COLLEGES:Serrano has solid vision for UCI

UC Irvine baseball coach Dave Serrano, in his fourth season, has guided the Anteaters to unprecedented heights in 2007, capped by the program’s first NCAA Regional title obtained Monday with its second straight win over storied Texas.

Serrano has taken the ball from predecessor John Savage, who guided UCLA to a regional title Sunday, and run within two wins of the College World Series.

The Anteaters, coming off the program’s first trip to a Division I regional in Savage’s final season in 2004, were denied a postseason berth after finishing 31-25, 10-11 in the Big West Conference, in 2005.

Last season, Serrano’s squad went 36-24, including two one-run regional losses, and the Anteaters have posted a 43-15-1 mark in 2007, the most wins since the program joined the Division I ranks before the 1978 campaign. They are ranked No. 4 in the latest Baseball America poll, the program’s highest ranking ever.

Serrano, the National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2004, his final year at Cal State Fullerton which he helped win the NCAA title that season, spoke early and often about maintaining high expectations after arriving at Irvine. Topping the annual list of Serrano’s goals was a trip to Omaha, Neb. the home of the eight-team College World Series.

So it was not surprising Serrano said after Monday’s regional-clinching win in Round Rock, Texas, that this year’s success has not come ahead of schedule.

“I’m never ahead of the curve,” Serrano said. “I wanted this to happen right away. But I knew there was a process to it.”

Part of that process this season has been the ability of Serrano and his staff to instill in their players the belief that anything is possible.

Such was the case this past week, when Serrano began embracing the challenge of beating a traditional powerhouse program at its own venue, even before the regional pairings were announced May 28.

“When we came [to Texas, where the Longhorns had won most of their 30 regional titles in an NCAA-record 51 tournament appearances], we knew what we were getting into,” said UCI junior first baseman Taylor Holiday, the Most Outstanding Player in the regional.

“I think our coaches did a good job, from the day we saw our name on the board in the Round Rock regional, of getting us excited about the opportunity. We saw Texas [the No. 4 national seed], and we could have been like ‘We got [jobbed] for a draw’ and all that. But we didn’t do any of that. We were excited about the draw and excited about the chance to come and play a great program in Texas. We relished this chance and really took advantage of the opportunity to play at the highest level of college baseball.”

UP NEXT, ANOTHER LEGEND

Texas is, indeed, the top of the heap, when it comes to the college diamond, with six national titles, three trips to the NCAA title game in the previous five seasons, and 73 conference championships.

Longhorns Coach Augie Garrido, for whom Serrano played at Cal State Fullerton in 1986, is No. 1 on the all-time victories list with 1,628.

The Anteaters and Serrano keep that theme going in the Super Regional, where they will visit a Wichita State program that also has a rich tradition of success.

Shockers Coach Gene Stephenson, in his 30th season, has won at least 40 games a year since building the program from scratch, after it had been shut down for seven seasons from 1970 through 1976.

Stephenson, who is hot on Garrido’s heels with 1,605 career wins, has guided the Shockers to 25 NCAA tournament appearances, including a national championship in 1989.

But though the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champions are 53-20, the Anteaters, in the minds of many — even those outside their dugout — enter as the favorite in the best-of-three series that begins Saturday.

Serrano’s optimism has, in fact, spread into the stands, and is beginning to saturate the entire landscape of college baseball.

Toward that end, the first two games between the ‘Eaters and No. 8-ranked Shockers, as well as a third if necessary, are scheduled to be televised by either ESPN or ESPN 2. Saturday’s game is scheduled for 9 a.m on ESPN2. Sunday’s game is at 10 a.m. on ESPN and Monday’s, if necessary, at either 9:30 a.m. or 4 p.m.

VOLS MIGHT WOO SERRANO

The ever-popular national search being conducted to find a successor to UC Irvine Athletic Director Bob Chichester, who announced on Thursday he will step down at the end of August after five seasons, may not be the head-hunting effort UCI should be most concerned with.

Rod Delmonico, who coached the University of Tennessee baseball program to three College World Series appearances and 699 wins in 19 seasons, was let go Sunday by Volunteers Athletic Director Mike Hamilton.

Serrano, of course, has ties to Tennessee, where he was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for Delmonico in 1995 and 1996.

Not so coincidentally, the 1995 Volunteers were 54-16, the best record of any team during Delmonico’s tenure, and advanced to Omaha for the first time in 44 seasons.

Tennessee will reportedly pay off the three years remaining on Delmonico’s contract, with a total investment of $430,000.

So it follows that ol’ Rocky Top, which reached postseason competition in each of its 20 sports, except baseball, can easily pony up enough compensation to make Serrano at least consider a return to the Southeastern Conference.

Hamilton has said he wants to have a new coach in place in the next four weeks. UCI would love to keep its coach in place, oh say, long enough to join Garrido and Stephensen in the 1,600-win club.

BARRY FAULKNER can be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.