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Baseball:
Bryan Petersen Comes Up Clutch as UC Irvine Eliminates Cal State Fullerton
June 18, 2007
OMAHA, Neb. --- Junior Bryan Petersen singled to center to drive in Cody Cipriano for the game-winning run and lift fourth-ranked UC Irvine to a 5-4, 13-inning win over Cal State Fullerton Monday at Rosenblatt Stadium. The Anteaters, playing in their first extra-inning game of the season, improve to 46-16-1 overall and will play Arizona State Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. (PDT). Monday's contest was the longest in College World Series history, lasting five hours and forty minutes. In the bottom of the 13th inning, Anteater junior Taylor Holiday was hit by the pitch to lead off the inning. A sacrifice bunt from Ben Orloff pushed Holiday to second and Cipriano was intentionally walked. Matt Morris followed with a single to left but Holiday, trying to score from second was thrown out on the plate by Titan outfielder Josh Fellhauer. Cipriano advanced to third and would score easily on Petersen's hit. It was the second time Petersen delivered the walk-off hit as the junior doubled in the bottom of the ninth to give UCI the 3-2 win over Wichita State in super regional action. Senior Dylan Axelrod was stellar on the mound, holding the Titans to one hit and striking out seven in 4.2 innings of relief. The right-hander walked just one batter and improved to 6-4 and 3-0 in the postseason. Tom Calahan also did not allow a run to score in relief, matching his longest outing of 2.1 innings while striking out two and yielding a hit. Starter Wes Etheridge gave the Anteaters six innings and allowed four runs on nine hits in the no-decision. Holiday led the team with two RBI while going 2 for 4 at the plate and was hit by the pitch three times. Morris had four hits on the day (4 for 7) while Petersen was 3 for 5 with a run batted in. Catcher Aaron Lowenstein also had an RBI on 1 for 3 hitting while Cipriano and designated hitter Sean Madigan added two hits apiece. UCI had to rally from behind three times in the game. Cal State Fullerton's Matt Wallach homered in the top of the second for a 1-0 lead but the Anteaters tied the game in the bottom of the fourth as Lowenstein was hit by the pitch with the bases loaded. The Titans scored twice in the fifth on RBI singles from Nick Mahin and Wallach but Holiday battled starter Jeff Kaplan in a nine-pitch at bat and hit his first home run of the postseason over the right-centerfield fence to drive in two and tie the game at 3-3. With the bases loaded in the CSF seventh, Corey Jones was hit by the pitch, giving the Titans a 4-3 lead but Cipriano fouled off eight consecutive full-count pitches before tagging Kaplan for a solo home run to lead off the seventh and knot the game at 4-4. The round-tripper for Cipriano's 13th of the season as he became UCI's single-season leader in home runs. Morris followed with a single but reliever Adam Jorgenson induced three straight groundball outs to end the inning. The Titans rallied in the ninth, putting runners on first and second with one out but Calahan, who entered in the seventh, handed the ball off to Axelrod who struck out pinch hitter Jon Wilhite and induced a fly ball to center to get UCI out of the jam. UCI put runners on first and third in the bottom of the ninth on a double by Petersen and a bunt-single by Ollie Linton but pinch hitter Francis Larson grounded out to third as the Titans forced extra innings. Kaplan went six innings, giving up four runs on 10 hits. Reliever Bryan Harris gave up the game-winning run to fall to 2-3. Harris struck out four in five innings while walking one and allowing three hits.
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