June 19, 2007

UC-Irvine tops Fullerton in longest CWS game ever

By Andy Gardiner

OMAHA — The longest game in College World Series history ended Monday when California-Irvine's Bryan Petersen produced the game-winning hit for the second time this postseason.

Peterson's single to left scored Cody Cipriano from third base with two outs in the 13th inning to give the Anteaters their first CWS victory, 5-4 against fellow Big West Conference member Cal State-Fullerton. The game lasted 5 hours and 40 minutes, eclipsing the mark of five hours set in 1981 in a 13-inning game between Arizona State and Oklahoma State.

Petersen delivered the ninth-inning double that lifted UC-Irvine past Wichita State 3-2 in the deciding game of its super regional, sending the Anteaters to the CWS for the first time. His winning hit Monday came three pitches after Fullerton left fielder Josh Fellhauer cut Taylor Holiday down at the plate with a rocket throw on the fly.

It was a bittersweet win for UC-Irvine coach Dave Serrano. He ousted his close friend, Fullerton coach George Horton, the man he played for in college and coached alongside before taking over the Anteaters in 2005.

"The good news was we found a way to get it done again," Serrano said. "The bad news is I had to say goodbye to my mentor. I wish our win wouldn't have come at their expense."

UC-Irvine (46-16-1) won despite a season-high six errors as well as allowing six walks. Petersen had company in delivering the victory:

•Cody Cipriano produced a 14-pitch at-bat with eight consecutive foul balls before tying the score with a seventh-inning home run.

•Relievers Tom Calahan and Dylan Axelrod combined for seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits.

•Holiday hit a two-run homer and was hit by a pitch three times, part of a record six Anteaters plunked.

The last time came leading off the 13th and set up the winning rally. Horton was ejected by home-plate umpire David Buck for protesting that Holiday intentionally turned into the pitch.

"The ball was in, and I kind of turned into it and luckily it caught a piece," Holiday said. "I knew I had to do something to get us started."

Said Horton: "It wasn't about not moving; he stuck his arm out. We like to do that, also; they just did a better job than we did. It's a tough way to lose a game, but tip your hat to Holiday. That's good baseball.

"I love Dave, and our hopes now are they carry the Big West banner deep into the tournament."

UC-Irvine is 6-1 in this postseason and faces Oregon State or Arizona State in today's elimination round.

Oregon State doubles up on Arizona State

For Oregon State, it was quite a turnaround.

One month after a dismal offensive performance in three straight losses to Arizona State, the defending national champion Beavers scored every inning and finished with 18 hits in a 12-6 victory over the Sun Devils at the College World Series.

"For us to come out and swing the bat early and get on the board early really helped, because the last time we faced the guys who threw against us tonight, we didn't have any success whatsoever," OSU coach Pat Casey said.

Mike Stutes and three relievers combined to hold one of the nation's top hitting teams to seven hits. But this win was about offense.

The Beavers, who had seven hits in a 3-2 win over Fullerton Saturday, got a three-run homer from Mike Lissman and another homer from Jordan Lennerton. Lissman finished 3-for-4 with four RBI. Chris Hopkins, Joey Wong and Jason Ogata also had three hits apiece.

"We're not the same club we were when they faced us last time," shortstop Darwin Barney said.

The Beavers (46-18) play Wednesday against the winner of a Tuesday night Bracket 2 elimination game between UC Irvine (46-16-1) and Arizona State (49-14). Irvine or ASU would have to beat the Beavers twice to keep them out of the best-of-three championship round that starts Saturday against the Bracket 1 winner.

The Sun Devils lost for only the second time in 17 games since April 29.

"Well, I've been saying all year long that we needed to get punched in the mouth, and it was pretty clear we got punched in the mouth tonight," ASU coach Pat Murphy said. "I don't want to discredit Oregon State at all, but that's as bad a baseball as we've played for six innings all year."

The game started 90 minutes late after UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton played a 5-hour, 40-minute contest that was the longest in the CWS' 61-year history. Murphy complained that there were only 50 minutes between games.

"I think we were rushed into the game a little bit," he said. "I don't think that should be an excuse. But as a note for those of you who run this thing, you can't push a team to play. Our guys didn't have enough time to get ready. When you sit for that long after you hit at 4 o'clock and you're not playing until 8, that's a lot of sitting around with not a lot to do."

ASU second baseman Eric Sogard, who went 2-for-5 for ASU, said Stutes did a good job keeping the Sun Devils off balance early.

"Before the game, we were just sitting under a tree just waiting for that thing to end, and once we got to the field we had about 20 minutes to go, so it was a little rough," Sogard said. "We weren't there mentally right away the first inning."

Barney said he and his teammates tried to relax during the long wait, watching UC Irvine's 5-4, 13-inning victory from the stands and mingling with teammates.

"You try and enjoy being here as much as you are playing, so a lot of our guys bounced around in the stands just having a good time," Barney said. "If Arizona State couldn't do that, it's good for us."

Stutes (11-4), making his third career CWS start and winning for the second time, allowed only two singles until he left with the bases loaded in the seventh.

Blake Keitzman relieved and gave up an RBI single to Raoul Torrez and a two-run single to Eric Sogard. Petey Paramore delivered a long sacrifice fly against Joe Paterson to trim the Beavers' lead to 12-5.

Stutes was solid for a second straight start in the NCAA tournament. Making his latest outing more impressive was the lineup he was facing. Arizona State was batting .348 with 78 home runs in 62 games.

In losing three straight at home to the Sun Devils a month ago, Oregon State hit .105 (9-of-86) as a team.

Murphy was looking for an encore from the two pitchers who played key roles in that series.

Brian Flores (11-2), who pitched a complete-game one-hitter against the Beavers last month, started Monday and faced only seven batters, allowing two runs on four hits.

Josh Satow, who allowed two hits and no runs in eight innings against OSU last month, entered in the second inning and left after the fourth having allowed six runs on eight hits.

The Beavers had to fight back from an opening loss to reach the championship series last year. Even though they are in control of Bracket 2 this time, Casey is leaving nothing to chance.

"We have to keep the throttle down," he said.