UCI’s magical run ends

OMAHA, Neb. — For most of the 283 NCAA Division I college baseball teams, Rosenblatt Stadium, the site of the College World Series, is a mystical, magical place to be dreamed of and never realized.

But the 2007 UC Irvine Anteaters, a program that did not exist when most of its stars were in high school six years ago, the sights, smells, sounds, and sweetness of Omaha in June will forever be viewed as reality.

In a season of firsts, the group of brothers Coach Dave Serrano said made up this team, finally played their last game, losing to defending national champion Oregon State, 7-1, in front of 29,921.

The loss made the Anteaters the first of the final four teams to be eliminated. It finalized the No. 4-ranked team’s record at 47-17-1, and began what promises to be a long period of reflection on just what this remarkable team did and what it could mean to the future of a program that had, before this season, lost all of its four postseason games.

“There’s no disappointment,” said third-year coach Dave Serrano, after his team was stymied by Oregon State starting pitcher Daniel Turpen, who allowed one earned run and five hits in eight innings to improve to 10-1.

A two-out throwing error by UCI junior third baseman Tyler Vaughn opened the door for four unearned runs in the third inning off of UCI freshman starting pitcher Christian Bergman.

And the Anteaters, who had found a way to consistently overcome so many deficits in a remarkable postseason run, finally ran out of dramatics against the Beavers (47-18).

“A magical run has come to an end,” Serrano said. I don’t know if I’ll really understand what happened this year, and what this program achieved, until the emotions of this loss today go away.

“The tears that were down on the field, just now, were because brothers are going to have to leave each other. I tried to ease the pain a little bit by telling them the game didn’t punish us. The way the game went with a score of 7-1, it kind of eased us into it. It could have been real bad, by getting left on the field, like we did to other teams [in their last three wins, including both in Omaha]. And that would have been really difficult.

I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved and what this team has done for our university. We’ve put UC Irvine baseball on the map.”

That imaginary map also includes a new hot spot, an ephemeral locale, more of a concept really, that has come to be known as Eater Nation.

“Eater Nation is awesome,” said Serrano, who for the first time, publicly addressed growing speculation that he could be lured away by a bigger program, such as Tennessee, where he worked as an assistant in 1995 and 1996.

“I’m the baseball coach at UC Irvine and I’m proud of it,” Serrano said. “I have not talked to anyone at the University of Tennessee. All I know is, I’ll be in my office at Newkirk Pavilion, probably starting Friday.”

UCI, which finished 7-2 in the postseason, had hoped to be playing for a national championship. Instead, Oregon State will meet the winner of today’s Rice-North Carolina clash for the ultimate prize in a best-of-three series that begins Saturday.

“I’m so proud of these guys,” Serrano said, “and that goes beyond the baseball field. Throwing the 47 wins out of it, I’m just talking about the day-to-day personalities, and the character of a bunch of guys who just tried to do things right.

“We not only took a big step, we took a leap this year. We were just thinking about winning a regional game and we were four wins away from winning the national championship. So, to be in the top four in the country, there’s nothing but pride in my heart for this team and this season.”

Junior Taylor Holiday and senior Cody Cipriano, among eight players who have either exhausted their eligibility, or will likely leave early to pursue a professional career, said the end was a bitter pill to swallow.

“When Ollie [Linton’s] fly ball [caught for the final out] was in the air, that’s when I started realizing that was probably the end and I was going to have to leave these guys,” said Holiday, among seven players drafted whom Serrano expects to begin their professional careers next season. “To think about leaving some of these guys I love so much, and this program, the coaches, everything. This group will never be together again and it’s heartbreaking, it really is. It’s a special group.”

Said Cipriano: “To get the chance to go to Omaha and play for a national championship has been a remarkable experience. It has been a season of firsts. But as exciting as it was to be here and play on this grand stage of college baseball, it’s pretty devastating right now to have to go take these uniforms off.”

Cipriano doubled to lead off the fourth and scored on a two-out single by Linton, the hero of Tuesday’s come-from-behind 8-7 triumph that eliminated No. 3-ranked Arizona State.

The Anteaters also eliminated then- No. 4 national seed Texas in the four-team regional, Wichita State in the best-of-three Super Regional in Wichita, and Big West rival Cal State Fullerton, in a draining 5-4 triumph that took 13 innings and a College World Series-record five hours and 40 minutes on Monday.

UCI had no hits the final five innings Wednesday, as Oregon State tacked on single runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings to pull away.

Oregon State juniors Mitch Canham and Darwin Barney each had three hits and combined for five RBIs.

Canham hit a two-run homer immediately following Vaughn’s error, the ninth in five series games for a team that came in ranked No. 4 nationally in fielding percentage.

Cipriano went two for three, while sophomore shortstop Ben Orloff and freshman designated hitter Sean Madigan also added to the ‘Eaters’ five hits.

Bergman, making his third start of the season, took the loss and fell to 0-4, though lowering his earned-run average from 6.11 to 4.98.

He allowed four hits, walked one, struck out one and earned praise from Serrano.

“I’m as proud of Christian as I am any of our pitchers this week,” Serrano said. “He gave us a chance to win.”

Now, Serrano said, his team believes it can win it all.

“[Getting to Omaha] bodes so well for this program,” Serrano said. “Now, it’s not living a dream anymore, it’s reality. Now, we know what we have to work for to get to Omaha. And we’ll have to take another step to get to the national championship.”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].

College World Series

Oregon State 7,

UC Irvine 1

Score by Innings

UCI 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 5 1

OSU 0 0 4 0 1 0 1 1 x - 7 11 0

Bergman, Axelrod (5), Calahan (7), Etheridge (8) and Lowenstein; Turpen, Paterson (9) and Canham. W -- Turpen, 10-1. L -- Bergman, 0-4. 2B -- Cipriano (UCI), Wong (OSU). 3B -- Wallace (OSU). HR -- Canham (OSU).