What an encore!

OMAHA, Neb. — The UC Irvine baseball players who continually talk about how they have each other’s backs, put another storied program behind them Tuesday with yet another dramatic postseason victory before 29,034 at the College World Series.

The No. 4-ranked Anteaters (47-16-1), rallied from a four-run deficit to tie the score in the eighth inning, then eliminated No. 3-ranked Arizona State in the 10th when sophomore center fielder Ollie Linton pulled a two-two pitch through the right side of a drawn-in infield to drive in Matt Morris from third with one out. That capped the Anteaters’ third straight can-you-believe-it victory.

The 8-7 triumph, which was on the heels of Monday’s 13-inning win to eliminate Cal State Fullerton, made UCI the first team in College World Series history to win extra-inning games on consecutive days. It also propelled what ASU Coach Pat Murphy called a team of destiny, into today’s 4 p.m. contest against defending national champion Oregon State (46-18), which will be on ESPN2.

Irvine must defeat Oregon State twice to win its bracket and advance to the best-of-three championship series scheduled to begin Saturday.

UCI lost its College World Series debut Saturday to Arizona State, 5-4, sending it to the loser’s bracket. But Coach Dave Serrano sees nothing resembling a loser when he steps into this Anteater dugout.

“I was telling [senior second baseman Cody Cipriano] in the dugout tonight that I may coach a long time,” said Serrano, in his third season as head coach of the Anteaters after making five trips to Omaha in 10 seasons as a Division I assistant at Cal State Fullerton and Tennessee. “But I may never have another team like this.

“The 2007 UC Irvine Anteaters don’t want to take their uniforms off,” Serrano said. “It’s going to take someone doing something special to eliminate us. We’ve played three games here and I don’t know if I’ve been a part of three better games.”

In this special season, UCI, which Serrano pointed out is still being called Cal-Irvine, rather than the preferred UC Irvine, has now eliminated perennial powers Texas (in the regional), Wichita State (in a super regional road sweep), Cal State Fullerton (Monday) and now an Arizona State program making its 20th College World Series appearance.

“Last night [a College World Series record five-hour, 40-minute game in which UCI erased three Fullerton leads to prevail] was one of the best games I’ve ever been a part of,” Serrano said. “But I think this one tops it. We’ve had seven wins in the postseason and each one has been better, as we’ve gone on.”

Linton, who was two for 12 in Omaha when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the 10th, capped a string of heroic performances by his teammates.

Linton, who has been called upon to bunt many times with a runner on third and less than two outs, instead was entrusted to swing the Anteaters to victory. He didn’t square around once against ASU starter-turned-reliever Mike Leake, and the pro-UCI crowd began chanting “Ol-lie, Ol-lie” as it stood in unison to see the dramatics unfold.

“I felt the energy of the crowd [the second largest in CWS history],” Linton said. “But I felt even more energy from our dugout. My teammates were behind me. I think they pushed me to get that hit.”

Matt Morris began the winning rally with a one-out single, then stole second, which allowed the Sun Devils to intentionally walk Bryan Petersen, who had driven in the game-winning run in the previous two UCI victories.

Freshman designated hitter Sean Madigan, who had grounded into back-to-back double plays, the latter with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth, singled to right. But the liner was hit too hard to score Morris from second.

Linton said he hit a high curveball into right field for the game-winner, making a winner out of Scott Gorgen, who became UCI’s fourth pitcher of the game when he entered in the ninth.

Gorgen, who started and lost Saturday to Arizona State, was allowed to pitch only after UCI tied things in its eighth inning off ASU freshman reliever Jason Jarvis.

“Jarvis got into trouble, just like I did the other day,” Gorgen said.

Jarvis, whom Murphy said has been unbelievable in clutch situations all season, unraveled in what Murphy said was only his second implosion in 21 appearances.

After working a scoreless seventh, Jarvis walked pinch-hitters Dillon Bell and Zach Robinson, before walking Taylor Holiday to load the bases with no outs. Jarvis then hit Ben Orloff to make it 7-4 and Cipriano followed with an RBI single up the middle.

Morris launched a double into the gap in right center that appeared as if it would score three runs and put UCI ahead.

But Cipriano was held at third by third-base coach Greg Bergeron, and while trying to scramble back to the bag, touched Bergeron. He was called out for interference and Jarvis, after intentionally walking Petersen, induced an inning-ending double play to keep the score tied.

But Gorgen, who improved to 13-3, said he knew his team had it in the bag, before he worked two scoreless innings.

Leake, who beat Gorgen with seven strong innings Saturday, took the loss to fall to 13-2.

“That was me pitching like Scott Gorgen,” said Gorgen, who admitted he was spooked by the big crowd and equally large Rosenblatt mystique in his series-opening loss.

“[Tuesday’s win] was just our team playing the game,” Gorgen said. “Everyone has each other’s backs.”

Petersen went three for three and is now eight for 12 in Omaha (.667), while Cipriano, who hit his school single-season-record 13th homer, Morris and Holiday had two hits apiece.

It was Pac-10 Player of the Year Brett Wallace, who won the conference triple crown and is a national player of the year candidate, who hit into the four-six-three double play that ended the ASU 10th.

Wallace, who hit .423 with 16 homers and 78 RBIs for a Sun Devil team that hit 79 homers this season, was oh for Omaha, going hitless in 12 at-bats.

“Give Irvine credit,” Murphy said. “They’re very scrappy and they play with a lot of energy. They probably won’t win the thing, but they’re a team of destiny.”

Added Serrano, who said he could not name a starter for today’s game: “We’re playing on emotion and adrenaline and that gives us a shot.”

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

UC Irvine 8,

Arizona State 7

10 innings

Score by Innings

ASU 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 3 0 0 - 7 10 0

UCI 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 4 0 1 - 8 13 0

Flores, Jarvis (7), Leake (9) and Paramore; Pettis, Erickson (7), Bibona (8), Gorgen (9) and Larson, Lowenstein. W -- Gorgen, 13-3. L -- Leake, 13-2. 2B -- Paramore 2 (ASU), Sontag (ASU), Retherford (ASU); Morris (UCI), Larson (UCI). HR -- Paramore (ASU); Cipriano (UCI).