World Series Recipe a Cook Family Secret : LSU Freshman Keyaan Follows in Footsteps of Brother and Former Stanford Standout Toi by Earning a Ring for College Baseball Championship

Greg and Sandra Cook’s Canoga Park condominium is probably similar to the neighboring condos, tastefully appointed, clean, uncluttered.

Mementos of the kids’ accomplishments are displayed, just like many families’ homes, but perhaps no other household can boast a pair of matching NCAA baseball championship trophies won for different schools.

Greg and Sandra’s sons Keyaan and Toi earned the trophies, mini replicas of the team trophies, and both played for their schools’ first squads to win national baseball championships.

“The fact that my two sons made it on two different teams was just amazing to me,� Sandra Cook said. “I was just thrilled.�

At the Cook dinner table, they don’t share the peas, they share the glory--the NCAA does not keep such records but the brothers’ baseball accomplishments are certainly rare if not unprecedented. Both also played on Southern Section baseball championship teams while at Montclair Prep.

Toi, now a defensive back for the New Orleans Saints, was a senior starter for Stanford’s 1987 national championship team, and Keyaan was a freshman reserve when LSU won the national championship this spring.

“It was a great experience,� Keyaan said. “Just watching him win it, I never thought I’d be there, at least not my first year.�

Keyaan tripled against Fresno State in two World Series at-bats. For the season, he batted .276 with two home runs and 10 runs batted in. He had 87 at-bats, more than any other LSU freshman, as a third baseman and designated-hitter.

With success have come perks, a 4,000-person victory rally at the baseball stadium, a possible upcoming visit to the White House and a Sports Illustrated picture that shows Keyaan racing madly onto the field after LSU won.

Toi has quit wearing his World Series ring, saying he is not a ring person, but when LSU won the World Series, he left a message on Keyaan’s answering machine saying, “Congratulations, now we have two rings in the family.�

LSU will purchase a ring for Keyaan, and Toi’s ring came at the expense of LSU as well.

In an elimination game of the 1987 College World Series, Stanford trailed LSU, 5-2, with one out in the bottom of the 10th when Stanford’s Paul Carey hit a game-winning grand slam off Ben McDonald. Toi, who had walked, was standing on second base during one of the most dramatic moments in College World Series history.

“That was huge,� said Toi, who also played in the 1985 College World Series. “I knew we were destined.�

It may not have been the shot heard round the world, but news of Carey’s home run did bounce around the bayous a bit. All was not lost for LSU, though.

“That was the game Keyaan became interested in LSU,� Sandra said.

LSU has made five trips to the College World Series in the past six years, and that legacy of success as well as proximity to Toi in New Orleans attracted Keyaan to Baton Rouge.

Playing in the College World Series “was one of my goals. That’s why I picked LSU over USC and UCLA,� Keyaan said. “It’s probably the best decision I’ve made.�

Keyaan went to the Saints’ home games and saw Toi regularly during the school year but said Toi gave him little advice on playing in the College World Series.

“You just have to experience it for yourself,� Keyaan said.

Toi did give his kid brother some advice about college athletics. Unlike the old saying, he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother, from Toi’s perspective, his brother was heavy.

“All I told Keyaan was to lose weight before you go to college,� Toi said.

Some people carry a spare tire around their waists. Keyaan was carrying an 18-wheeler. Keyaan said his weight topped out at 232 pounds in high school, but at LSU he watched his diet and lost weight like some people lose their keys.

In dropping to his present 175 pounds, he went from a 38-inch to a 31-inch waistline and found his new figure was tailor-made for better baseball.

“Since I lost the weight, I feel quicker every day,� Keyaan said.

According to Toi, though, there is a drawback. “Any chance he had of beating me in a fight is out the window,� Toi said.

Both are in Southern California for the summer. Toi has bought a condominium in Westwood and is working on a movie script. Keyaan is taking classes at Pierce College and working out but not playing baseball.

He said he is scheduled to play full time next season and will likely move to second base. He plans to play in the Cape Cod League next summer and hopes to be drafted after his junior season.

Toi points out that Keyaan has three more opportunities to win College World Series championships, but around the Cook household, such accomplishments have a familiar ring.