Bruins hold off UCI

IRVINE — Visiting UCLA broke a 3-3 tie with an unearned run in the seventh inning and tacked on single tallies in the eighth (also unearned) and ninth, before dousing a UC Irvine uprising in the Anteaters’ final at-bat to claim a 6-4 nonconference baseball triumph Tuesday before 1,195 at Anteater Ballpark.

The Bruins (26-23), coached by former UCI head man John Savage, opened the scoring with two in the third and added one in the fourth on a solo home run by left fielder Mickey Weisser.

No. 11-ranked UCI (33-14) posted single runs in the third, fourth and sixth to pull even.

Junior Eric Deragisch singled, stole second and later scored on a groundout by sophomore Dillon Bell in the UCI third.

Senior first baseman Josh Tavelli hit a solo home run, his third of the season, to left-center field in the UCI fourth and sophomore left fielder Tony Asaro tripled to lead off the fourth and later scored on a groundout by sophomore designated hitter Jeff Cusick.

UCLA scored unearned runs in the seventh and eighth and Brady Dolan lef off the ninth with a double and later scored on a fielder’s choice for the Bruins final run.

Wth one out, Tavelli, who was two for four to lead UCI’s seven-hit attack, singled in the ninth. Junior Sammy Donabedian followed with a pinch-hit single and Ollie Linton walked to load the bases, prompting Savage to summon Friday night starter Tim Murphy.

Ben Orloff greeted Murphy with a ground ball to third, which was booted for an error to cut the deficit to two. Murphy then struck out Larson, the Anteaters’ RBI leader, and induced Bell, who had been the team’s hottest hitter of late (nine of 18 last week), to ground out to earn his first save of the season.

Freshman Crosby Slaught, who allowed an unearned run in 1 2/3 innings, took the loss. He walked four.

Starter Tom Calahan yielded four hits and two runs in 2 1/3 innings and Christian Bergman gave up a run on two hits in 2 2/3 for the hosts.

Kyle Necke gave up an unearned run and Reid Suitor surrendered an earned run as all five UCI hurlers were scored upon.

UCI pitchers did combine to strike out 10.

The Anteaters visit Loyola Marymount today for a nonconference clash scheduled for 3 p.m.

Nonconference

UCLA 6, UC Irvine 4

SCORE BY INNINGS

Grace, Rasmussen (4), Lafferty (6), Murphy (9) and Dean; Calahan, Bergman (3), Slaught (7), Necke (7), Suitor (9) and Larson. W – Lafferty, 2-2. L – Slaught, 1-1. Sv – Murphy (1). 2B – Dolan (UCLA). 3B – Asaro (UCI). HR – Weisser (UCLA), Tavelli (UCI).