UC Irvine’s Mike Gillespie, Texas’ Augie Garrido to play one for ages

What’s older than Major League Baseball?

The combined ages of two coaches who will face each other in the College World Series on Saturday.

UC Irvine’s Mike Gillespie (74) will see Texas’ Augie Garrido (75) in the other dugout for a first-round game in Omaha. Their 149 years are 11 more than the National League, which was formed in 1876.

Call it a tribute to Connie Mack.

Both coaches, certain future College Baseball Hall of Fame residents, should be talking points for the Gray Panthers.

It wasn’t that long ago that both were considered over the hill.

Gillespie was pushed out as USC’s coach by Athletic Director Mike Garrett in 2006. Gillespie moved south to Irvine and has taken the Anteaters to the NCAA tournament five times in seven seasons. His team dispatched Oklahoma State in a Super Regional in Stillwater, Okla., this weekend. It’s doubtful that Garrett, who now spends his days counting cattle as AD at Langston University in Oklahoma, came by to apologize and admit his mistake.

Garrido, meanwhile, was hearing more than whispers after the Longhorns failed to reach the NCAA tournament in 2013. He had won five national titles, three at Cal State Fullerton and two at Texas. Mack Brown can testify how quickly those things are forgotten in Austin. But going 5-1 in regional and Super region play, all against other Texas schools, have them remembering Augie as well as the Alamo.

The moral of the story: Don’t disrespect your elders.

Foster writes for the Los Angeles Times and can be reached at chris.foster@latimes.com.