Petersen's single in 13th gives win to UCI

Anteaters win first CWS game; Titans eliminated

After Taylor Holiday was thrown out at the plate for the second out of the inning, Bryan Petersen's base hit up the middle brought home Cody Cipriano from third base in the bottom of the 13th inning to give UC Irvine a 5-4 victory over Cal State Fullerton Monday afternoon at Rosenblatt Stadium in a game that took five hours and 40 minutes, the longest game in College World Series history.

The Anteaters (46-16-1) will face the loser of Monday evening’s Oregon State-Arizona State game on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. EDT in an elimination contest. The Titans finish their season with a 38-25 record.

Holiday started the bottom of the 13th by getting hit by a pitch for the third time in the game. Fullerton skipper George Horton argued the call, claiming Holiday stuck out his elbow to get hit by the pitch. Eventually, home plate umpire David Buck ejected Horton. Holiday was sacrificed to second and Cipriano was walked intentionally. Matt Morris rapped a hard single to left, where Josh Fellhauer fielded the ball and fired a strike to catcher John Curtis, who tagged Holiday for the second out. On the play, Cipriano moved to third and Morris took second. Following a pitching change, Petersen lined a base hit up the middle to give the Anteaters their first College World Series victory.

Cipriano had tied the game in the bottom of the seventh as he fouled off eight pitches and homered on the 14th pitch to knot the score at 4-4.

The Titans got on the board first as Matt Wallach smacked a leadoff homer in the top of the second. UCI tied it in the bottom of the fourth as Aaron Lowenstein was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Fullerton got RBI singles from Nick Mahin and Wallach in the top of the fifth for a 3-1 advantage before Holiday’s two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth evened the score at 3-3. The Titans took a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh as Corey Jones was plunked with the bases loaded.