Arizona State

TEMPE, Ariz. — This time there wasn’t a dramatic comeback or an extra inning. Top-ranked Arizona State took care of the No. 5-ranked UC Irvine baseball team and ended the Anteaters’ eight-game winning streak with a 15-hit attack on its way to an 11-3 victory to close out the Bob Schaefer Memorial Tournament Sunday. The last time the teams played, UCI rallied from a four-run deficit to knock the Sun Devils out of the College World Series, 8-7, in 10 innings last June.

UC Irvine is ranked No. 22 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 preseason baseball poll released Friday. The Anteaters finished 47-17-1 last season, when they finished third at the College World Series in the program’s first trip to Omaha. UCI finished second in the Big West with a 15-6 mark, won the Round Rock (Texas) Regional and the Wichita Super Regional to advance to the CWS. The ’Eaters became the first team to post consecutive extra-inning wins at the CWS, ousting Cal State Fullerton, 5-4, in a CWS-record 5 hours, 40 minutes (13 innings)

The announcement, made by the Cal State Fullerton media relations department Sept. 7, hit the UC Irvine baseball program and its supporters like a fastball to the eye socket. For, like the unprecedented postseason run that had just thrust UCI onto the national sports landscape, nobody saw this one coming. Just seven days prior to being named baseball coach at Cal State Fullerton, where he had both played and coached, former UCI head man Dave Serrano had issued a statement disavowing any interest in replacing his mentor and friend, George Horton, who had left Fullerton for a big paycheck and a blank canvas at the University of Oregon.

UC Irvine juniors Scott Gorgen and Ollie Linton have been named preseason All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Assn. Gorgen, a pitcher, is the lone Big West Conference representative on the first team while Linton, an outfielder, is a second-team choice. Gorgen was 13-3 as a sophomore and earned third-team All-American honors after finishing the season tied for third in the nation in wins. The right-hander posted a 2.83 ERA, had three complete-game shutouts and pitched seven innings in another combined shutout.

UC Irvine junior pitcher Scott Gorgen and redshirt junior outfielder Ollie Linton have been named to the preseason watch list for the Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award, presented to the top college player by the College Baseball Hall of Fame. Gorgen, a six-time All-American, posted a 13-3 overall record for the Anteaters last season and finished tied for third in the nation in wins. He had 117 strikeouts and a 2.83 ERA.   Linton finished with a .342 average, totaling 52 hits and 21 RBIs.

UC Irvine sophomore John Chin (golf) and junior Laura Olvera (cross country) have earned Big West Conference honors for their recent performances. Chin has been named the Big West Conference Athlete of the Month for men’s golf in September. Chin finished fourth of 50 golfers with a 54-hole total of 8-under par 208 (71-68-69) at the Oregon State Giustina Memorial Classic Sept. 17-18 at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis, Ore. Chin was Big West Freshman of the Year and an all-conference first team selection last season when he placed third at the Big West Championships.

Ryan Bousquet, who won a state championship in men’s cross country as a sophomore for Orange Coast College in 2001, died in a motorcycle accident on Aug. 27. Bousquet, 25, was dead on the scene in Anaheim and speed was believed to have been a factor, according to various reports. Bousquet transferred to OCC from Arizona State and competed for the Pirates for one year. He then transferred back to Arizona State. Recently, he had been an assistant coach for Esperanza High’s cross country program.

UC Irvine baseball coach Dave Serrano was named Baseball America's 2007 Coach of the Year. Serrano led the Anteaters to a school-record 47-17-1 mark and a program best No. 4 final national ranking. Serrano captained the Anteaters to the program's first Division I College World Series appearance, going 2-2 in Omaha. During its postseason run, UC Irvine defeated perennial powers Texas, Wichita State, Cal State Fullerton and Arizona State. Serrano is 114-66-1 overall at UCI, recording his 100th career victory against Pacific on May 12, 2007.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — Cierra Gaytan-Leach, a rising junior at Corona del Mar High, was 1-1 Saturday against two girls bound for the University of Southern California this fall in the 105th Annual Southern California Junior Sectional Championships. And while her family consists mostly of Trojans, the school some refer to as the "University of Spoiled Children" is not exactly high on the list of colleges Gaytan-Leach plans to see when she makes her round of unofficial visits this summer.

OMAHA, Neb. — Matt Morris was the Forrest Gump of the UC Irvine Baseball team this postseason, which ended with a 7-1 loss to Oregon State Wednesday at Rosenblatt Stadium. While Bryan Petersen (two) and Ollie Linton (one) have had game-winning hits to help the Anteaters produce their final three victories, and Taylor Holiday and Cody Cipriano had been slugging home runs and collecting media attention, Morris, a senior left fielder, was sparkling on the periphery. In Tuesday's come-from-behind, 8-7 win over Arizona State, Morris doubled in two runs to tie the score, 7-7, in the eighth inning.