Oregon State eliminates UC Irvine, returns to championship series

"Well, a magical run has come to an end, unfortunately," UC Irvine coach Dave Serrano said. "I'm hoping it's next year, but it might take some time before we're able to assemble a group of young men who are committed to each other and a program and a coaching staff as much as these guys were."

The Anteaters captured the hearts of local fans by rebounding from an opening loss to Arizona State to win extra-inning games against Fullerton and Arizona State in their final at-bats.

The 13-inning win over Fullerton took 5 hours, 40 minutes, the longest game in CWS history. The 10-inning win over ASU came after the Anteaters rallied from four runs down in the eighth.

There would be no magic against Oregon State.

Linton, who drove in the winning run Tuesday night, flied out to end the game. As the Beavers held a subdued celebration on the infield, UC Irvine players leaned against their dugout rail staring.

Bryan Petersen cried as teammate Wes Etheridge put his arm around him to console him. After a team meeting in right field, players and coaches hugged.

"As exciting as it was to play on the grandest stage in college baseball, it's a pretty devastating feeling right now to know we have to take these uniforms off," second baseman Cody Cipriano said.

Freshman Christian Bergman (0-4), making just his third start of the season, held the Beavers scoreless through 2 2/3 innings and was on the verge of getting out of the third when Mike Lissman grounded to third baseman Tyler Vaughn.

Vaughn threw high, and first baseman Taylor Holiday missed a sweep tag on Lissman. Chris Hopkins came home from second on the play for the first of the Beavers' four unearned runs.

Canham followed with his 10th homer and John Wallace's triple made it 4-0.

"We showed how dominant our club can be," Barney said. "We are deep, we can pitch and defend, and when our bats are there, we're pretty tough to beat."