UCI’s Gorgen comes into his own

At first glance, Scott Gorgen came out of nowhere to become one of the elite pitchers in UC Irvine baseball history. An unheralded recruit out of Clayton Valley High in Concord, Calif, the undersized, somewhat inexperienced right-hander — he did not pitch until his senior year of high school — chose UCI over Long Beach State and the University of Nevada, neither of which were overly committal about his chances to grace the mound, let alone snatch a spot in the weekend rotation.

UCI made no glowing promises, either and just weeks into his first fall with the Anteaters, Gorgen phoned home to share his doubts about even making the team.

It was home, however, where Gorgen had garnered the secret to his success, the key to the kingdom of competitive excellence that has marked his record-breaking collegiate career.

It was home where Gorgen first developed the “If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best,” credo that has made him UCI’s first two-time first-team All-American and this year helped him share Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year honors.

It was home, nearly every day of his precollegiate life, that Gorgen measured himself against the best athlete in town, the golden boy who quarterbacked the football team, was the star pitcher of the baseball team and was the toast of his class.

Gorgen saw this bigger, faster, stronger version of himself across the dinner table every night, an almost haunting presence that confirmed he did not yet measure up.

His identical twin brother Matt, now a senior closer at Cal, was always the athlete Scott Gorgen wanted to be.

Scott was not without his own athletic prowess, sparkling as a receiver in football and a catcher in baseball, until taking the mound as a prep senior. But, as he said, he became the forgotten kid in the family, no less loved and appreciated by his parents, but not quite able to dislodge his super sibling from the headlines, or the consciousness of those who praised Matt’s endlessly heroic deeds.

So while Matt planned on keeping the brother act together, or at least within short driving distance, Scott yearned for a separate college locale, determined to create a distance vast enough as to not be cast, yet again, under Matt’s athletic shadow.

“Growing up, Matt Gorgen was the dude and Scott was his brother,” said Scott, whose perpetual game of catch-up began when he spent his first 18 months in the hospital after the twins were born two months prematurely. While Matt went home healthy, Scott, doctors told his parents, would never walk, talk, let alone compete. During his early hospitalization, a case of pneumonia brought on a 35% hearing loss that requires Scott to wear small, barely visible hearing aids.

“I always look to my past and it has made me the player and person that I am,” said Scott, whose love and admiration for his brother was never compromised by any disparity that may have separated them on the field.

“I give a lot of credit to my brother, because, growing up, we always competed with each other,” Scott said, “whether it was football, basketball or baseball.

“When it came time to go to college, Matt didn’t want us to go too far apart,” Scott said. “But I was ready to make that move, to try and be away and try to do something on my own and create my own name for myself. That first year, [separation] seemed to have affected him more than it did me. But, overall, it has worked out well. I think our relationship is stronger now than it has ever been, because we’re not seeing each other every single day. That has meant a lot fewer fights in the house and my mom and dad are happy about that.”

The Gorgen brothers have talked nearly every day by phone and Matt delayed an opportunity to pitch in the prestigious Cape Cod League last summer, in order to watch Scott and UCI advance along the road to the program’s first College World Series.

And while Matt has had a strong career (20 saves, eight wins and a 2.70 earned-run average in 140 innings, spanning 87 appearances in three seasons) to help the No. 15-ranked Golden Bears (33-19-2) advance to the Long Beach State Regional this weekend, Scott has become the more decorated of the two.

Scott earned a stint with the U.S. national team last summer and has imprinted his name in the UCI record books. At 10-3 this season with a 1.90 ERA, hitters are batting a mere .161 against Scott. His 313 career strikeouts rank No. 1 in UCI annals and he is in the top five at the school in numerous other pitching categories.

Scott, who has developed what many consider the best change-up in college baseball, is projected to go in the first three rounds of the upcoming Major League Draft. Though 5-foot-10, considerably shorter than most scouts prefer their mound prospects, his consistent excellence — he proudly points out that he has not missed a weekend start as a collegian and he has also made spot relief appearances beyond that, to help his team — has helped him overcome such a stigma.

Gorgen is scheduled to start today at 5:05 p.m. when the No. 14-ranked Anteaters (38-16) meet Oral Roberts (46-12) in the opening round of the four-team, double-elimination Lincoln Regional at the University of Nebraska’s Hawks Field at Haymaker Park.

While he clearly has work to do to try to help his team return to Omaha, where the ’Eaters finished third last season to put the program on the map, Gorgen has had time to reflect on his storybook career.

“It has been more than I could ever imagine,” he said. “I have loved playing here. There have been so many good memories, so many ups and downs. As I look back, my career has been a blessing. I’ve been so very fortunate to come here and play and be a part of this new era of Anteater baseball. I’ve made lasting memories and friends I will never lose contact with. I wouldn’t trade my experience here for anything.”

Gorgen is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, the Heisman Trophy of collegiate baseball, as well as the Roger Clemens award that goes to the nation’s top college pitcher.

He also looks forward to the postseason, in which last year he unveiled a penchant for ratcheting up his dominance on the bigger stage.

“I have a lot of individual goals and I’m still in the middle of that,” Gorgen said. “I’m never satisfied and I won’t be satisfied until I reach my ultimate goal of making the major leagues. But there’s no sense of accomplishment, until this team is done playing in Omaha this year. That’s when I’ll be satisfied.”

Satisfied, too, to have made a name for himself.

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