Irvine outlasts Fullerton in CWS classic

Published Tuesday, June 19, 2007

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Even after winning the longest game in College World Series history, UC Irvine Coach Dave Serrano was a bit sad.

Serrano beat his longtime friend and mentor George Horton and his Cal State Fullerton team 5-4 yesterday. Serrano pitched for Horton at Cerritos College and later served under him there as pitching coach. Serrano coached under Horton again at Fullerton before taking the UC Irvine head coaching job in 2004.

"The bad news is I had to say goodbye to my mentor, coach, friend, my second father, a guy I love a lot," Serrano said. "That’s the toughest part about it, seeing his team eliminated."

The time of the game - five hours, 40 minutes to play 13 innings - beat the old CWS mark for longest game - set in 1981 by Oklahoma State and Arizona State - by 40 minutes.

Next up for the Anteaters (46-16-1) is a game against Arizona State (49-14). It will be their second meeting in four days.

The winner will try to wrestle control of Bracket 2 from defending champion Oregon State (46-18), a team forging a different path toward the title round this year. The Beavers are in control with two wins after beating Arizona State 12-6 last night, rather than staring at elimination as they were at this time last year.

Yesterday’s victory over Fullerton saw eight hit batsmen, 32 runners left stranded on base and two relievers dueling into the late innings until Irvine finally won.

"I know the baseball purists were watching that game on the edge of their seats," said Horton, who was ejected in the bottom of the 13th inning for arguing over a hit batsman call.

Bryan Petersen’s run-scoring single to center field ended the game four batters later, sending the Titans (38-25) home after two games for the first time in nine CWS appearances since 1990.

Fullerton left fielder Josh Fellhauer threw out Taylor Holiday at home plate the previous play.

"In defeat, this will be a day that I remember for a long time," Horton said.

Later, Mike Stutes and three relievers held one of the nation’s top hitting and scoring teams to seven hits as Oregon State revved up its offense to beat ASU.

The Beavers scored every inning until the seventh and finished with 18 hits. Mike Lissman went 3 for 4 with a three-run homer and four RBI.

ASU Coach Pat Murphy complained that his team did not have enough time to prepare for the game because of the extra time needed for the earlier Fullerton-Irvine game. The Pac-10 rivals began 90 minutes after their scheduled start time amid fans filing in after waiting outside for hours.