The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
UC Irvine
Baseball drops 3-1 decision to UC Irvine in NCAA regional action
06.02.2007 | Baseball
ROUND ROCK, Texas -- No. 5 Texas lost a 3-1 decision to UC Irvine in NCAA Division I Baseball Championship regional action at The Dell Diamond on Saturday evening.
With the loss, the Longhorns were sent to an elimination game to be played against Wake Forest Sunday at 12 p.m. The winner of the Texas-Wake Forest game will need to beat UC Irvine in two consecutive games, one at 6 p.m. on Sunday and one at 1 p.m. on Monday, to win the regional title.
UC Irvine drew first blood in the top of the first inning. Taylor Holiday hit a leadoff triple to centerfield and scored on a single to leftfield by Ben Orloff.
The Anteaters inflated the cushion to 2-0 in the third inning. Holiday reached on a throwing error by UT shortstop Chais Fuller, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Orloff and scored on a single through the left side of the infield by Cody Cipriano.
Bradley Suttle broke the scoring seal for Texas in the bottom of the third inning as he deposited a Steve Gorgen offering onto the home run hill behind the fence in leftfield.
UC Irvine added an insurance run in the seventh. Aaron Lowenstein hit a leadoff single through the left side of the infield, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tyler Vaughn and scored on a double to rightfield by Holiday.
Suttle and Nick Peoples both went 2-for-3 to lead the Longhorns' offense.
Holiday led UCI's offense going 2-for-5 with two runs, one double and one triple. Lowenstein went 2-for-4 with one run scored.
Adrian Alaniz (12-3) was saddled with the loss, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits, two walks and seven strikeouts over 6.2 innings.
Gorgen (11-2) picked up the win with a gem. He yielded one run on five hits and three walks while striking out two over nine innings.
Defensively, UC Irvine's Ollie Linton was the star of the game. The Anteaters' centerfielder robbed UT's Russell Moldenhauer of two potential doubles venturing deep into the right centerfield gap with runners on the corners in the first inning and journeying to the wall in leftfield with a runner on first in the sixth inning.
TOURNAMENT NOTES
- With the win, UC Irvine advances to the NCAA Regional championship against the winner of the Texas/Wake Forest game on Sunday at 6 p.m.
- Texas moves into the elimination game and will take on Wake Forest on Sunday at 12 p.m.
- Tonight's game was the first ever meeting between Texas and UC Irvine.
- Texas is making its 51st NCAA postseason appearance and ninth straight.
- UC Irvine is making its third NCAA Division I postseason appearance and second consecutive.
- The attendance for the regional's second game between Texas and Brown was 9,256.
UC Irvine (42-15-1):
Team Notes:
- With the win, UC Irvine moves to 2-4 all-time in NCAA Division I Regional play, earning both wins this season.
- UC Irvine scored a run in the first inning against the Longhorns and the Anteaters are now 21-2-1 when scoring in the first inning and 26-4-1when scoring first.
- The Anteaters are now 37-0 when leading after the seventh inning and 41-0 when leading after eight innings of play.
- UC Irvine head coach Dave Serrano played for Texas head coach Augie Garrido in 1986 at Cal State Fullerton.
Individual Notes:
- With his leadoff triple in the first inning, junior first baseman Taylor Holiday extended his NCAA Division I school-record hitting streak to 19 games. Holiday's two-hit performance was his 25th multiple-hit game of the season.
- Sophomore starter Scott Gorgen's complete game five-hitter was his third complete game victory in his last three starts. The complete game was his fifth complete game of the season.
- The one run that Scott Gorgen allowed in the third inning is the only run he has allowed in his last 27 innings of work.
Texas (45-16):
Team Notes:
- The crowd of 9,256 attending the NCAA Regional game between UC Irvine and Texas is the largest crowd ever to attend a Regional session hosted by UT. The Longhorns' previous NCAA Regional attendance record was 9,230 set Friday, June 1 in the second session of the 2007 NCAA Regional.
- The Longhorns are now 25-26 all-time against current members of the Big West Conference.
- With the loss, Texas is now 65-38 all-time in NCAA Regional action.
Individual Notes:
- Junior starter Adrian Alaniz' start was the 49th of his Texas career and moved him into a tie for fifth-place all-time with Kyle McCulloch (2004-06).
- Sophomore third baseman Bradley Suttle's solo home run in the bottom of the third inning was his first career NCAA round-tripper.
- When Adrian Alaniz picked Ollie Linton off of first base in the top of the sixth inning it marked the first time he has picked off
- Bradley Suttle's two-hit effort against the Anteaters was his team-best 26th multiple-hit game of the season.
Tournament Notes:
- With the win, UC Irvine advances to the NCAA Regional championship against the winner of the Texas/Wake Forest game on Sunday at 6 p.m.
- Texas moves into the elimination game and will take on Wake Forest on Sunday at 12 p.m.
- Tonight's game was the first ever meeting between Texas and UC Irvine.
- Texas is making its 51st NCAA postseason appearance and ninth straight.
- UC Irvine is making its third NCAA Division I postseason appearance and second consecutive.
- The attendance for the regional's second game between Texas and Brown was 9,256.
UC Irvine (42-15-1):
Team Notes:
- With the win, UC Irvine moves to 2-4 all-time in NCAA Division I Regional play, earning both wins this season.
