No. 20 UC Irvine Shuts Out San Francisco, 4-0
March 1, 2008
IRVINE, Calif. --- Starting pitcher Bryce Stowell limited San Francisco to two hits in seven innings and centerfielder Ollie Linton went 3 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored on a squeeze play as UC Irvine captured the series with a 4-0 win against the Dons Saturday at Anteater Ballpark. The win lifted UCI to 6-0 for the program's best start in history.
Stowell faced the minimum in the first 3.2 innings before outfielder Zach Kim reached first on a UCI miscue. Mitchell Bialosky singled for USF's first hit but Stowell struck out Connor Bernatz to get out of the inning. The right-hander earned his first win as an Anteater (1-0), striking out five and walking two in the outing.
The Anteaters got on the board in the bottom of first as catcher Francis Larson cashed in Ben Orloff from third after the shortstop stretched a single into a double, thanks to a USF error. Linton's sacrifice bunt pushed Orloff to third, setting the scene for Larson.
Linton laced a sharp single under the glove of Bialosky to score Tony Asaro in the fifth and Ryan Fisher executed on the squeeze play to plate Linton in the eighth. Eric Deragisch capped the UCI scoring in the eighth with a single up the middle to score first baseman Jeff Cusick, who was 2 for 4 with a run scored on the day. .
San Francisco (3-4) starter Matt Baugh went the distance in the effort, striking out four and giving up four runs (three earned) on 10 hits.
UCI reliever Matt Dufour, Daniel Bibona and Kyle Necke combined for three scoreless innings, preserving the Anteaters' third shutout of the season.
The series concludes Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
