Anteaters’ win follows script

UCI gamer vs. CalPitching, defense and offensive execution help UCI hold off Cal to win finale, 7-6, and claim opening three-game set.IRVINE -- There will be days when things go more smoothly for the UC Irvine baseball team. But it may be a while before any Anteater game goes more according to plan than Sunday’s 7-6 nonconference victory over Cal, before 864 at Anteater Ballpark.

UCI Coach Dave Serrano and his assistants had the golden touch in the finale of a three-game series. UCI won the last two games to claim the series.

Senior starting pitcher Glenn Swanson delivered four solid innings to earn his first win in nearly a year.

First baseman Zach “Whammer” Robinson had two RBI singles in only his second start as an Anteater, upping his team-leading RBI total to five this season.

The Anteaters executed four sacrifice bunts without a hitch, three of which led to runs, including a safety squeeze off the bat of Bryan Petersen that upped UCI’s lead to 4-1.

Petersen also had a sacrifice fly and Taylor Holiday fisted an inside pitch into shallow right field for a two-run single in the sixth, a blow that exemplied the ‘Eaters ability to consistently come through.

“I thought the difference in the series was that [Cal] got guys on and didn’t even try to execute,” Serrano said. “We got guys on, we executed, then we drove guys in.”

UCI’s execution helped it maximize its eight hits and five bases on balls. The Anteaters had only six runners left on base.

Conversely, Cal needed 15 hits and four walks to score it runs. The visitors stranded 10.

Five pitchers and errorless defense helped UCI maintain the lead it seized in the first inning.

Swanson, shut down with elbow pain after just nine innings last season, for which the fifth-year senior was granted a redshirt year, said it felt great to be back.

“I was definitely nervous, but I settled down and it felt like old times again,” said Swanson, who yielded five hits and one run, before exiting after the fourth having thrown 69 pitches. He threw 44 strikes, including first-pitch strikes to 11 of the 16 batters he faced.

“This was a special day for me,” Serrano, also the pitching coach, said of Swanson’s first win since Feb. 12, 2005. “I know he has worked tremendously hard to get back. It has been a long year for him and I told him before he went out there today that he deserves to be out there again. With five years of experience under his belt, with his savvy and his stuff, I’ve said that if he isn’t the best Sunday starter in the country, he’s tied for the best.”

Robinson, a 6-foot-3, 270-pound transfer from Point Loma Nazarene, singled in Holiday in the first inning, then did the same in the fifth to create a 5-1 cushion.

But Ryan Hanlon’s second double of the game drove in two runs to cap a three-run sixth for the Golden Bears (1-2).

Then, just as if it were following Serrano’s script, UCI (2-1), thanks to Holid, answered to reclaim the momentum.

“I thought the back-breaker for them was Holiday fighting off that pitch to drive in two after they put a three-spot on the board the previous half-inning to close to within 5-4,” Serrano said. “That was huge for our momentum.”

Designated hitter Brock Bardeen tripled in a run in the fourth for UCI, the ‘Eaters’ only extra-base hit.

“We’re not going to bang balls off the wall, but we can stull be formidable if we execute, because of the pitchers we’re going to run out there,” Serrano said.

Said Swanson: “We’re going to do the small things and we’re going to make them count. They had more hits than us, but we played small ball. We got our bunts down, which is part of our game.”

Holiday, Bardeen and Robinson all had two hits, while Holiday, Robinson and Petersen each drove in two.

Robinson, whom Serrano predicted might become a crowd favorite when he arrived Jan. 7, is now 4 for 7 this season (.571). Bardeen, a redshirt freshman, is 5 for 11 (.455) with three RBI. Taylor (.333) has four RBI.

All-American closer Blair Erickson earned his first save, though he gave up two runs and three hits after entering with one out in the eighth. His first pitch induced an inning-ending double play.

UCI freshman reliever Kyle Necke worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the seventh to squelch a Cal rally. He worked one inning and was the only UCI pitcher who didn’t give up a run.

“Winning a game like that will help us grow up a little bit more,” Serrano said. “I told our guys, we won the last 26 innings of this series.”

Nonconference

UC Irvine 7, Cal 6

Score by Innings