Stanford reliever prepares for College World Series

Drew Storen found a picture of Rosenblatt Stadium on the Internet and made it into his computer's screensaver at the beginning of the Stanford season.

Four months later, the freshman reliever will be able to snap his own picture of the College World Series site, because his postseason emergence has the Cardinal heading to Omaha, Neb. They play Florida State Saturday in the first game of a four-team, double-elimination bracket. Georgia and Miami are the other teams.

Storen, a 6-foot-2 right-hander, was 2-3 with a 2.93 ERA during the regular season. He earned Freshman All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. In the postseason, he has taken his performance to a new level with a 2.25 ERA. He has figured into four of Stanford's six playoff wins.

"I didn't know what to expect as a freshman, and I still don't think I've realized what I've done or what we've done as a team," Storen said. "I don't think it will hit me until I see (Rosenblatt) in person."

Storen is from Brownsburg, Ind., about a nine-hour drive from Rosenblatt. He watched a game there after playing in a youth tournament nearby. At that time, Storen's dream was to walk-on at Purdue and find a way to the College World Series.

A couple years later, Storen's goals got drastically loftier. He had a growth spurt before his freshman season and his fastball jumped from 74 to 87 mph.

It was all part of his father's plan. After Storen's sixth-grade year, his father made him repeat the grade, giving him another year to develop physically.

"I didn't understand it at the time," Storen said. "Now, I realize that was the key to my development, and I wouldn't do it any other way."

Storen still isn't really imposing at 175 pounds, but his stuff offers plenty of intimidation. He throws a four-seam fastball in the mid-90s, a two-seamer with good sinking action and a devastating slider.

As a 20-year-old freshman, he also has the maturity to handle the role of closer. In Friday's 4-3 win over Cal State Fullerton, Storen entered the game in the ninth inning with one out and the tying run on second base. He put out the fire.

"It's remarkable when you think that at this time last year he was pitching in high school," Stanford coach Mark Marquess said. "He's very confident and if he throws a ball, and the guy hits a home run, he doesn't back off. A lot of guys would be intimidated or afraid to go after guys, but he isn't and that's what you like in a relief pitcher."

Storen says he deals with the pressure by not thinking about it. Until the postseason, he didn't read scouting reports on opposing batters, because he didn't want to start worrying about how to get outs on the best players.

He says he really doesn't start paying attention to the game until the sixth or seventh inning.

"I just take the mentality that the game's not going to change just because we're in a bigger atmosphere," Storen said. "I don't want to think too much or overanalyze anything. I just want to go after guys and trust myself."

College World Series

At Omaha, Neb.

There are two four-team, double-elimination brackets. The winner of each bracket will be determined June 20 and/or 21. They play a best-of-three series for the title, beginning June 23. The opening games are:

SATURDAY

Stanford (39-22-2) vs. Florida State (54-12) ESPN

Georgia (41-23-1) vs. Miami (52-9) ESPN

SUNDAY

Fresno St. (42-29) vs. Rice (47-13) ESPN

LSU (48-17-1) vs. North Carolina (51-12) ESPN2

(E-mail Rusty Simmons at rsimmons(at)sfchronicle.com)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)