No. 5 UC Irvine Gets Past South Alabama
March 8, 2009
WACO, Tex. --- Casey Stevenson delivered a bases-loaded single to left to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as UC Irvine rallied from behind to defeat South Alabama 6-5 Sunday at the QTI Baylor Classic at Baylor Ballpark. UCI climbed to 7-4 with the win and 2-1 in tournament action while USA fell to 5-7 overall.
Consecutive singles by Francis Larson and Dillon Bell were followed by an intentional base on balls to Ryan Fisher, loading the bases for Stevenson, who had been brought in as a pinch runner for Tommy Reyes in the Anteater eighth. After working the count to 2-2, Stevenson punched a single past diving shortstop Adam Heisler to score Larson.
Larson put UCI on the board with a solo home run in the second and Cory Olson staked the Anteaters to a 2-0 lead with an RBI single to plate Eric Deragisch.
South Alabama tied the score in the top of the third, scoring a run on an error in a botched rundown and a run-scoring single by Heisler. Heisler delivered again in the fifth with a bunt single to plate Derek O'Reilly to give the Jaguars the 3-2 lead.
USA scored twice in the sixth on Jake Overstreet's two-out single to widen the lead to 5-2.
The Anteaters rallied to close the gap to 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh on clutch pinch hits by Jordan Fox to plate Crumlich and Bell to score Ben Orloff. UCI caught the Jaguars in the eighth as Tony Asaro delivered with a jam shot to right to bring in Olson, who had been hit by the pitch to start the rally.
Larson, Bell and Reyes led UCI with two hits apiece. Starter Crosby Slaught, who did not figure in the decision, struck out four in 4.2 innings while giving up three runs on four hits. After 1.1 shutout innings by Matt Dufour, the Anteaters turned to Eric Pettis, who retired the final six straight and struck out three to pick up the win (1-0).
USA reliever Greg Johnson fell to 1-2 after giving up three runs on seven hits in two innings.
