Colleges:

The final College World Series at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium will be held in 2010 and the UC Irvine baseball team, thanks to a string of off-season good fortune, is an odds-on favorite to be in the eight-team field.

After next season, the NCAA championship event will move from the historic, and repeatedly renovated Rosenblatt to TD Ameritrade Park in downtown Omaha. So, nostalgia will be at a premium in the 61st CWS to be held at Rosenblatt.

And no fewer than eight UCI players looking forward to their senior season of eligibility will also attempt to experience a little personal nostalgia of their own, having all taken part in the program’s initial visit to Omaha in 2007.

All-American pitcher Danny Bibona became the last piece of that veteran puzzle Monday, when the deadline to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals, who drafted the left-hander in the 16th round in June, came and went.

Senior starting pitcher Christian Bergman, who whet his appetite by pitching in the National Baseball Congress World Series last week with the Anchorage (Alaska) Glacier Pilots, failed to generate interest in a free-agent contract from a professional team, ensuring his return.

In addition, All-American closer Eric Pettis, catcher Francis Larson, first baseman Jeff Cusick, first baseman-outfielder Sean Madigan, pitcher Kyle Necke and outfielder Dillon Bell are all slated to take one more run at what would be the Anteaters’ fifth straight appearance in the NCAA postseason.

There is more to bolster the argument for Coach Mike Gillespie’s squad, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation the last six weeks of the 2009 regular season and posted a 45-15 record, including an astounding 22-2 mark against Big West Conference opponents to claim the program’s first Big West crown.

Second baseman Casey Stevenson, who will be a senior, utility player Brian Hernandez, who will be a redshirt junior, third baseman Drew Hillman, a junior transfer from Orange Coast College where he twice earned All-American recognition, and incoming freshman pitcher Kyle Hooper all failed to sign after being selected in the Major League Draft.

Other quality returners figure to include Crosby Slaught, Ryan Fisher, Ronnie Schaeffer, DJ Crumlich, Tommy Reyes, Jordan Fox and Cory Olson.

In essence, the only notable attrition from the 2009 roster will be shortstop and Big West Player of the Year Ben Orloff, utility standout Eric Deragisch, pitcher-pinch hitter Brock Bardeen and reliever Noel Avison, all of whom were seniors.

All eight of the aforementioned holdovers from the 2007 team were, at one point or another, expected to move on to the professional ranks after their junior seasons.

Of course injuries and other calamities might still sabotage what is shaping up to be a run at the national championship.

But Gillespie, his staff, players and supporters of the program, could be forgiven for planning a visit to the Midwest next June.

 Slashing five sports was not the last of the belt-tightening prompted by statewide budget cuts in the University of California system at UCI.

Another casualty will be the printing of media guides. By producing such materials online only, UCI sports information head Bob Olson said the school will save between $12,000 and $15,000 in 2009-10.

The Big West Conference is also ceasing printing of its media publications, forcing those who want hard copies to print their own from the online catalog.

 Being involved in a trade can be more than a minor inconvenience for any professional athlete. But for Kendall Fletcher, who was shipped from the Los Angeles Sol to the St. Louis Athletica during the inaugural Women’s Professional Soccer season that ends today, it meant she had to give up her job as an assistant coach for the UCI women’s program.

“She was sharing time between our program and her professional career,” UCI Coach Scott Juniper said. “I think when she went to St. Louis, it was just the tipping point and she couldn’t commit any longer to our program.”

 Juniper has two new assistants in Heather Hathorn and Peter Boyer.

Boyer, hired earlier this month, will work with the goalkeepers, while Hathorn, who played collegiately at the University of Maine, will add more than first-hand knowledge, Juniper said.

“She’s from the East Coast so she brings a little different personality that you would associate with an East Coast player,” Juniper said. “I think our team needs a little bit of that.”