College World Series

The college baseball season gets underway today, and UCLA begins it as a marked team. Or, maybe not. It depends on whom you ask. The Bruins are ranked as high as No. 1 and as low as No. 19 in the major national preseason polls, leaving observers wondering which to believe. "Preseason rankings are pretty tough," third baseman Jermaine Curtis said. "They're just going off projections. At the end of the year we'll know and everyone will know where we're at."

Fresno State's improbable postseason run will end in the College World Series championship round after Tommy Mendonca drove in four runs and Clayton Allison overcame a shoulder ailment to shut down North Carolina, 6-1, Sunday night in Omaha. "If you look where we started out," closer Brandon Burke said, "where we're at now is inconceivable."

Joey Lewis hit a tiebreaking double in Georgia's four-run eighth inning, and the Bulldogs came from three runs down to defeat Fresno State, 7-6, in Game 1 of the best-of-three College World Series finals on Monday night at Omaha. Fresno State appeared to take control in the top of the eighth when it scored three runs to go up, 6-3. But Georgia (45-23-1) wasn't finished, and now stands one win away from a second national championship to go with the one it won in 1990.

Andrew Bynum's new $57.4-million contract will seem like a bargain by the time it runs out after the 2012-13 season. . . . Any other team in the NBA would love to have an athletic, 21-year-old, 7-foot center with three years' NBA experience and a seemingly limitless upside, and would pay dearly for the privilege. . . . Who would you rather have, Bynum or Greg Oden? . . .

At Cal State Fullerton, trips to baseball's College World Series in Omaha have become so predictable that its boosters have taken to renting a house there every year to serve as party headquarters for Titan fans. No such worries across the Orange County at UC Irvine, a university more noted for its academics.

Cal State Fullerton spent the last two weeks trying to silence doubters who said the Titans shouldn't be in the postseason. A trip to Omaha should finally do the trick. The Titans, considered a bubble team when the NCAA tournament committee made its selections two weeks ago, earned a spot in the College World Series when they defeated UCLA, 2-1, in Game 2 of the super regional Sunday night at Fullerton to take the series, two games to none.

From 1993 through 2001, UC Irvine baseball was dead. It's alive today. With the Anteaters' 3-2 victory over Wichita State (53-22) in a super regional Sunday in Kansas, Irvine (45-15-1) advanced to the College World Series only six seasons after reviving a program that was disbanded for nearly a decade. Irvine won the best-of-three series in two games. Clinging to a 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth inning Sunday, Irvine starting pitcher Wes Etheridge surrendered a leadoff single.

Wally Kincaid lives more than 1,500 miles away from here, but his presence can be felt. He retired almost 30 years ago, but college baseball still oozes with his influence. He doesn't get to games much anymore, but he still affects the outcomes of many.

UC Irvine arrived via bus on Sunday, making the 5 1/2 -hour drive through cornfields after winning a super regional in Wichita, Kan., last weekend. Cal State Fullerton came on a charter flight Wednesday, staying in Orange County for two days after its super regional victory at home over UCLA before lifting off from Ontario airport.

Cal State Fullerton got a second chance against a team that doesn't often give second chances. But the Titans couldn't get the necessary clutch hit, a recurring theme in their 3-2 loss to Oregon State on Saturday night in the opening round of the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium. After an Oregon State error started a two-out Titans rally in the ninth, pinch hitter Joel Weeks grounded to shortstop with runners at first and third, ending a Fullerton comeback bid and the game.