LSU'S BERTMAN CAN'T ESCAPE PAST.

Byline: Tom Vint Associated Press

Skip Bertman has won two national championships as Louisiana State's head coach after being part of two others as an assistant with Miami. Today, his current team meets his old one for the title at the College World Series.

Bertman, the U.S. Olympic baseball coach, is a Florida native and Miami graduate who was the Hurricanes' pitching coach for eight years when Ron Fraser was building them into a two-time national championship team in the 1970s and '80s.

``I was a Hurricane,'' Bertman said. ``I grew up with Miami and the university. Outside LSU, I always root for Hurricane teams in football, and baseball for that matter. It's exciting to play against Miami. It reminds me of our championship teams in '91 and '93 when we were hot, playing well in all phases of the game. They're just doing a great job.''

LSU has been a hot team, too, scoring 45 runs in its last two games in the regionals and nine in each of its first two wins at Omaha. The Tigers then beat second-seeded Florida in a 2-1 pitchers' duel Thursday.

Bertman will try to quiet the Hurricanes, who are hitting .377 in Omaha after a regular season at .340, fourth-best in the nation. LSU will start Kevin Shipp (5-4) with Brett Laxton (8-2) available if needed.

``We've worked hard for this situation,'' said LSU catcher and captain Tim Lanier. ``I think we've been playing decent. I don't think we've played our best yet here, and we're still finding ways to win and that's impressive. But Miami is a hot club.''

Miami coach Jim Morris agrees.

``We feel like we're playing very well right now,'' he said. ``We know LSU has got a great club. They've got a lot of guys who can hit.''

Morris also is going with his big-game pitcher, J.D. Arteaga (12-1), who has started every big game since Morris came to Miami three years ago. The junior left-hander threw seven innings of five-hit ball to hold top-seeded Alabama to one run in the Hurricanes' 15-1 romp on Sunday.