College Baseball: Grand slam topples ‘Eaters
The UC Irvine baseball team would have done well to take inspiration from its bat boy on Tuesday night.
Darius Turner, the 8-year-old son of Anteaters’ men’s basketball coach Russell Turner, was hit by a sharp foul grounder into the third-base dugout in the early innings of UCI’s 5-1 nonconference loss to Loyola Marymount.
He immediately received attention from the UCI training staff in the dugout, but appeared unfazed. And a family member later reported that it was just a glancing blow.
But UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said the younger Turner displayed some grit that was atypical in the home dugout.
“[Darius Turner] showed a lot more toughness than half of my players,” said Gillespie, who was displeased that his team, which had won seven of its previous eight games coming in, struggled to be competitive against the Lions (28-20-1). “He took a rocket and hardly blinked.”
UCI (31-18) managed just four hits and scored its only run in the first inning on a bases-loaded walk to senior catcher Jerry McClanahan.
After a single by junior shortstop Mikey Duarte to lead off the third inning, four LMU relievers combined to retire 21 of the final 24 UCI hitters, only two of which had hits. McClanahan, who doubled to open the ninth inning, was the lone ‘Eater to reach second base after the second inning.
Duarte finished two for three with a run to extend his hitting streak to nine games. But freshman outfielder Keston Hiura, who was hit by a pitch to contribute to the scoring rally for UCI, was hitless in three at-bats to end his hitting streak at 12 games. Hiura, who has a UCI freshman record 50 runs batted in, also had a 19-game hitting streak this season.
Junior designated hitter Jonathan Munoz accounted for the other UCI hit.
UCI used three walks and a hit batter to take a 1-0 lead that freshman starting pitcher Alonzo Garcia made hold up with five shutout innings.
But some UCI wildness – two walks and two hit batters – allowed the Lions, who had been winless in their previous five contests, with four losses, to pull even in the seventh.
LMU then got a bit of thunder from an unexpected source for the difference in the eighth. Senior catcher Chris Barnett, who had zero RBIs in 45 at-bats this season to that point and had managed a mere six RBIs in 158 career at-bats, yanked a 1-2 fastball from reliever Matt Fielding over the left-field wall for a grand slam. It was the first career home run for the graduate of El Modena High in Orange, who said he had a group of friends and family among the 677 in attendance.
All three UCI relievers were charged with at least one run and they combined for five walks, two hit batters, and an error to add to Gillespie’s frustration.
“We got a Cy Young performance from Garcia, so he gave us a chance,” Gillespie said.
Gillespie credited the four LMU relief pitchers for 8 2/3 quality innings after starter Kevin Glomb exited having walked three and hit a batter to allow UCI to score with just one out in the first inning.
But Gillespie was unforgiving when it came to what he deemed an unacceptable approach by his players.
“I felt that it was a lackluster night, with no explanation for it,” Gillespie said. “I don’t think a guy who is 20 years old should not be ready to play. That’s not OK. That’s not acceptable and, for me, it’s not understandable. With the minutes and days and weeks and months our players have invested, to think they would show up and go through the motions like this is just baffling to me.”
UCI will try to rebound for a crucial three-game Big West Conference series scheduled to begin Friday at UC Santa Barbara. The Anteaters are tied with Cal State Fullerton for first place, one game ahead of No. 12-ranked UCSB with six conference games remaining.
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Nonconference
Loyola Marymount 5, UC Irvine 1
SCORE BY INNINGS
LMU 000 000 140 – 5 7 0
UCI 100 000 000 – 1 4 1
Glomb, Cohen (1), Megill (5), Abbott (8), Bussfield (9) and Barnett; Garcia, Bishop (6), Sparling (6), Fielding (7) and McClanahan. W – Megill, 4-4. L – Sparling, 0-2. 2B – Miller (LMU), Edwards (LMU), McClanahan (UCI). HR – Bennett (LMU).