Cusick caps UCI rally against Trojans

IRVINE — After making the point visually in the game-winning final at-bat Tuesday night, Jeff Cusick emphasized with words that timing is everything.

For while the UC Irvine junior first baseman’s two-strike, two-run single that capped a five-run ninth to help the No. 1-ranked Anteaters rally for a 6-5 nonconference win over visiting USC, may not have been the biggest at-bat of the rally, it was, inarguably, the last.

“I was thinking that we had just had seven at-bats that were beyond great,” said Cusick, who opened his opportunity by flailing at a pair of Anthony Vasquez changeups that put him one strike away from ending that streak.

The two swings were, in fact, the embodiment of poor timing.

“I was a little over my skies,” Cusick said. “As you can imagine, I was up there with a lot of energy and I was trying to do too much. So, I stepped out, took a deep breath [tightened] my [batting] gloves and tried to get my feet back under me.

“I just wanted to keep it going; to not try to do too much and just try to do my part.”

Cusick almost became a hero by squibbing a 2-2 changeup down the first-base line, but the would-be game-winner darted just foul as it neared the bag.

“I was just trying to battle,” said Cusick, whose older brother Matt was a former standout infielder at USC. “I can’t give enough credit to [Vasquez], because I wasn’t seeing his stuff.”

But when Cusick saw yet another change on the next pitch, he grounded it hard back through the middle. It vaulted off the mound and just beyond the diving attempt of shortstop Grant Green, allowing pinch-runner Jordon Fox to score from second and give UCI (31-11) its eighth straight triumph over the Trojans (21-20).

“It was a changeup, similar to the ones he threw me before,” Cusick said. “I just stayed back a little longer and just tried not to do too much.”

The timing of the hit, with one out and the bases loaded, created a spotlight Cusick said he didn’t fully deserve.

“It’s almost like I stole the glory, because those hits … by [Casey] Stevenson and [Dillon] Bell and [Jordan] Leyland and [Ben] Orloff [actually a successful squeeze bunt on a 3-2 pitch that pulled UCI within 5-4] … all those guys’ at-bats were just as big as mine. It just happened that mine came at the end.”

Cusick’s single also came at the end of a game in which he had been hitless in four at-bats, somewhat cooling a surge that included going eight for 13 in a three-game series at Utah that ended Saturday.

Again, timing.

“After his first two swings, [Cusick] couldn’t have been the most confident hitter on earth,” said UCI Coach Mike Gillespie, who played at USC and was the Trojans’ head coach for 20 seasons before taking over at UCI last season. “But I really think he dug in and trusted himself. And I think he resolved to make hard contact and did it. That was a big at-bat.”

Stevenson doubled to open the ninth. Ronnie Shaeffer walked and Bell, pinch-hitting, singled up the middle to drive in Stevenson. Ryan Fisher singled and Leyland followed with an RBI single to make it 5-3.

With the bases loaded, Orloff’s squeeze plated Bell and put runners on second and third.

Eric Deragsich was intentionally walked to load the bases and set the stage for Cusick, who said he would likely not be the one to break the news to his brother, now playing for the Class A affiliate of the New York Yankees in Tampa, Fla.

“I’m sure my dad has already been on the phone [to Matt],” Cusick said moments after his heroics.

“Tough teams don’t give up,” Cusick said. “Tough teams don’t ever give up. No matter how hard you get punched, you just got to stand up after it.”

Deragisch and Shaeffer had two hits apiece to lead UCI’s 10-hit attack.

Junior All-American closer Eric Pettis worked a scoreless ninth to earn the win and improve to 4-1.

It was UCI’s 12th victory in its last 14 games.

Nonconference

UC Irvine 6, USC 5

SCORE BY INNINGS

Smith, Couture (7), Cooper (8), Oropesa (9), Vasquez (9) and Rabago; Slaught, Necke (4), Avison (6), Bardeen (8), Pettis (9) and Larson. W – Pettis, 4-1. L – Vasquez, 2-4. 2B – Oropesa (USC), Stevenson (UCI). 3B – Rabago (USC), Green (USC).

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].