No. 1 UC Irvine Sweeps Cal State Northridge
May 3, 2009
IRVINE, Calif. --- Top-ranked UC Irvine improved to 17-3 at home with a 5-2 win over Cal State Northridge Sunday at Anteater Ballpark to sweep the series. UCI climbed to 34-11 overall and 14-1 in the Big West while the Matadors fell to 18-29 (4-14) overall.
Junior Jeff Cusick homered in the top of the first to stake the Anteaters to a 2-0 lead, hitting his third home run of the season. The lead extended to three as Casey Stevenson's two-out double was cashed in by Ronnie Shaeffer, who singled through the left side.
The Matadors answered in the top of the second on John Parham's double down the left-field line to plate Ryan Pineda but starter Crosby Slaught retired the next nine batters. The right-hander limited CSUN to a run on four hits while striking out four and walking one to improve to 4-0 overall.
UCI struck again in the sixth, stringing together three straight hits in the bottom of the sixth and scoring a run on Ryan Fisher's single to right. Francis Larson went yard for the ninth time this season in the bottom of the eighth to give UCI a 5-1 lead. With the home run, Larson moved into a tie for fourth in the single-season records.
Pitcher Brock Bardeen and Noel Avison combined for 2.2 hitless innings in relief before handing the ball off to Eric Pettis, who picked up his 14th save after pitching 1.1 innings and giving up a run on two hits.
Cusick paced the Anteaters with two RBI while Stevenson and Shaeffer topped the team with two hits apiece.
CSUN starter Billy Ott (1-4) pitched six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits in six innings. Parham led the Matadors, going 2 for 4 with two RBI.
