NEWS
May 16, 2004
Barry Faulkner In its third season since returning from a 10-year hiatus, the UC Irvine baseball program has already carved out a spot for itself on the national landscape. But the Anteaters, ranked No. 21 by Baseball America, are finding it much more difficult to establish credibility within a 30-mile radius. With its 11-1 loss to visiting Cal State Fullerton Saturday, the Anteaters (31-16-1, 8-9 in the Big West Conference) are 0-5 in Big West play against the nearby Titans and Long Beach State, both perennial national powers occupying the top two spots in the conference standings.
SPORTS
By Barry Faulkner | September 8, 2007
Dave Serrano, who coached the UC Irvine baseball program to its first Division I College World Series appearance in June, will leave the school to become head coach at Cal State Fullerton, where he played and worked as an assistant coach. Serrano, who compiled a 114-66-1 record in three seasons at UCI, including 47-17-1 last season, a school record for wins, will replace George Horton, who left Fullerton after 11 seasons last week to become coach at Oregon. Serrano had been a candidate at Oregon, before removing his name from consideration Aug. 22. When Oregon hired Horton Aug. 31, Serrano released a statement through UCI stating he had no interest in returning to Fullerton, where he was pitching coach under Horton for eight seasons from 1997-2004.
SPORTS
By David Carrillo Peñaloza | October 24, 2007
First a couple of Estancia High baseball players threw out a suggestion during the offseason to Matt Sorensen, their club coach. The idea was for Sorensen to take over the Eagles’ vacant baseball coaching job, the one open since June. “I didn’t take them seriously at first,” said Sorensen, a former successful Cal State Fullerton pitcher, who had never been a varsity head coach anywhere. Why him? Then the moms and dads got involved. The suggestion kept coming at Sorensen as often as the ball during batting practice and he finally took a crack at it. Now Sorensen, 29, is expected to be named the Eagles’ coach, said Principal Phil D’Agostino Tuesday night, making this the seventh coaching change in the baseball program’s last 11 years.
NEWS
By Barry Faulkner | April 12, 2010
IRVINE — As they awaited the postgame address from Coach Mike Gillespie in left field Sunday at Anteater Ballpark, many of the UCI Irvine baseball players’ heads were down. That’s because, for the first time since 2008, the Anteaters were looking up at someone ahead of them in the Big West Conference standings. Cal State Fullerton moved into sole possession of first place with a 6-1 series-clinching win that left Gillespie, his players, and the UCI faithful among the 1,254 in attendance more than disappointed.
SPORTS
By Barry Faulkner | March 8, 2007
The Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team flirted with history this season, matching the school's best start (16-4) and competing for a Big West Conference crown until well into February. And Corona del Mar High product Eric Glass has had a courtside seat. Glass, who averaged 5.1 points per game as a 6-2 senior guard for the Sea Kings, before graduating in 2002, is in his second season as a manager for Coach Bob Burton's Titans. And while his myriad tasks have included doing laundry and sweeping floors, Glass, an aspiring coach, will be dispensing more than towels and water when the No. 3-seeded Titans begin play in the Big West Tournament tonight at 6 against Pacific.
SPORTS
By Barry Faulkner | December 30, 2007
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.
NEWS
By Barry Faulkner | April 6, 2008
IRVINE — Shades of Omaha reverberated around Anteater Ballpark Saturday night, echoing alongside some familiar late-inning heroics that propelled host UC Irvine to a 3-2 victory over Big West Conference baseball rival Cal State Fullerton in 12 innings. Just as he had in UCI’s 10-inning win over Arizona State in last year’s College World Series, center fielder Ollie Linton singled to aid a dramatic comeback. Against ASU, the Rosenblatt Stadium crowd was chanting “Ollie, Ollie, Ollie,” as he singled to bring in the winning run. This time, about half of the crowd of 2,608 that remained held their explosion until after he singled in Sean Madigan to erase a 2-1 Titans lead.
NEWS
By Barry Faulkner | April 4, 2008
The ink circles on calendars and schedules have long dried, some raw nerves have calmed and some of the emotion expected to carry over into the Big West Conference baseball series between Cal State Fullerton and host UC Irvine has been diffused. But even so, few are denying that the return of Dave Serrano to Anteater Ballpark sets the stage for high drama between the two Orange County and conference rivals, who begin a three-game set tonight. Serrano guided UCI to its first College World Series last season, then accepted the head coaching job with the Titans, for whom he played and was an assistant coach.
NEWS
By Barry Faulkner | April 7, 2008
IRVINE ? Cal State Fullerton Coach Dave Serrano was reluctant to say his Titans had regained what Big West Conference baseball rival UC Irvine had taken from them last season, after erasing a 4-0 deficit to win the rubber game of the three-game series, 6-4, before 2,965 at Anteater Ballpark Sunday. UCI Coach Mike Gillespie, however, didn?t hesitate in saying his team gave away a game in which, for the first five innings, his team had established firm command. ?My first thought is that we let one get away that was gettable,?