Cal State Fullerton

FULLERTON - Two pitches after he nearly swung out of his shoes, Cal State Fullerton senior Carlos Lopez left visiting UC Irvine on the field, stunned in their tracks. Lopez launched a 1-1 split-finger fastball off a banner about 10 feet over the top of the right-field fence to lift the host Titans to a 3-2 walk-off victory over the Anteaters in front of 2,399 on Saturday at Goodwin Field. The winning homer, which Lopez said was pre-ordered by Titans head man Rick Vanderhook, clinched the Big West Conference series victory for the Titans, who also wrapped up at least a share of the conference regular-season crown.

FULLERTON - For the third straight game, Cal State Fullerton fifth-year senior Carlos Lopez erased a UC Irvine lead to produce a dramatic baseball victory for the Titans. Turns out, it was Lopez who also got away from the Anteaters. "It's pretty funny, because I was supposed to go to Irvine," Lopez said after he hit his second walk-off home run in two days on Sunday, this time a three-run shot with one out in the ninth off reliever Evan Brock to give the host Titans a 7-5 triumph to sweep the three-game Big West Conference series in front of 2,551 at Goodwin Field.

FULLERTON - This time, UC Irvine pitcher Andrew Thurman lost more than just a strong bid for a no-hitter. For the second time in two seasons, Cal State Fullerton broke up a no-hit bid late against Thurman, who frustrated the Titans through eight no-hit innings last year in a 4-1 home win. But in the opener of a three-game Big West Conference series on Friday, the host Titans washed away Thurman's would-be no-no on a leadoff single in the seventh...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

FULLERTON - For the third straight game, Cal State Fullerton fifth-year senior Carlos Lopez erased a UC Irvine lead to produce a dramatic baseball victory for the Titans. Turns out, it was Lopez who also got away from the Anteaters. "It's pretty funny, because I was supposed to go to Irvine," Lopez said after he hit his second walk-off home run in two days on Sunday, this time a three-run shot with one out in the ninth off reliever Evan Brock to give the host Titans a 7-5 triumph to sweep the three-game Big West Conference series in front of 2,551 at Goodwin Field.

FULLERTON - Two pitches after he nearly swung out of his shoes, Cal State Fullerton senior Carlos Lopez left visiting UC Irvine on the field, stunned in their tracks. Lopez launched a 1-1 split-finger fastball off a banner about 10 feet over the top of the right-field fence to lift the host Titans to a 3-2 walk-off victory over the Anteaters in front of 2,399 on Saturday at Goodwin Field. The winning homer, which Lopez said was pre-ordered by Titans head man Rick Vanderhook, clinched the Big West Conference series victory for the Titans, who also wrapped up at least a share of the conference regular-season crown.

FULLERTON - This time, UC Irvine pitcher Andrew Thurman lost more than just a strong bid for a no-hitter. For the second time in two seasons, Cal State Fullerton broke up a no-hit bid late against Thurman, who frustrated the Titans through eight no-hit innings last year in a 4-1 home win. But in the opener of a three-game Big West Conference series on Friday, the host Titans washed away Thurman's would-be no-no on a leadoff single in the seventh...

IRVINE - Six days after undergoing unexpected root canal surgery, UC Irvine junior pitcher Andrew Morales made the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo hitters experience roughly the equivalent of a trip to the dentist. Morales, recorded 10 of his first 12 outs with strikeouts and pitched seven shutout innings to help the host Anteaters earn an 11-1 victory over the Mustangs in the rubber game of a crucial Big West Conference baseball series on Sunday. With the win, Morales, a transfer from Rio Hondo Community College in his first Division I season, improved to 10-0 and lowered his earned-run average to 1.79.

IRVINE - One week before its annual Bracket Busters matchup, the UC Irvine men's basketball team had its break-even-buster game against Big West Conference and Orange County rival Cal State Fullerton. UCI won the battle of .500 teams, 86-66, to improve to 10-1 at home, 7-0 at the Bren Events Center against Big West teams. The 'Eaters in fact, were hardly mediocre against the Titans, sweeping the regular-season series to make it three straight wins over Cal State Fullerton. UCI, which trounced the Titans, 92-65, on Jan. 17 in Fullerton for its biggest margin of victory in 96 all-time meetings between the two, led by as many as 31, before settling for their biggest home victory this season against a Division I opponent.

Autospy results due back Tuesday could provide more clues into the slaying of a Cal State Fullerton coach and her fiance in Irvine. The bodies of Monica Quan, 28, an assistant women's basketball coach at the school, and Keith Lawrence, 27, who worked as a campus officer at USC, were discovered Sunday night in their car on the top floor of the parking structure at their upscale, high-security condominium complex near UC Irvine. The two were engaged in January, a family member said, and had recently moved into the condo complex.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Cal State Fullerton 65, UC Irvine 51 FULLERTON - The host Titans opened the second half on a 12-2 run to take control in the Big West Conference game on Thursday. UCI (4-13, 0-5 in conference) posted its best scoring output in conference play, but shot only 33.9% from the field (19 for 56). Junior Camille Buckley led UCI with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while junior reserve Jasmine Bernard had 12 points and nine boards. Bernard was six for nine from the field.

ANAHEIM - These aren't your grandmother's cupcakes. With alcohol-infused flavors like "Will you remember me tomorrow morning?" "Gonna get lucky tonight" and a business slogan of "Wanna get some?" best friends Hanayo Martin, 25, of Irvine, and Akemi Lee, 27, of Fullerton, didn't want to be the traditional pink-and-white, cutesy cupcake company. "We wanted it to be different," Lee said. "We wanted it to be modern and provocative. " "And if people are like, 'Wow,' that's what we want," added Martin.

UC Irvine has been picked to finish third in the Big West Conference men's basketball race in a media poll released Thursday. Coach Russell Turner's Anteaters, who return all five starters from a 12-20 campaign in 2011-12, collected one first-place vote and 153 points, topped only by Long Beach State (194 points) and Cal State Fullerton (164). In addition, UCI senior Mike Wilder was named to the six-player preseason all-conference team. Long Beach State, the defending conference champion, received 13 first-place votes, while Cal State Fullerton, with two first-team all-conference players returning, had six and Pacific had one. Big West newcomer Hawaii was picked fourth (132 points)