Offense Keys Anteater Win Over Pacific
May 8, 2009
STOCKTON, Calif. --- The UC Irvine offense scored 11 runs in three innings as the top-ranked Anteaters recorded an 11-6 win over Pacific Friday at Klein Family Field. The win lifted UCI to 35-11 overall and 15-1 in the conference while the Tigers fell to 18-26 (8-11) overall.
Six Anteaters registered multiple-hit games, led by catcher Francis Larson, who was 3 for 4 with an RBI. Eric Deragisch, Jeff Cusick and Ronnie Shaeffer each had two hits and two RBI apiece while Casey Stevenson also drive in a pair of runs. Ben Orloff and Cory Olson added two hits each in the win.
Starter Daniel Bibona rose to 9-1 on the mound, pitching eight innings and striking out seven while allowing five runs (two earned) on six hits. Kyle Necke allowed a run in 2/3 innings while Noel Avison retired the final batter of the game.
Pacific broke a scoreless tie in the third on an RBI double from J.B. Brown but the Anteaters scored three in the fifth. Tommy Reyes led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Olson. Orloff singled to push Reyes to third and Deragisch bounced a grounder to short to cut the lead to one. Cusick laced a double to left for an RBI hit and was followed by Larson who singled in a run for a 3-1 lead.
Pacific then scored four in the bottom of the fifth, capitalizing on two UCI errors. Ben Gorang was hit by the pitch to lead off the frame and reached second on a single by Nick Longmire. Starting pitcher Joey Centanni's sacrifice bunt was mishandled by Bibona and Brown's hard grounder to first resulted in UCI's second error of the inning, scoring Gorang. Catcher Kurt Wideman jumped on Bibona's first offering for two-out, two-run double, putting the Tigers up 5-3.
Stevenson and Ryan Fisher belted back-to-back home runs to lead off the UCI sixth, tying the game at 5-5. It was the second time this season an Anteater team has hit consecutive round-trippers as Ronnie Shaeffer and Larson paired up to accomplish the feat against UC Riverside (Apr. 17). After Centanni recorded the first two outs of the inning, Orloff singled and stole second before Deragisch doubled the go-ahead run at 6-5. The Tigers then handed the ball off to reliever Jamie Niley, who hit the next three Anteaters to force in a run and Stevenson drew a bases-loaded, four-pitch walk to give the team an 8-5 advantage.
UCI put together another two-out rally in the seventh, adding a run on a wild pitch and getting run-scoring hits from Cusick and Shaeffer.
Centanni fell to 4-5 after giving up seven runs on 11 hits in 5.2 innings. Niley faced four batters and gave up a run while Cole Akins allowed three runs on five hits in 1.1 innings.
Pacific was led by Wideman, who was 3 for 4 with two RBI while Brown drove in three runs on 2 for 5 hitting.
The series continues Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
