COLLEGE WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK:Former UCI players reunite

OMAHA, Neb. — Doug Kline doesn’t get to show off his Anteater gear that much these days. The Superintendent of the Calipatria Unified School District in Imperial Valley is a UCI grad and former Anteater catcher, who attends a couple of regular-season games a year.

But Kline, who played at UCI from 1985-88, has used the Anteaters’ appearance in the College World Series as an opportunity to boast about his alma mater, as well as connect with former teammates.

Kline and Craig Brink were roommates, teammates, battery mates and, Kline said, inseparable during their time at UCI. And though they have talked virtually every month since then, logistics have kept them from seeing one another for 19 years.

Until this week.

“When UCI made the World Series this year, we both said we’d meet up in Omaha,” Kline said Tuesday.

They reunited late last week and spent the weekend watching the Anteaters, catching up with one another, and sharing stories with parents and fans of the current UCI squad at Eater Nation, a yard beside a house across the street from Rosenblatt Stadium rented by Craig Holiday, junior first basemen Taylor Holiday’s dad.

“It has been phenomenal,” said Kline, who noted that Brink, who lives in Wisconsin, returned home Monday.

“I kind of got an empty feeling since he went home,” said Kline, 40, who has also caught up with about 10-12 former teammates who have all migrated to Omaha to follow the ‘Eaters. “We both said we would arrange our work schedules, so we could play in the [UCI] alumni game next year.”

Should UCI get to the championship series, Kline said his son would fly out from California to join him.

Kline said he has faithfully kept tabs on the 2007 Anteaters, following most of their games via live online statistical updates.

“I can’t thank [UCI Coach Dave] Serrano enough,” Kline said. “What he has done in three years is amazing. This team has great players and they’re exciting to watch. We had a lot of characters, but this team has a lot of kids with character.”

Kline said his entire CWS experience has been better than he had imagined it would be.

“This is the greatest event I have ever been to, and I’ve been to some events,” Kline said. “The people in Omaha are so great. You talk to people for 10 minutes and it feels like you’ve known them all your life.”

NEAR-IDENTITY CRISIS

Kline and Brink were known as “Alpha” and “Beta” at UCI and Kline related the story behind the nicknames.

“We were all underage in the dorms, but we both looked older, so we agreed to buy some beer for everyone,” Kline said. “We collected about $500 and strategically planned to go to an Alpha Beta market about five miles from campus. We had the cart filled up and were just about to get through the checkout line when we ran into [then-UCI baseball coach Mike Gerakos], who lived across the street. It was our third day of school and we were known as Alpha and Beta for the rest of our time at Irvine.

“Good thing we were on scholarship, or we might not have had a fourth day.”

STILL IN HARM’S WAY

UCI had two batters hit by a pitch, giving it 11 for the series. That mark ties the 2004 Cal State Fullerton team for the most in a College World Series.

The three hit batters in the game Tuesday made it 37 in the 2007 College World Series record, the most in the 61 seasons of the event.

TWICE THE TROUBLE

In addition to the unusual base-coach interference call that cost UCI an out and a base runner in their four-run eighth-inning rally, the game featured another anomaly: an eight-pitch intentional walk.

UCI junior outfielder Bryan Petersen, who had three more hits Tuesday and is now eight for 12 in Omaha, worked a full count against ASU pitcher Mike Leake with one out and a runner on second, before Sun Devils Coach Pat Murphy ordered Leake to intentionally throw ball four. Under scoring rules, the walk was ruled intentional, even though the first three balls were thrown with the intent of retiring Petersen.

‘EATERS BECOMING DRAW

Only a crowd of 30,335 that saw Oregon State eliminate Miami in last year’s College World Series, was bigger than the 29,034 that attended Tuesday’s UCI victory over Arizona State.

SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Eater Nation, the UC Irvine fan gathering place across the street from Rosenblatt Stadium, was a little less visible Tuesday, after a largest of the handful of banners identifying the place was stolen.

Not wanting to risk further thefts, site organizer Craig Holiday said he would put only a few banners up, briefly at night.

CARDINAL’S PARTING SHOT

In North Carolina’s 3-1 Bracket One elimination-game victory over Louisville Tuesday, Louisville senior Logan Johnson hit his fourth home run in three games to tie the College World Series record.

BARRY FAULKNER can be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].