June 15, 2007

UCI realizes diamond dream
Anteaters' Division I baseball program, just six seasons after a nine-year exile, has reached the College World Series.

By Barry Faulkner

OMAHA, Neb. — Anteaters are mostly nocturnal creatures, so maybe that's why some people are confused that UC Irvine's baseball program has, with its unexpected run to the College World Series, shuffled into the glow of the national spotlight.

All week, the university's coaches and athletic department officials have been dealing with reporters mangling the school's name — Cal-Irvine, California-Irvine, you name it.

Coach Dave Serrano even addressed the preferred usage of the school's name — UC Irvine or UCI — when the coaches talked to hundreds of reporters Thursday at Rosenblatt Stadium. He aims to refine the public perception of a program that was largely unknown until this notable postseason run.

"We do have a Division I baseball team," Serrano told the reporters, with a smile. "We're located in Orange County, just south of Newport Beach."

All but the most ardent college baseball fanatics, however, have ample justification for their ignorance of these blue-white-and-gold-clad Anteaters, who, as recently as 2001 were, at least on the baseball diamond, extinct.

Spurred by budget cuts, UCI disbanded its baseball program after the 1992 season, after 15 mostly mediocre seasons in Division I.

Most, if not all of the marquee success achieved by a program that began in 1970 occurred at the Division II level.

A student referendum in 1999 provided funding for baseball, and then-athletic director Dan Guerrero, who played college baseball at UCLA, helped usher in the program's return after a nine-year hiatus, including construction of Anteater Ballpark.

Guerrero hired then-USC pitching coach John Savage as head coach after the 2000 season, allowing Savage plenty of time to build a staff and a roster for the 2002 season.

Savage's first team, comprised almost completely of players who had never played against Division I competition, finished 33-26, 14-10 in the Big West Conference, and immediately fueled expectations that the 'Eaters could pose a threat to perennial Big West powers Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State.

Injuries sabotaged the 2003 season, when UCI finished 21-35, 8-13. But the program, powered by strong pitching and a scrappy offense, rebounded to go 34-23 in 2004. That was good enough to earn its inaugural trip to an NCAA Regional, the first step in the 64-team national tournament that sends eight teams to Omaha.

Guerrero, who had since left to become the athletic director at UCLA, lured Savage to Westwood after the 2004 season to fill the coaching opening created when Gary Adams (who had, ironically, guided UCI to its Division II titles) retired.

UCI Athletic Director Bob Chichester wasted little time finding a replacement, hiring Dave Serrano just days after Serrano, as pitching coach, helped Cal State Fullerton win the 2004 College World Series.

Serrano, the 2004 national assistant coach of the year who had helped five teams advance to the College World Series in his 10 seasons as a Division I assistant, said UCI was the only school that could have lured him away from Fullerton.

"I saw what Augie [Garrido] did years ago at Fullerton [guiding the Titans from obscurity to national titles in 1979, 1984 and 1995] and Fullerton didn't have anything close to what Irvine had," Serrano said. "Irvine had the facility, the academics and a great location.

"I just saw an opportunity to take a program that a lot of people probably didn't think could win the national championship and take on that challenge," Serrano said.

Gregg Wallis, UCI's director of baseball operations, was the first player to sign with UCI for its revival season of 2002. He was a senior infielder when Serrano arrived.

"Coach Savage brought some tradition with him, having been at USC," Wallis said. "And when Coach Serrano got here, he just accelerated it."

Players, as well as assistant coaches, said Serrano brought an attitude the program had been lacking.

"When we came in, there was not an edge to the players," assistant Sergio Brown said. "We inherited nine pitchers and a couple of players we thought were good."

Senior second baseman Cody Cipriano, redshirt junior catcher Aaron Lowenstein and senior relief pitcher Blair Erickson are the only remaining players who played for both Savage and Serrano. Assistant Nathan Choate said Serrano quickly got his players feeling they could compete on the national level.

"[Serrano] has an unbelievable ability to get players to believe," Choate said.

Serrano, eager to make a good impression on his players, said he struggled to enforce boundaries his first season, which resulted in a 31-25 record and no postseason invitation.

UCI was 36-24 last season, including a quick exit from the four-team regional at Pepperdine.

In what Serrano likes to call a season of firsts, UCI won 40 regular-season games for the first time in Division I.

The Anteaters then won their first regional game, and twice beat national power and No. 4 overall seed Texas twice to win the Round Rock Regional.

They jumped from No. 9 to No. 4 in the national rankings and then swept the Super Regional at Wichita State.

They take a 45-15-1 record into their College World Series opener against Arizona State, at 11 a.m. Saturday.

The game will be televised on ESPN and more than 23,000 spectators are expected at Rosenblatt Stadium.

"There was never a doubt in my mind that we could accomplish things," Serrano said. "But I'm still pinching myself."