Muñoz key in UCI victory at USC
LOS ANGELES — To persevere is one of the oldest themes in sports. And one of the oldest players on the UC Irvine baseball team, guided by one of the oldest coaches in the collegiate game, were both thoroughly relishing the latest example Tuesday night.
UCI fifth-year senior Jonathan Muñoz drove in the winning run to cap a 6-5 come-from-behind nonconference triumph at USC, giving Coach Mike Gillespie, 75, his seventh win in eight games at Dedeaux Field since he was ousted after 19 seasons as the Trojans’ head man.
Muñoz, a first-team All-Big West Conference performer as a sophomore in 2014, scuffled a bit since, biding his time on the bench for various periods and finding production hard to come by. But, after going two for three with two runs batted in against the Trojans, Muñoz has three straight two-RBI games, doubling his season total in that department to 12 since Sunday morning.
“It’s another one of those good stories,” said Gillespie, whose team has won four straight since dropping the first of five games in five days on Friday at UC Davis. “[Muñoz] has already graduated and he could have been gone. But he has chosen to stay and work and work and work and to see this … He has been big several times.”
Muñoz singled in a run in a two-run first as UCI (24-14) broke on top, 2-0, only to see USC (18-21) answer with two runs in the first and two more in the second on its way to a 5-1 lead.
UCI scored twice in the sixth on a Cameron Bishop pinch-hit single and a throwing error and Keston Hiura (two for four to extend his streak of reaching base to 51 games) singled in the tying run and advanced to second on the throw to the plate.
Hiura moved to third on Mitchell Holland’s sacrifice bunt and trotted home on Muñoz’s go-ahead liner to left.
“Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned in my five years of college baseball is to never give up and to always put in the work,” said Muñoz, who was six for 13 in the five-day stretch in which he had at least one hit in every game. “I kind of got lost on the bench for a little bit, but that never changed my work ethic and the way I approach every day, trying to get better. I waited for my chance and when I got my chance this past weekend, I told myself to relax and just trust myself.
“Every guy in that dugout hates being on the bench, because we’re all competitors,” Muñoz said. “But that pushed me even harder and motivated me. [To be producing so effectively lately] is amazing. To see the progress and the work going into this game is awesome. I love it.”
There is a lot to love about UCI’s four-game winning streak, which has featured four consecutive double-digit hit outputs for the first time all season (56 hits and 38 runs in all).
Cole Kreuter, John Brontsema and Holland joined Hiura and Muñoz as ’Eaters with two hits Tuesday, while Wyatt Castro had a hit and drove in a run with an infield grounder in the two-run sixth.
The UCI bullpen, which can at times appear to be a non-distinctive parade of arms, did its job once again, as six relievers quelled the Trojans after freshman Miles Glazier, the ninth UCI pitcher to start a game this season, allowed four runs before failing to get out of the second inning.
Sean Sparling earned the victory, his second in as many decisions, and junior closer Calvin Faucher notched the final four outs for his seventh save.
USC had nine two-out hits, the first six of which led to its five runs. But it was the clutch hitting of UCI’s veteran third baseman, Muñoz, that was the better story of perseverance in this one.
“Whatever comes your way, you have to keep going, through all the trials and tribulations,” Muñoz said.
Gillespie might say the same, having taken UCI to a College World Series and won 11 of 15 contests against his alma mater, since he took over at UCI.
UCI will try to maintain its roll when it opens a three-game Big West series against Cal State Fullerton on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Anteater Ballpark.
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Nonconference
UC Irvine 6, USC 5
SCORE BY INNINGS
UCI 200 002 200 – 6 12 1
USC 220 100 000 - 5 12 3
Glazier, Miller (3), Martin (4), Sparling (6), Ritchie (7), Riddle (8), Faucher (8) and Reitano, Guenette (6); Stubbs, Wheatley (5), Wright (6), Paschke (6), Huberman (8), Kriske (9) and Martinez. W – Sparling, 2-0. L – Paschke, 3-2. Sv – Faucher (7). 2B – Robinson (USC), Dempster (USC), Martinez (USC), Brontsema (UCI). HR – Robinson (USC).