- UC Irvine scored a run in the first inning against the Longhorns and the Anteaters are now 21-2-1 when scoring in the first inning and 26-4-1when scoring first.
- The Anteaters are now 37-0 when leading after the seventh inning and 41-0 when leading after eight innings of play.
- UC Irvine head coach Dave Serrano played for Texas head coach Augie Garrido in 1986 at Cal State Fullerton.
Individual Notes:
- With his leadoff triple in the first inning, junior first baseman Taylor Holiday extended his NCAA Division I school-record hitting streak to 19 games. Holiday's two-hit performance was his 25th multiple-hit game of the season.
- Sophomore starter Scott Gorgen's complete game five-hitter was his third complete game victory in his last three starts. The complete game was his fifth complete game of the season.
- The one run that Scott Gorgen allowed in the third inning is the only run he has allowed in his last 27 innings of work.
Texas (45-16):
Team Notes:
- The crowd of 9,256 attending the NCAA Regional game between UC Irvine and Texas is the largest crowd ever to attend a Regional session hosted by UT. The Longhorns' previous NCAA Regional attendance record was 9,230 set Friday, June 1 in the second session of the 2007 NCAA Regional.
- The Longhorns are now 25-26 all-time against current members of the Big West Conference.
- With the loss, Texas is now 65-38 all-time in NCAA Regional action.
Individual Notes:
- Junior starter Adrian Alaniz' start was the 49th of his Texas career and moved him into a tie for fifth-place all-time with Kyle McCulloch (2004-06).
- Sophomore third baseman Bradley Suttle's solo home run in the bottom of the third inning was his first career NCAA round-tripper.
- When Adrian Alaniz picked Ollie Linton off of first base in the top of the sixth inning it marked the first time he has picked off
- Bradley Suttle's two-hit effort against the Anteaters was his team-best 26th multiple-hit game of the season.
POSTGAME QUOTES
UC Irvine Head Coach Dave Serrano
General comments: This was a wonderful baseball game. After the game, I told the team it's when they believe in themselves and one another and the staff believes in each other and the team that you can make mountains move. That's what we did tonight. We just beat a team that has tradition in years and years of baseball.
On tomorrow's game: Our toughest game is still out in front of us. The game tomorrow will be the biggest game in our program's history.
UC Irvine CF Ollie Linton
Thoughts on his two big catches: I got the best jump I could to keep the inning from getting ugly. Basically I just was able to get to the ball.
UC Irvine C Aaron Lowenstein
What he told Scott Gorgen when he went to the mound: When I went out there, I reminded him we've been in clutch positions before - when there is someone on third and no outs - and we'd been able to get out of them. I told him we've done this all the time.
UC Irvine P Scott Gorgen
On Ollie's catches: It's something that's been happening all year. He's always been there to run it down. I know he's going to give us the best effort. He's been a huge player for us in the outfield this year.
The crowd: Tonight was the biggest crowd I've ever played in front of. I don't think I've ever heard that loud of a roar come from the crowd, but I had a good time being out there.
Texas Head Coach Augie Garrido
General comments: In my opinion, the difference was in the outfield. The two plays by the centerfielder created outs and did not generate the runs that our team had the opportunity to generate. (Those were) Brilliant catches by the centerfielder, and both of those would've produced runs. I felt that was a huge part of it. The other thing is their infield played flawlessly. They did a nice job of handling all the plays they needed to handle, and they did not give us an extra base or an extra out throughout the entire game. It was a brilliantly pitched game. It was very well played defensively. They were very efficient in the infield and behind the plate, and they were opportunistic on offense. We had an inning where we gave them more than three outs, and they capitalized on that with a safety squeeze that they executed brilliantly. From our side of it, Adrian (Alaniz) pitched effectively and efficiently, but we did make some errors. One was a problem that resulted in a run. The difference in the game was still the combination of the pitcher's poise, aggressiveness, confidence and his skills as a pitcher, and the two brilliant plays in the alley of centerfield.
On the team's hitting approach against (Scott) Gorgen: I think what he did was he would throw a fastball with good velocity. He located it well. He had a good, crisp, firm fastball, and he would follow that up with a change up. That is a tough combination, and he made it look easy.
Texas 1B Chance Wheeless
On the team's mindset tomorrow: The mindset is going to be to come out and battle like we have all year. I don't think we are going to look at this as a type of situation. We're just going to play our game, and I think we'll be fine. We've all been in this situation before, and it is going to help us in the long run.
Texas 3B Bradley Suttle
On facing a similar situation like last year: I definitely think that there is a different feel from last year. Our pitching staff is solid, so I think that they are going to come out and pitch really well. I also think we have a better offense than we did last year. We're going to have to come out and do what we've been doing all year. We're going to come out and play our best.
Texas P Adrian Alaniz
On the rest of the weekend's availability of the pitching staff: Obviously with the bullpen we have and the guys we have on staff, I think we are ready to rise to the occasion. If anybody is facing this situation, I know we are all going to step up. We were faced in this situation in 2005, and we have guys who came up big for us then, so its not like we haven't been in this spot before. Coach Garrido told us that it is one of the things that we can battle through. If we can stay mentally and physically positive and stay within the approach, I feel that this is just going to be a blessing in disguise for us. If we can get through this situation, we can get through anything. It is a brand new day tomorrow, and we are looking forward to it.
