Bibona Pitches UC Irvine Past Hawaii on Opening Day
Feb. 21, 2009
HONOLULU, HI --- Junior Daniel Bibona gave UC Irvine a stellar performance on the mound to lead the Anteaters (1-0) to a 5-1 win over Hawaii Friday at Les Murakami Stadium.
Bibona pitched 7.2 strong innings on Opening Day, striking out eight and dealing a no-hitter through the first seven innings. The lefty saw a runner reach first in the third on an error by second baseman Casey Stevenson but induced a double-play grounder to end the inning. Bibona yielded his first hit in the Hawaii eighth, a single to designated hitter Jeffrey Van Doornum but got Kevin Macdonald to hit into a double play. After issuing a four-pitch walk to Chase Koissian, Bibona gave way to Matt Dufour, who allowed an RBI double to Landon Hernandez but struck out Sean Montplaiser to end the inning.
Sean Madigan put the Anteaters (1-0) on the board in the top of the third with an RBI double to capitalize on Stevenson's leadoff walk. After Ben Orloff's grounder pushed Madigan to third, the outfielder scored on a wild pitch by starter Jayson Kramer to give UCI a 2-0 lead.
UCI extended the lead to 4-0 in the top of the sixth as Jeff Cusick's one-out double was followed by a pair of run-scoring singles by Dillon Bell and Francis Larson.
Larson delivered again in the UCI eighth, lacing a double to left to plate Bell, who was hit by the pitch and stole second.
Larson was 2 for 4 with two RBI while left-fielder Ryan Fisher also totaled two hits for the Anteaters. Senior Matt Dufour struck out one in 1.1 innings of one-hit relief.
Kramer pitched 6.2 innings for Hawaii, giving up four runs on seven hits while striking out seven and walking two.
The series continues Saturday with a double-header beginning at 1:00 p.m. (HT).
