UCI win one for the ‘aged’

NORTHRIDGE — They call him Grandpa Lowey. And while fifth-year senior catcher Aaron Lowenstein has caught a no-hitter, as well as all the victories of a watershed postseason that ended in the 2007 College World Series, the good-natured banter surrounding one statistical omission in his 151-game UC Irvine baseball career was getting, well, a little old.

“Everybody has always given me [grief], asking me ‘When are you going to get one?’ ” Lowenstein said of his 382 career at-bats without a home run, heading into the ninth inning of UCI’s 4-1 Big West Conference win at Cal State Northridge on Friday.

The win helped the No. 13-ranked Anteaters improve to 29-11, 7-6 in conference.

“I’ve shown I could do it in practice, and I’ve always said ‘I’m going to get one; I’m going to get one.’ ”

Lowenstein’s lone round-tripper, a blast over the wall in left center, came with two outs and a runner aboard. It added two runs to what had been a somewhat tenuous 2-1 advantage and sparked an emotional reaction from his teammates, who stormed out of the dugout to greet him after he crossed the plate.

“To finally get one was awesome,” Lowenstein said of his first dinger since high school. “I finally got one and all the guys were fired up for me.”

UCI All-American pitcher Scott Gorgen, who has always appreciated Lowenstein’s work behind the plate, regardless of his offensive contributions, benefited from his catcher’s offense and defense against the Matadors (19-23, 5-11).

“He was unreal today,” said Gorgen, who allowed four hits and one run while striking out 10 in 8 1/3 innings to improve to 9-2. “I can’t say enough about [Lowenstein]. He has been there for three years [for me] and he’s my heart and soul behind the plate.

“And then to finally see him hit a home run after he has talked every year about hitting a home run … that was sweet. We were unbelievably excited for him.”

Lowenstein, who picked a runner off at first with the bases loaded to get Gorgen out of a rare jam in the fifth inning, limped around the bases after connecting off of Northridge reliever Eric Billings. Lowenstein has taken dozens pitches off of various parts of his legs this season and is still dealing with the effects of a pitch that hit him directly in the side of one knee. He took his trademark “dose” again Friday, when he was hit in the right elbow by a pitch to reach in the fourth inning.

“Was I limping?” he said when informed of his less-than-easy gait around the bases, incredulous to the pain that he regularly plays through.

“He’s a workhorse,” said Gorgen, who couldn’t resist jabbing Lowenstein about his broken-down home-run trot.

“I think he was out of breath coming around the bases,” Gorgen said with a wink. “That’s the first time he has done the round trip. It took him five years to [hit a homer]. I mean, he’s Grandpa Lowey. I guess we’ll have to find something else to tease him about, now.”

The comedic postgame was made possible by Gorgen and reliever Eric Pettis, who made the final two outs somewhat interesting.

Gorgen retired the first hitter of the ninth, a matchup Coach Mike Gillespie favored. But with Gorgen having thrown 112 pitches, Pitching Coach Ted Silva promptly summoned Pettis to close it out, in what had become a non-save situation.

Pettis walked two and allowed a single, but left the bases loaded by striking out pinch-hitter Matt Warr for the final out.

Gorgen had allowed just three hits through seven shutout innings and he fanned the first hitter in the eighth for his 10th strikeout, leaving him two shy of tying the school career record held by Glenn Swanson (298).

But what would have been the Anteaters’ first shutout in 27 games was ruined when Justin DeMarco, the No. 9 hitter, homered to left-center for his first of the season.

Though he lost the shutout and, later, the complete game, Gorgen saw his earned-run average improve from 2.07 to 1.97.

“It was a great day for Gorgen,” UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said. “He was special.”

UCI junior third baseman Eric Deragisch (two for four) tripled in Francis Larson (three for four with a double) to open the scoring in the second.

UCI sophomore designated hitter Tony Asaro launched a booming solo homer to left-center to pad the lead in the fourth. It was Asaro’s fourth homer of the campaign.

Big West Conference

UC Irvine 4, Cal State Northridge 1

SCORE BY INNINGS

Gorgen, Pettis (9) and Lowenstein; Tate, Billings (7) and Hannick. W – Gorgen, 9-2. L – Tate, 2-3. 2B – Larson (UCI). 3B – Deragisch (UCI). HR – Asaro (UCI), DeMarco (CSN), Lowenstein (UCI).

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].