Johnson (12-1, 1.94) is the school's career victories leader and heads a staff that includes Brandon McNitt (8-3, 2.50), Evan Stecko-Haley (7-3, 3.47) and Frankie Vanderka (3-3, 2.37, five saves). "People can say we're a Cinderella team or whatever they want," Johnson said. "We like having the underdog story. We don't mind that. The only thing that might make us the Cinderella story is that we definitely don't make as much money as the big-time schools and don't bring in as much cash flow and fans. It's a little more of a grind for us, but we're used to it and we feel we can compete with all the best teams in the country." Stony Brook will head to Omaha as the likely fan favorite in the college baseball-loving town, so expect plenty of red in the stands when the Seawolves open Friday against UCLA (47-14). "It's one thing to be an underdog and another to be an underdog that no one has ever heard of before," said Matt Shick, co-host of "The Schick & Nick Show" on Omaha's 1620 The Zone. "When you think of the College World Series, you think of the LSUs and the Texases. If you ask fans around here about Stony Brook, they think that's the name of an apartment complex in west Omaha. You know that these people are going to embrace this feel-good story." Stony Brook's alumni association says there are nearly 100 alumni living in Omaha. Pat Lawlor, owner of Lawlor's Custom Sportswear _ one of Omaha's biggest sports outfitters _ plans to print up 200-300 Stony Brook baseball T-shirts with the team's "Shock the World" rally cry on the back. "If they get past that first weekend to where they're one of the final four teams going forward, then watch out," Lawlor said. "This town will be crazy." After playing in front of tens of thousands of fans rooting against them the past few weeks, the Seawolves look forward to cheers from 20,000-plus in Omaha. After all, Stony Brook drew a total of about 5,800 fans at home _ all season. "I have no idea what it feels like to have that many people cheering for you when you strike people out and stuff like that," Johnson said. "Hopefully we will in a few days. It's going to be amazing." ___ AP Sports Writers Stephen Hawkins in Arlington, Texas, and Eric Olson in Omaha, Neb., contributed to this report. ___ Follow Dennis Waszak on Twitter: http://twitter.com/DWAZ73 |