Irvine’s killer B’s

The are similar, yet different. Contrasting, yet complimentary; linked by class, craft and competitiveness. Comrades in arms.

They are Danny Bibona and Christian Bergman, junior ace starting pitchers for the No. 1-ranked UC Irvine baseball team that opens NCAA Regional play tonight at 8 against defending national champion Fresno State at Anteater Ballpark.

Bibona, the personification of the term crafty left-hander, will take the ball tonight, a bulldog battling the Bulldogs.

Bergman, a lanky right-hander, will face either Virginia or San Diego State Saturday.

Combined, they are 20-3 this season, accounting for nearly half of the Anteaters’ 43 wins.

“Both locate the fastball real well, locate both sides of the plate and both use the changeup,” said UCI pitching coach Ted Silva. “It’s easy for them. They are great college strike-throwers. They may not light up the radar gun, but when it comes down to throwing strikes and quality strikes, they’re as good as it gets.”

Bibona has the statistical advantage. He is 11-1 with a 2.65 earned-run average and was named first-team All-American Thursday by Collegiate Baseball. He was also the Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year.

Bergman, a more heralded recruit who started as a freshman in a College World Series game against then-defending national champion Oregon State, is 9-2 with a 3.33 ERA. He earned second-team all-conference honors.

They both wanted to pitch for as long as they can remember.

“Even in machine pitch, I wanted to be the guy standing next to the dad who was feeding the machine,” said Bibona, who had to pester a subsequent Saddleback Valley Little League coach into letting him toe the rubber.

“I was the youngest guy on the team and every day, I’d go to the coach and ask if I could pitch that day,” said Bibona, who at 6-0, 160 pounds, does not intimidate as much as infuriate hitters. “Finally, in a winter league game, someone didn’t show up, so I got my chance. I went out there and threw strikes. I was about 8 or 9 and ever since, I’ve been a pitcher.

“My coach that day said ‘I didn’t know you could pitch.’ I said ‘I told you I could.’ ”

Bergman said his dad was his first catcher.

“I’d make my dad sit on a bucket, so I could pitch to him,” Bergman said. “I’d hit him in the shins and he’d get mad, but I kept making him go out and do it again.”

Both enjoyed sustained success and continued to progress as pitchers, allowing themselves to dream big.

“It’s sort of like I’ve never really had a doubt in my head that I’d get the opportunities to pitch that I’ve gotten so far,” Bibona said. “I don’t know if it was just me being an idiot, or being up in the sky in my own little dream world, but it was something I just always knew would happen. It has all turned out the way I’ve hoped and imagined.”

Bergman said he, too, never doubted he would continue up the ladder from youth baseball, to high school to college, to the pro ranks.

Both Bergman and Bibona are likely to be selected in the June 9 major league draft.

“I actually felt like I was the only who had that [undying faith in a future as a pitcher],” Bergman said after hearing Bibona recount his predilection for future success.

Though the demeanor on the mound is similar, their styles are somewhat different.

“I would say Danny’s stuff is a little more electric than mine,” Bergman said. “His pitches dart more, especially the slider, and his fastball really sneaks up on you. I think when hitters first see him, they see his size and wonder how effective he can be. But when they get up there against him, they see that this guy can pitch a little bit.

“He starts locating his fastball on either side of the plate, and he throws that changeup that just makes them look silly. Then, he’ll mix in a slider and that makes them look even worse. It’s kind of a nice little slap in the face.

“He misses a lot of bats, whereas I’d say my movement is less drastic, so I miss barrels.”

Bibona said the 6-1, 180-pound Bergman, whose fluid delivery makes him appear even bigger on the bump, gives hitters a different challenge.

“He’s like a freakin’ scarecrow out there,” Bibona said of Bergman. “The biggest thing he does is he gets ahead and then pounds down [in the strike zone] with his sinker. He throws a fastball for a strike, then either goes with the changeup or breaking ball. It’s any pitch in any count and its down in the zone.”

Both said they relish the duel with the hitter and both covet the responsibility that goes with being in the center of the diamond.

“I’d say every game starts with us,” Bibona said. “It starts with us and hopefully ends with us. A pitcher can take over a game and dominate. And you can’t say that about a hitter.”

Bergman believes pitching is an art form.

“I think of starting a game as a project and you do everything you can to finish it,” he said. “When you win that game, you put your name on it. The art of pitching is my favorite part.”

Bibona, whose ability to compete has gained universal praise from current and former UCI coaches, said it is the pitchers names that are assigned either a W or an L in the line score of every game.

“As a hitter, you don’t have a won-loss record,” Bibona said. “You may get a game-winning run batted in, but you don’t get the win. Only the pitcher’s name appears next to the W.

“And I’m going to try as hard as I can not to be the guy with the L next to his name. I’m going to scratch and claw, no matter how good or bad my stuff is that day.

“Every time I go out there, I want the win. I want to go as many innings as I can and I want that complete game. That’s what gets my heart pumping. The day that stops it’s going to be a sad day. I hope that day never comes.”