Each year, the NCAA Division I College Baseball World Series is a showcase for the top teams in the country. This season, two of the eight teams will be under the direction of former Cerritos College players and coaches. George Horton, who led the Cal State Fullerton Titans to the national championship in 2004, will joined by his former player and coaching pupil this season. Dave Serrano, who is in just his third year as the head coach at UC Irvine, will be taking the first Anteater team to the College World Series in the school's history.
The College World Series will begin June 15 and all games will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.
Both coaches, who played for the Falcons and coached together at both Cerritos and Cal State Fullerton, are the best of friends. Both are widely considered to be two of the best coaches in the country. Now, both will be taking their own programs to the highest level of college baseball. From 1997-2004, Serrano served under the direction of Horton at Cal State Fullerton as the pitching coach, and when they won the national championship, Horton was named the nation's Coach of the Year, while Serrano earned the American Baseball Coaches Association/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year. It was after the Titans won the national championship that the UC Irvine coaching job became available and Serrano was hired to run their program.
While at Cerritos, Horton played on two South Coast Conference championship teams in 1972-73, with his sophomore team winning the state championship. Also, during the 1973 season, one of his teammates was current Falcon head coach Ken Gaylord. While serving as the head coach for Cerritos from 1985-90, he led the Falcons to three state championships and was named the National Community College Coach of the Year in each of those seasons (1985, 1987, 1989). His career coaching record at Cerritos was 226-53. As for Serrano, he was a pitcher for the Falcons from 1984-85, while earning All-American honors in his sophomore season when he went 12-1 and led the team to the state championship. His coaching career with Cerritos consisted of seven seasons (1988-94), with the team winning the state title in 1989 and six South Coast Conference championships. He stepped in as the team's interim head coach in 1991 and led them to the conference title and was the Coach of the Year.
