THE HOT TICKET:Anteaters, Shockers collide in Super Regional

WICHITA, Kan. — UC Irvine sophomore ace Scott Gorgen will try to move the Anteaters one win from the College World Series when he takes the mound in Game 1 of the best-of-three baseball Super Regional today at 9 a.m. at Wichita State.

Gorgen has allowed one run and 12 hits in his last 27 innings, spanning three straight complete-game wins.

UCI (43-15-1), ranked No. 4 in the nation and having won 13 of 15 three-game series in the regular season before sweeping three games in an NCAA Regional last week in Texas, is trying to earn its first trip to the eight-team College World Series, June 15-25, in Omaha, Neb.

Coach Dave Serrano’s Anteaters have won four straight and 12 of their last 13.

The Anteaters, who had eight players drafted Thursday and Friday in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, are hitting .323 as a team and boast a 3.81 earned-run average.

Gorgen (11-2 with a 2.88 ERA) and junior Wes Etheridge (12-4, 2.67) pace a pitching staff that includes senior Blair Erickson, whose 53 saves are an NCAA career record.

Etheridge is scheduled to start Sunday, while freshman Eric Pettis (4-0, 4.36) is slated to start Game 3, if necessary, for UCI.

The ‘Eaters’ most productive hitters are junior leadoff man Taylor Holiday, senior Cody Cipriano and senior outfielder Matt Morris.

Holiday, the Most Outstanding Player in the regional, is hitting .354 with four homers, 41 RBIs and 65 runs out of the leadoff spot. He also has 17 stolen bases.

Cipriano (.344) has tied the school single-season record with 12 homers and has 57 RBIs. Morris, one of 10 UCI regulars hitting at least .300, had 51 RBIs and six homers to add to his .328 average.

Junior outfielder Bryan Petersen, drafted 136th overall by Tampa Bay Thursday, has a team-leading 27 stolen bases for a team that has a school-record 134 this season.

Wichita State (53-20) is coming off four straight wins to advance from its own regional, where it dropped the opening game, 7-6, to New Orleans.

The No. 8-ranked Shockers will start sophomore Aaron Shafer (8-2, 2.43), who is on a pitch count of 85-95 pitches and has thrown no more than six innings in his three starts since missing more than a month with tightness in his right, pitching elbow. Shafer has 88 strikeouts in 77 2/3 innings.

The Shockers’ pitching plan calls for junior Rob Musgrave (10-2, 2.71) to start Game 2, with junior Travis Banwart (10-5, 2.68) in line to start Monday, if necessary.

Banwart, drafted 150th overall by Oakland, has been the Shockers’ No. 1 starter, but he pitched the regional finale against Arizona Monday and WSU coaches said they want Banwart to get some rest.

WSU has a 2.71 staff ERA and is hitting .301 as a unit. The Shockers are led offensively by sophomore Conor Gillaspie (.331, six homers, 63 RBIs), junior Matt Brown (.312, eight homers, 61 RBIs) and junior Tyler Weber (.306, 11 homers, 49 RBIs).

Today’s game is being televised on ESPN 2. Sunday’s is on ESPN at 10 a.m. Wichita State also won 13 of 15 three-game series in the regular season. It lost series against Pepperdine and Cal State Fullerton.

UCI defeated Cal State Fullerton two out of three and split two Tuesday games against Pepperdine.

— Barry Faulkner