COLLEGES:UCI style not so novel in Texas

UC Irvine baseball coach Dave Serrano said he is much happier to be getting on a plane than a bus to venture to an NCAA Regional this season. He is clearly eager to expose what he calls “Anteater Baseball” to an audience that may not have seen it before.

He got his wish to a degree, when the No. 9-ranked Anteaters (40-15-1) were shipped to Round Rock, Texas to square off against host Texas (44-15), Wake Forest (33-27) and Brown (27-19) in the four-team, double-elimination tournament that begins Friday.

But the Anteaters’ brand of baseball, based on what Serrano calls the inside game — more commonly referred to as small ball — is nothing new to the folks within driving distance of Texas’ capital city of Austin.

In fact, the very blueprint that Serrano and his staff have used to earn back-to-back regional berths, including a school Division I record for victories this season, was all but patented by one August Edmun Garrido Jr., who has claimed two of his five national championships in 10 years at the helm of the Longhorns.

Garrido, who still frequents Newport Beach in the offseason, won his three other NCAA titles at Cal State Fullerton, where his passion for bunting, stealing, scrapping, and thinking his way to victory continues for the Titans, for whom Serrano both played and coached. Garrido, 68, has choreographed an NCAA-record 1,627 victories in this his 39th season as a head coach.

Serrano, in fact, learned first-hand from the Master as a pitcher for Garrido’s 1986 Titans. And just in case Serrano’s memory needed jarring after coaching stints at Cerritos College and the University of Tennessee, he spent eight seasons at Fullerton as Garrido protégé George Horton’s pitching coach from 1997-2004.

Texas fans, as well as those hunkered in the Longhorns’ dugout, will surely recognize the Anteaters’ style of play as their own.

Wake Forest and Brown, however, might want to take a note or two.

UCI BY THE NUMBERS

Regardless of its novelty, Serrano’s approach is clearly working. And, as the patrons of Anteater Ballpark have seen, there’s much more to Serrano’s squad than the squeeze play, the hit and run, the double steal and taking the extra base.

Junior first baseman Taylor Holiday, summed it up when he said the key to this team’s success is “doing the little things.” But in focusing on the details, the ‘Eaters accomplishments have been forged in broad strokes.

Among the numbers behind this season’s .723 winning percentage, including 13 series victories in 15 three-game sets, are some of the following:

And the arm at the end of that bullpen, senior closer Blair Erickson, owns the NCAA career record with 53 saves, including 13 in 2007.

OPPOSITION BRINGIN’ IT

UCI, of course, won’t be the only team with impressive numbers in Round Rock, where Nolan Ryan founded the ownership group for the aptly named Express, the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros.

Texas sophomore outfielder Kyle Russell, the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year, leads the nation with 27 home runs, seven more than any Longhorn has hit in the program’s 113 seasons. Russell is hitting .341 with 70 RBIs and is slugging .825.

Texas junior right-hander Adrian Alaniz, the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, is 12-2 with a 2.58 ERA.

The Longhorns have three additional pitchers with eight victories apiece.

Wake Forest sophomore Allan Dykstra is hitting .316 with 18 homers, 59 RBIs and is slugging .637.

Demon Deacons pitcher Josh Ellis is 5-3 with a 2.74 ERA and eight saves. Ellis has 67 strikeouts in 46 innings.

Brown, which won the program’s first Ivy League title after starting the season 1-8, is paced by Ivy League Player of the Year Devin Thomas (.389 with a school-record 16 homers and 64 RBIs) and All-Ivy outfielder Ryan Murphy (.402 in 132 at-bats).

Thomas is slugging .761 and his 1.43 RBIs per game led the nation through May 20.

Junior Jeff Dietz, the Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, is also a first-team all-league first baseman for the Bears. He is 9-3, a school single-season record for wins, with a 2.53 ERA and seven complete games.

Some notable team stats: Brown’s ERA is 5.05 and Wake Forest’s is 4.80.

Brown has a woeful .953 fielding percentage, while Texas is fielding a glistening .978, just better than UCI’s .974.

Wake was the No. 8 seed in the eight-team ACC Tournament, but made it to the final, where it lost 2006 NCAA runner-up North Carolina, 3-2.

The Demon Deacons have only two players hitting better than .300.

Texas’ combined ERA (3.47) is better than UCI’s (.3.89).

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