UCI aims to snap streak

BATON ROUGE, La. — Much has been made of the 23-game winning streak that LSU (46-16-1) takes into the best-of-three baseball Super Regional with UC Irvine (41-16) that begins today at 3 p.m.

UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said it’s not the streak that worries him so much as the confidence that streak has created.

“They are really confident, they have to be, and that’s important,” Gillespie said from the dugout at Alex Box Stadium, where the No. 8-ranked Anteaters, winners of five straight and seven of their last eight, worked out Friday.

LSU junior left-hander Ryan Verdugo, who will start today against UCI junior All-American Scott Gorgen, confirmed Gillespie’s thought process.

“The key [to the streak] was just not panicking once we got down,” said Verdugo, who learned Friday he was selected in the ninth round (267th overall) by the San Francisco Giants in the Major League First-Year Player Draft.

“It wasn’t so much a matter of if we were going to come back, but when,” Verdugo said of the streak, during which LSU trailed in 17 of the 23 games.

 The 23-game winning streak, currently best in the NCAA, is a school and Southeastern Conference record. It is actually a 24-game unbeaten streak, since the No. 5-ranked Tigers, the No. 7 national seed in the NCAA tournament, had their April 20 game against Georgia halted with the score tied, 10-10.

During the streak, LSU is hitting .324 as a team with 65 doubles, eight triples and 42 home runs among its 280 hits. That’s 115 extra-base hits during the streak.

UCI has just 150 extra-base hits the entire season.

LSU has outscored opponents, 219-101 during the steak.

 In its last 23 games, UCI is 16-7 and has outscored foes, 144-89.

 UCI, however, is bolstered by the confidence of being 8-0 the last two seasons in regional and super regional play, all on the road.

The ’Eaters did snap Oral Roberts’ 12-game winning streak, second-longest in the nation at the time, by beating the Golden Eagles twice last week at the Lincoln Regional in Nebraska.

Eric Deragisch, the Anteaters junior third baseman, who played last season at Sierra Community College, said UCI’s late-season surge began when a season worth of lineup shuffling subsided enough for players to more clearly know their roles.

“We won two of three at UC Davis, then two of three from Santa Barbara, then we kept winning last week at Nebraska,” Deragisch said. “That’s when everything started rolling. It all just clicked in like a slot machine [jackpot]. You know, $1 million.”

 Deragisch who was four for 10, making him one of six Anteaters to hit at least .400 in Lincoln, may have the benefit of a good luck charm in the form of his uncle, Dennis Deragisch.

Dennis Deragisch, who lives in Texas, will be on hand to watch his nephew this weekend, among 125 UCI supporters who have tickets.

The only previous series Uncle Deragisch attended was at New Mexico, when the younger Deragisch went six for 12 with four RBIs and scored two runs. He drove in the tying and winning runs in the first game of a nonconference sweep of the Lobos, April 25-27, at Isotopes Park.

“That was my breakout series,” Eric Deragisch said.

The rest of the Anteaters may also be glad to see Dennis Deragisch again, since they hit .417 as a team at New Mexico (48 for 115) with seven doubles, five homers and one triple. The ’Eaters outscored the Lobos, 28-10, that weekend.

 Gillespie said sophomore lefty Danny Bibona will start Game 2 and sophomore Bryce Stowell is slated to start Game 3. Gillespie said he likes Bibona against the strong left-handers in LSU’s lineup.

Gillespie also said that if it were necessary to use another starter in relief Saturday, Stowell would be better suited to bounce back and start Monday.

 LSU Coach Paul Mainieri has not announced his starters for Games 2 and 3.

 Gillespie apologized to LSU fans and “the fine people of Louisiana” through local media members Friday for comments he made earlier in the week about their boorish behavior in the stands during his two previous postseason visits while coaching USC.

“Hopefully, they will accept my apology and we can move on,” Gillespie said.

 All seven LSU players drafted by Major League teams were selected Friday.

Besides Verdugo, junior first baseman Matt Clark went in the 12th round to the Padres. Louis Coleman (Jr. RHP) went in the 14th round to the Nationals, Blake Martin (Jr. LHP) went in the 17th round to the Twins, and Jared Bradford (Sr. RHP) went in the 18th round to the Cardinals.

Senior shortstop Michael Hollander went in the 20th round to the Rangers, while Jordan Brown (Jr. RHP) went in the 39th round to the Cubs.

It was the fourth time Brown has been drafted.