June 17, 2007

Nerves wreck Irvine's World Series debut
Santschi powers Oregon State past Cal State-Fullerton
Mercury News Wire Services

OMAHA, Neb. - It wasn't Arizona State's three home runs or nine hits that spoiled UC-Irvine's College World Series debut.

Nor was it necessarily the Sun Devils' pitching that led to the Anteaters' 5-4 loss Saturday, or Ike Davis' winning home run.

What hurt Irvine the most was something the Anteaters hadn't expected.

Nerves.

The emotion of playing in front of 19,638 on the biggest stage in college baseball worked its way into the Anteaters' psyche, pitching and offense and left them wishing for a do-over.

The Anteaters now sit on the brink of elimination. They will play at 11 a.m. Monday in the losers' bracket against Cal State-Fullerton, with the winner staying and the loser heading home.

"There have been many teams that have come here and in Game 1 they played out of character," Irvine Coach Dave Serrano said. "I'm not embarrassed about (our performance)."

The Anteaters' reaction to the moment was somewhat surprising considering they had gone into and won at Texas and Wichita State to get to this point.

Their nerves should have been settled by the time they reached Omaha.

Instead, the Sun Devils added to their jitters by jumping on Irvine ace Scott Gorgen (12-3) for an early lead when Matt Spencer hit a three-run home run in the second inning.

"He (pitched) a little out of character," Serrano said of Gorgen, a sophomore right-hander. "He said to me in the fourth inning he was having a tough time breathing and getting relaxed."

While Gorgen was getting settled, the rest of the team got moving and put the Anteaters ahead with a four-run fourth.
At that point, the Anteaters appeared poised to become the first team since Georgia Tech in 1994 to win their CWS debut. Arizona State had other ideas.

C.J. Retherford hit a tying homer in the fifth, and Davis belted a home run in the eighth to put the Sun Devils on top.

Oregon State 3, Cal State-Fullerton 2

Scott Santschi hit his first homer of the season and had two RBIs, and defending champion Oregon State survived some nervous moments to defeat Cal State-Fullerton.

Three Oregon State pitchers combined to allow six hits as the Beavers began their bid to become the first repeat champion since Louisiana State in 1996-97.

Fullerton's Wes Roemer struck out seven to become the school's career leader, but the outing was otherwise disappointing for the Arizona Diamondbacks' first-round draft pick.

Mike Lissman homered in the first and Santschi singled in a run in the second and homered in the seventh.