June 16, 2007

Davis delivers for Arizona State; Oregon State wins

By Andy Gardiner, USA TODAY

OMAHA — It was a showdown between two teams that had rolled through postseason unbeaten, a collision between one of college baseball's most storied programs and one of its rising stars. For this day, the advantage went to the old guard.

Arizona State used three home runs to pull past UC-Irvine 5-4 Saturday afternoon in their opening game of the 2007 College World Series.

The victory advanced the four-time champion Sun Devils to a winner's bracket game Monday against defending champion Oregon State, who beat Cal State Fullerton in Saturday's second game. The two losers will square off in an elimination game.

"That was a great college baseball game and we came up on the short end of the stick," said Anteater coach Dave Serrano, whose school was making its CWS debut. "I'm not embarrassed by our play by any means. They were able to lift some balls over the fence and we weren't but that's been there M.O. all season."

Arizona State (49-13) won the Pacific-10 Conference with an offense ranked third in hitting (.350 average) and slugging percentage (.537) and first in scoring (9.5 runs per game). It's defense is No. 1 nationally.

But arguably the most important Sun Devil on Saturday was 160-pound true freshman starting pitcher Mike Leake. He kept ASU in the game for seven innings, allowing only one hit outside the fourth inning, when UC-Irvine strung together five consecutive hits to score all its runs.

"It seemed like they were trying to make things happen by crowding the plate, taking away the inside pitch," Leake said. "I didn't have the proper mentality."

Both teams went 5-0 in NCAA postseson to earn their Series' berths but the Anteaters (45-16-1) had the more difficult challenge by far. They won all five on the road, eliminating fourth seed Texas and Wichita State. ASU, the fifth seed, won at home to notch its 20th trip to Omaha.

UC-Irvine started sophomore Scott Gorgen, 12-2 with a 16-inning scoreless streak. That ended in the second when he walked two batters, fell behind Matt Spencer and then delivered a fastball that Spencer ripped over the right field wall for a 3-0 lead. Spencer, who was a member of last year's North Carolina team that finished second in Omaha, transferred to Tempe in mid-year.

"I try not to let things bother me but I don't think I was fully locked in and ready to go," Gorgen said. "I let everything get to me. It was just a rush of emotions, not even nerves. I wasn't myself."

The Anteaters answered with their burst, keyed by Bryan Petersen's triple and a double from Sean Madigan that provided a 4-3 lead. But Leake and reliever Jason Jarvis (two innings of relief for the win) did not allow another hit.

"Irvine is very sound. They swing it good, they pitch it good," said ASU coach Pat Murphy. "They're not just scrappy, they can really play and I see why they're here."

Sun Devil leadoff hitter C.J. Retherford had hit two balls to deep center field for outs when he led off the fifth with a blast that just cleared the wall in left-center to tie the game. Ike Davis provided the winning margin with his leadoff solo homer to right in the eighth, hitting what Gorgen thought was his best changeup of the game.

"I was sitting on a fastball," Davis said. "But he left a change over the middle and I got a piece of it."

UC-Irvine's Serrano has been to Omaha four previous times as an assistant and was the pitching coach on Cal State-Fullerton's 2004 national champion team. He promised the Anteaters will be ready to extend their stay come Monday.

"This is just an atmosphere you can't practice, not on a daily basis," he said. "We might have been a little nervous, a little unsure. But this has been a season of firsts for us and we haven't had to come through a loser's bracket yet. Now we have that opportunity."

Oregon State opens with victory

Scott Santschi hit his first homer of the season and had two RBI, and defending champion Oregon State survived some nervous moments to defeat Cal State Fullerton 3-2 in the College World Series on Saturday night.

OSU pitchers Jorge Reyes, Joe Paterson and Eddie Kunz combined to allow six hits as the Beavers began their bid to become the first repeat champion since LSU in 1996-97.

Fullerton's Wes Roemer struck out seven to become the school's career leader. Otherwise, it was another disappointing CWS start for the Arizona Diamondbacks' first-round draft pick.

Oregon State (45-18) moves to a Monday game against Arizona State (49-13), which defeated UC Irvine 5-4 on Saturday. The Titans (38-24) will play UC Irvine (45-16-1) in an elimination game Monday.

Mike Lissman homered in the first and Santschi singled in a run in the second to put the Beavers up 2-0.

Roemer retired the next 13 in a row and 15 of 17 before Santschi homered to right with one out in the seventh to make it 3-1.

It was Santschi's first home run since June 11, 2006, the day the Beavers swept a super regional against Stanford to set the stage for their first championship run in Omaha.

The Beavers, holding a one-run lead, got two quick outs to start the ninth before the Titans made things interesting.

Evan McArthur hit a short fly, and shortstop Darwin Barney and left fielder John Wallace couldn't decide who would catch it. Barney peeled off at the last moment, leaving Wallace in an awkward position to make the play. Wallace took a step left, then lunged to his right, with the ball popping out of his glove.

Kunz came on and gave up a single to pinch-hitter Jon Wilhite, putting runners at the corners. Kunz then got pinch-hitter Joel Weeks to ground out to end the game.

The Titans, who got a home run from Nick Mahin in the third, were set up for a big inning in the eighth after Joe Scott singled and moved to third when Clark Hardman's hard hit up the middle deflected off Paterson's foot into right field.

With runners on first and third and none out, the Titans tried a safety squeeze play. Paterson fielded Josh Fellhauer's bunt and caught Scott in a rundown between third and home. Hardman and Fellhauer moved up to second and third on the play before Mahin's sacrifice fly pulled the Titans to 3-2. Paterson got John Curtis to fly out to end the inning.

Reyes (6-3) allowed three hits and one run in six innings before giving way to Paterson to start the seventh. Kunz earned his 12th save.

Roemer (11-7), who came into the CWS off three straight complete games, worked eight innings. He struck out seven to run his career total to 365, one more than Adam Johnson (1998-2000).

Roemer, one of the country's most dominant pitchers for three years, is now winless in three CWS starts. He had a no decision and loss against North Carolina last year, getting worked over for six runs and 10 hits in 4 2-3 innings in the opener of the championship series.

He has allowed seven home runs in 19 innings in Omaha.

Contributing: The Associated Press