COLLEGES:’Eaters’ focus on business

By now, it’s in the coaching philosophy handbook that the journey is to be valued more than the destination.

But when the destination is Rosenblatt Stadium, site of the 61st College World Series in Omaha, Neb. one might at least want to take a celebratory second upon reaching what is among baseball’s most hallowed ground.

UC Irvine Coach Dave Serrano was hoping for such an epiphany Tuesday morning, when he ordered the team bus to make a small detour on the way to its practice at a local high school.

“We went down to 13th Street, which leads into where you can see Rosenblatt up on the hill,” Serrano said. “I had [the players] all put their heads down and close their eyes as we were approaching. Then, when you could see the stadium, I said: ‘Open your eyes men; your dreams have come true.’ I’d been waiting three years to say that to a team.

“They saw Rosenblatt off in the distance, and there was a roar,” Serrano said. “Not the roar that I thought there was going to be.”

Ever-positive, Serrano took the muted response as a good sign.

“It just proved to me at that moment that this team isn’t just excited to be here,” Serrano said. “There’s more business to be taken care of. I think that shows this team is really grounded.”

A GOOD SWIFT KICK

In recalling the historic season for the No. 4-ranked Anteaters (45-15-1), who face No. 5 national seed Arizona State (46-13) in the opening round of the eight-team tournament Saturday at 11 a.m., players and coaches alike agree the turning point took place the first week of May.

After a 4-2 home loss to UCLA, coached by former Anteaters head man John Savage, on May 1, Serrano gave his team its only tongue lashing of the year. After criticizing their willingness to compete, he told the players to show up the following day’s practice in their running shoes.

“We thought we were going to run all day,” junior center fielder Ollie Linton said.

Instead, they were divided into four teams for an impromptu kickball tournament.

“My staff has done a lot of things to make this a successful season, but that might have been the greatest idea our coaches have come up with,” Serrano said. “We needed to remind them how special this group is and we needed to get their mindset back on track.”

Said assistant coach Greg Bergeron: “We were at a crossroads in the season. We were going good for a while, then, all of a sudden, everything just seemed to be getting away from us. A theme we have in this family is, we want to play baseball, not work baseball. We have fun doing what we do. When we [coaches] came to the office that day, we said we needed to do something fun. We threw some ideas around and we finally went with kickball. We needed to compete, because that’s what we needed to do on the [baseball] field, and we were going to have fun doing it. The guys had fun and they competed their butts off, like they hadn’t done in a while.”

UCI lost its next game at San Diego, but has won 14 of 15 since, including six straight.

“I think it kind of helped us get our edge back,” Bergeron said.

BROTHERS IN ARMS

Assistant Nathan Choate said seeing the dog pile behind second base after Bryan Petersen doubled in Matt Morris for the deciding run in Sunday’s Super Regional-clinching victory at Wichita State, led him to flash back to another defining moment for this team.

“It was a 7 a.m. running and conditioning session in October and Coach Bergeron was trying to get all the players to finish [a wind sprint] on the line, on the same step and, in unison, say ‘Team.’

“I think it took around 10 or 15 times before it clicked in that this wasn’t really working,” Choate said. “Finally Taylor Holiday took some leadership and they all locked arms and they counted together as they took steps . And when they finally finished, they said ‘Team.’

“That’s one little thing, way back on October, that sticks out in my mind. And the bond that this team has formed has been tough to break.”

LOCAL CONNECTIONS

UCI, of course, isn’t the only Orange County or Big West Conference representative still competing, as Cal State Fullerton (38-23) will face defending national champion Oregon State (44-18) Saturday at 4 p.m. in the opening round.

The Titans’ roster includes former Costa Mesa High standout Adam Jorgenson, who played three years for the Mustangs, before transferring for his senior season at La Quinta High in Westminster.

Jorgenson, a junior right-handed pitcher, leads the Titans with eight saves this season. He is 4-2 with a 4.40 earned-run average with 57 strikeouts in 61 1/3 innings.

Jorgenson pitched two-thirds of an inning without allowing a run or a hit in the Super Regional-clinching 4-2 win over visiting UCLA Sunday.

He threw 3 1/3 innings to earn a save in a 6-4 victory over Fresno State in the Regional at San Diego State on June 2.

Jorgenson allowed four hits and two earned runs, but fanned six.

Daniel Cooper, who played at Costa Mesa High and Orange Coast College, was expected to be a key figure out of the bullpen for Rice (52-13), the No. 2 national seed which meets upstart Louisville (46-22) in the opening game Friday at 11 a.m.

But Cooper has been sidelined by an injury the entire season and is not on the Owls’ 25-player traveling roster for Omaha.

BANDWAGON ADDITIONS

As the UCI program continues to benefit from the exposure of appearing on college baseball’s biggest national stage, it is generating fans well beyond the limits of Irvine and Orange County.

A consensus of callers to a Wichita sports talk radio program Monday, as well as the sentiments of the program’s two co-hosts, indicated that Shockers fans have adopted the Anteaters as their team of choice in Omaha.

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