College Baseball: ‘Eaters finding answers
About one month ago, UC Irvine baseball was off to the worst start in program history (0-6) and Coach Mike Gillespie was struggling for answers.
But after a 6-4 Big West Conference home win over Hawaii on Saturday gave UCI its seventh straight victory and 10th in its last 11 games, Gillespie suddenly has more solutions than he knows what to do with.
Riding a formula of strong starting pitching, revolving offensive heroes and a continually emerging bullpen, the Anteaters (13-10) find themselves one of only two teams to begin conference play 2-0.
Junior starting pitcher Matt Esparza allowed two runs in seven innings to improve to 5-1, three freshmen accounted for five runs batted in, and senior Sam Moore earned a six-out save that is reminiscent of his All-American magic of a season ago.
“There are some things to like and I do like them,” said Gillespie, who noted that among those is an unprecedented assortment of cogs that creates who-done-it intrigue around every newly posted lineup card.
“We haven’t had that kind of depth in the eight seasons I’ve been here,” Gillespie said. “I would still rather have a set lineup, but we now have a lot of guys who can get in there in situations. And if we have the right guy, against the right guy, we can maybe get something done.”
Freshman right fielder Cameron Bishop and freshman third baseman Parker Coss got it done during a five-run sixth inning that broke a 1-1 deadlock.
Bishop, who doubled in the game-winning run during Friday’s 2-0 series-opening win, drove a two-run double into the right-center-field gap to get the ball rolling in the sixth.
Senior catcher Jerry McClanahan added an RBI single and, after junior Wyatt Castro singled and stole a base to put two ‘Eaters in scoring position, Coss drove them both home with a single to break it open.
The Rainbow Warriors (9-18, 0-2) rallied for two runs on three hits in the eighth, the final single coming off Moore, who entered after Kyle Davis loaded the bases with no outs.
Moore, who since registering a Big West record 23 saves through 48 games last season had just one save spanning the next 40 games heading into Saturday, retired the next three hitters to strand two baserunners. He then retired three of four hitters in the ninth to continue a recent trend of effectiveness.
“I’m really happy for Moore, because he was good,” Gillespie said. “He sure needs to be good and we sure need him to be good.”
In addition to a pair of RBIs from Bishop and Coss, freshman Keston Hiura singled in a run to open the scoring in the third.
Junior first baseman Jonathan Munoz, among the pieces who has not always found himself in the puzzle, went two for two with a walk and scored once to pace the ‘Eaters eight-hit attack.
Bishop, for whom six of his 10 hits are for extra bases, upped his RBI total to 12, tied for second with Andrew Martinez behind Hiura’s team-leading 16.
“It’s in him to be a legit, big-time hitter,” Gillespie said of the 6-foot-4, 225-pound left-hander who is also expected to eventually pitch. “Before he’s done, he might be a prospect as a hitter and a pitcher. But for now, he has a chance to really hit.”
Seven different Anteaters contributed hits to back yet another strong performance by Esparza, who allowed six hits, struck out five and walked one to lower his earned-run average to 2.80.
Tyler Brashears, a junior transfer from Saddleback Community College who originally signed with UCI out of El Toro High, absorbed the loss to fall to 3-3. Brashears aided his own undoing with a throwing error that led to three unearned runs.
“He was good,” Gillespie said of Brashears, who had allowed three hits and one run through five innings. “And I was sort of hating that he was that good. [A loss to the one-time recruit] would have been hard to swallow.”
Junior right fielder Alan Baldwin went five for five to account for half of the visitors’ hits.
The win gave UCI its fifth straight series victory and creates an opportunity for a second straight series sweep.
“We had a real good weekend last weekend [a three-game sweep of Cal State Bakersfield] and we have a chance to have a real good weekend this weekend,” Gillespie said. “So, it’s getting better.”
Clearly better than this time last month.
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Big West Conference
UC Irvine 6, Hawaii 4
SCORE BY INNINGS
UH 000 100 120 – 4 10 1
UCI 001 005 00x – 6 8 1
Brashears, Von Ruden (6), Culp (8) and Ka’aua; Esparza, Davis (8), Moore (8) and McClanahan. W – Esparza, 5-1. L – Brashears, 3-3. Sv – Moore (2). 2B – Sawelson (UH), Bishop (UCI). 3B – Baldwin (UH). HR – Kitaoka (UH).