Serrano has a winning return to Irvine

Had Dave Serrano not done his job so masterfully at UC Irvine the last three seasons, this weekend would have passed without notice. The Big West Conference might not be so highly regarded. And Irvine fans never would have learned how to hold a grudge.

But in 2007 Serrano guided Irvine to its first appearance at the College World Series, where the Anteaters became the darlings of Omaha.

Then Serrano and his coaching staff left Irvine for tradition-laden Cal State Fullerton, the program that groomed him and the program after which he modeled Irvine. He had been a player at Fullerton, and had been an assistant there for eight seasons, including the 2004 championship season.

Wearing Fullerton’s blue and orange, Serrano returned to fifth-ranked Irvine over the weekend for a Big West series. His No. 25 Titans wiped out a 4-1 deficit with a four-run seventh inning in a 6-4 victory Sunday. Fullerton (18-10 overall, 4-2 in Big West) won two of three and moved past Irvine (20-5, 3-3) for third place in the Big West, behind UC Davis (20-10, 3-0) and UC Santa Barbara (21-9, 5-1).

Any rivalry between Irvine and Fullerton was galvanized in June when they met on national television and played 13 innings, the longest game in World Series history at 5 hours 40 minutes. Irvine won, 5-4, and eventually tied for third. Serrano was named NCAA coach of the year.

Three months later, after denying interest in succeeding George Horton as coach at Fullerton, Serrano pulled the trigger on the biggest decision of his professional career.

He went home.

So when Fullerton arrived this weekend at Anteater Ballpark, the stadium was filled with emotion. He heard a few taunts, though most were drowned out by the large crowds, and a few boos. He didn’t see the sign comparing him to Benedict Arnold.

He was the target of a monster created by himself and assistants Greg Bergeron and Sergio Brown. The three games attracted 8,749, including an Irvine-record 3,176 on Friday for Fullerton’s 12-5 victory.

“I vowed to myself when the series started that I was going to rise above it and not take myself down to whatever anyone said,” Serrano explained.

He has no regrets providing for the long-term benefit of his family.

“Those young men who are very special to me are going to be gone within a few years,” Serrano said. “If I would have stayed for them, I would have put a team of young men ahead of my own team, which is my family. That’s where the decision came to take the job at Fullerton. I could have stayed for some really great kids, but they weren’t going to be with me the rest of my life.”

Players such as Ben Orloff and Ollie Linton, who provided the 12th-inning heroics of Irvine’s 3-2 victory Saturday, have since come to understand that decision.

“It was hard just because we love these guys, and all we went through last year,” Orloff said. “They’re great coaches and even better guys.”

Said Linton: “It was bittersweet seeing him in that uniform.”

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martin.henderson@latimes.com