The scoring opened in the fourth (after perhaps the three quickest innings we've seen here, and at that point everyone figured we were in store for a nice two hour and thirty minute affair, oh but not so fast).

A balk by ASU starter Brian Flores with Taylor Holiday on third (after he stole third) gave UC Irvine a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. But ASU came right back in the next half inning with Petey Paramore's sixth homerun of the season to tie the game at 1-1.

When I say that this was a see-saw battle, I wasn't kidding. UC Irvine catcher Francis Larson drove in a run with a single in the bottom half of the 5th, to take a 2-1 lead. Then guess what? In the top of the 6th, Eric Sogard tied the game for ASU with a single of his own.

But the Anteaters wouldn't have any of it. In the bottom half of the 6th, Cody Cipriano hit his 14th homerun of the season to set the school's single season record for homers in a year, and it also gave his team a 3-2 lead.

We move to the next half inning, as in the top of the 7th, it was an RBI groundout by Andrew Romine that tied the game, followed by a Sogard RBI single to take the lead, 4-3.

Finally there was no scoring in the seventh, and in the top of the 8th, Romine had another RBI with a single, followed by a pinch hit two run double by Ryan Sontag that gave ASU a 7-3 lead in the inning.

But there's no quit in this Irvine team!

In the bottom of the 8th, ASU pitcher Jason Jarvis loaded the bases with nobody out and that's when the Anteaters pounced. Ben Orloff was hit by a pitch to tie the CWS record for HBP's in a tournament to make it 7-4. Cody Cipriano then ripped an RBI single to cut the lead to two.

ASU starter Mike Leake then came out of the bullpen, with nobody out and the bases still loaded, and promptly gave up a two run double to Matt Morris that tied the game at 7-7, but it should have given them the lead. Cody Cipriano was thrown out rounding third base, after the third base coach Greg Bergeron threw up a real late stop sign, and the two touched, leading to an automatic out call. The putout actually went 8-6-5 with coach's interference.

So UC Irvine wouldn't score again in the 8th inning, leading many to believe they blew their chance. That's when Anteater ace Scott Gorgen came into the game in the 9th and blew ASU away.

The Bottom of the 9th saw the Anteaters get 1st and third with two outs, but a lineout ended the inning, and we were on to free baseball for the second straight evening.

In the top of the 10th, ASU loaded the bases after Rocky Laguna was hit by a record-setting pitch. Up stepped super sophomore Brett Wallace, who was 0-for-11 heading into the at bat in the CWS. What'd he do? Promptly grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning, leading to a thunderous ovation from the crowd rooting for the underdog, and the big contingent of Anteater nation on hand.

So let's go to the bottom of the 10th, the Eaters load the bases with one out, after Cody Cipriano flew out to the wall in right (a ball in which many of us thought was gone), and up come crowd favorite Ollie Linton, all 5-foot-8 of him. With the crowd chanting "Ollie! Ollie! Ollie!" and the counting having gone to 2 and 2, Ollie lined a basehit past the first baseman Wallace and into rightfield for the game winning single, as the Anteaters rushed the field in celebration of their 8-7 victory.

Where to start with this one! This is one of the greatest college baseball games you'll ever see. It had comebacks, and clutch hits and great defensive plays.

There's no quit in this Anteater team, and it would still be a long way to not only just getting to the championship series, but to win this whole thing. In a way this team has a lot of Oregon State in them. They are in the loser's bracket, but won't die. They come up with real clutch hits, and even though they may not have many arms left, one just has a feeling that the Anteaters aren't going to go away.

It's only fitting that they will face Oregon State tomorrow night.

For Arizona State, they have so many guys coming back next year, that they should be back. Pat Murphy's bunch is in real good shape, and after the game, Murphy sounded that way.

"This is always the worst day when you're not the national champion and your season is over. Why us? How come? But those things will dissipate soon and what great men you have, and how fun it is to be apart of this great event. Omaha is a great place; it's a great deal," Murphy said.

Your winner was Scott Gorgen out of the 'pen, as he moves to 13-3, while your loser is Mike Leake who falls to 13-2.

Jason Jarvis opened the floodgates in the 8th that allowed UC Irvine to come back.

"I had a feeling today's game would come down to one run, but we didn't get out of the gate very well. We played well enough to win. Immediately people will look at Jarvis, but he's been tremendous for us this year. He's been in those bases loaded, nobody out situations many times this year, but just didn't have his extra gear today," Murphy said.

In the end, it was the lack of depth in Murphy's pitching staff that led to their downfall. It's a lesson that was learned once again, that you can have all the bats in the world, but still need some arms to win.

As for UC Irvine, they live to see another day, thanks to Ollie Linton.

"Before I got to the plate that if Madigan didn't do it, I would be the guy to do it right here. I just tried to get a pitch up and get it through," Linton said of his final AB.

Coach Serrano was almost at a loss for words after the game.

"I don't know if I have words to describe what happened tonight. But I will say that the 2007 UC Irvine Anteaters don't want to take their uniforms off. It's going to take someone to do something special to eliminate us from this thing," Serrano said.

That'll do it from Rosenblatt. Should be a couple of great ones tomorrow night, and even though right now it looks like nothing could top this, one just never knows.

G'night everybody.