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Baseball:
No. 3 UC Irvine Uses Team Effort to Defeat Loyola Marymount
April 13, 2009 IRVINE, Calif. --- A solid team effort by third-ranked UC Irvine gave the team its fourth consecutive victory as the Anteaters registered a 6-4 non-conference win against Loyola Marymount Monday at Anteater Ballpark. The win lifted UCI to 23-9 overall while the Lions dropped to 22-16. Senior Matt Dufour, in relief of starter Cory Hamilton, pitched a season-high 4.1 innings and held the Lions to two runs (one earned) on 10 hits. With the score tied at 4-4 and a runner on second and no outs in the LMU sixth, Dufour handed the ball off to junior Kyle Necke, who struck out the side. Necke went on to deal three shutout innings, striking out a season-best four batters and yielded just one hit to earn his first win of the season (1-2). Closer Eric Pettis notched his 10th save, retiring the Lions in order in the ninth. LMU loaded the bases in the top of the first with one out and took a two-run lead on a sacrifice fly and a single by Brad Bauer. Eric Deragisch tripled to left and then scored when left-fielder Ryan Hawthorne mishandled the ball to cut the lead to 2-1 after one. Angelo Songco capitalized on Ryan Wheeler's double in the fifth with an RBI hit to give LMU a 3-1 lead but UCI answered in its half of the inning, loading the bases with two outs for Casey Stevenson, who cleared the bases with a double down the left-field line for a 4-3 edge.
A UCI throwing error in the sixth yielded a Lion run to tie the score at 4-4 but Ronnie Shaeffer and Francis Larson hit back-to-back doubles to give the Anteaters the 5-4 lead in the seventh. Jeff Cusick's sacrifice fly plated DJ Crumlich for the insurance run in the bottom of the eighth.
Stevenson was 2 for 3 with three RBI while Shaeffer batted 3 for 5 with two runs scored. Deragisch, Larson and Crumlich each added two hits apiece. The Anteaters continue action Tuesday at No. 27 San Diego. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. |
