TV cameras, the size of the crowd — it was magic. It was really a cool moment in time.”

By the time the seventh frame rolled around, 16 Bulldog batters had driven in 11 runs. They went on to win 16-2.

“It just kept happening, one hit after another,” Dooley said. “The athletic director at Stanford was mad because I got so much time promoting Georgia on television as opposed to him.”

While Georgia took a well-deserved day off, Stanford took out Mississippi state 15-1 in the loser’s bracket and looked forward to red and black redemption. In the first rematch, they got it, beating Fleming 4-2 to set up another Rebhan-Mussina showdown with a championship appearance on the line.

Rebhan tried to save his battle-weary arm with just a few pre-game throws in the bullpen with Stewart. The concerned freshman approached Appleton, who just shrugged his shoulders.

“[Appleton’s] like ‘That’s what [Rebhan’s] got to do,’” Childers said. “[And Rebhan] goes out there and throws nine innings and gives up one run. I mean, just absolutely amazing.”

Booking his second complete game of the CWS, Rebhan again led the Bulldogs ahead of Mussina and the Cardinal.

Following their 43-15 regular season, their breezy regional and their 11-run, Dooley-detaining inning against Stanford, the Bulldogs were 27 outs from history. Their final foe was Oklahoma State, a program competing in its eighth CWS in ten years.

“We didn’t have much time to think about it,” Webber said. “We were right back at it.”

With Fleming and Rebhan gassed, freshman Stan Payne would take the hill on June 9 for all the marbles. 

This series was originally meant to be a three-part look at Georgia baseball’s lone championship team. However, due to length, the 1990 Bulldogs’ championship game performance and legacy will be explored in part four, coming soon.

 

Printed with permission from The Red & Black independent student media organization based in Athens, Georgia; redandblack.com/sports