A night of celebration

IRVINE — On a night of historic significance at Anteater Ballpark Tuesday, UC Irvine junior Casey Stevenson created a memory that may eventually take on mythic proportions.

The Anteaters’ second baseman punched a soft line-drive single to left off much-ballyhooed freshman pitcher Gerritt Cole with two outs. The hit drove in the winning run and capped yet another dramatic winning rally in the final at-bat by the top-ranked team in the nation.

Stevenson’s hit was the final blow in a 5-4 nonconference victory over UCLA, which led, 3-1, after 5 1/2 innings and, once again, forged a 4-3 lead in the top of the 10th by virtue of Cody Decker’s 20th home run of the season, a first-pitch bomb to center field off UCI junior All-American closer Eric Pettis.

Stevenson’s clutch conversion was also the last chance for a season-best home crowd of 2,726 to celebrate on a night that began with a pregame ceremony in which the playing surface was dedicated as Cicerone Field.

Ralph Cicerone, the UCI Chancellor Emeritus, was, as chancellor from 1998 to 2005, integral in bringing baseball back to the school after a nine-season absence, due to budget cuts.

But it was Stevenson’s cut off Cole, arguably the top recruit in the nation who turned down millions from the New York Yankees (who selected him 28th overall in the first round of the draft last June) to become a Bruin, that provided the richest celebration of the evening.

“It’s good to get a hit any time to win a game like that,” Stevenson said. “To do it off [Cole, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound right-hander making his first collegiate relief appearance, who entered the game with 95 strikeouts in 78 1/3 innings] I guess is a little bit of icing on the cake.

“I would say it’s out of the ordinary,” Stevenson added. “He throws hard and he’s going to be a great pitcher for them the next couple years. And, he’s going to be a real high draft pick, so that’s going to be cool [to think about in the future], for sure.”

Stevenson might not have collected his story for any future grand kids, without heroics from a handful of teammates.

Senior center fielder Eric Deragisch lashed a line-drive, two-run homer over the left-field fence in the sixth to pull UCI (41-12), which clinched its first outright Big West Conference crown Friday, even.

After the Bruins (26-27), coached by former UCI head man John Savage, scored twice in the third to break a 1-1 tie, UCI junior reliever Kyle Necke shut the visitors down.

Necke, who UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said has been developing a cut fastball with pitching coach Ted Silva, struck out a career-high eight in a career-long 4 1/3 innings, after taking over for starter Brock Bardeen with two outs in the fourth inning. Necke fanned the first four he faced. Then, after allowing his only hit, a double to open the sixth, Necke retired the final nine he faced.

Pettis pitched a perfect ninth, but was touched by Decker with one out in the 10th.

Not to worry, however, as freshman right fielder Tommy Reyes doubled to right-center field with one out in the UCI 10th.

Enter Cole, the Bruins’ Friday-night starter, who retired Deragisch on a comebacker for the second out.

Cole appeared to have recorded his first save when he induced a soft bounding ball to shortstop off the bat of freshman designated hitter Ronnie Shaeffer. But Niko Gallego booted it for an error, allowing Reyes to score from third to tie the game.

Stevenson said he then tried to simplify the situation.

“I was just trying to get down really early, trying to get down to the fastball,” Stevenson said. “I knew he was going to pitch with the fastball there and luckily I got one up and out over the plate that I could hit into left.”

It was the fourth straight win for the ’Eaters, who have now won 11 of their last 12 and 18 of their last 20, heading into the final regular-season series at Big West rival UC Santa Barbara, beginning Friday.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that it’s a group of guys who don’t really think its over unless its over,” Gillespie said of his players. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be. We’re all supposed to know that about baseball. But I really do think it is true about this bunch.”

Gillespie singled out the performance of Necke, who has struggled with injuries since an impressive freshman campaign in 2006.

“It’s the best any of us have ever seen him throw,” said Gillespie, in his second season with UCI. “I think most of his strikeout pitches were that new cutter. I mean he really clutched up and pitched well and gave us a chance to stay in it.”

UCLA opened the scoring in the first, when Casey Haerther’s two-out single drove in Blair Dunlap.

UCI answered with a pair of doubles in the second, first by Shaeffer, then, one out later, by junior first baseman Jeff Cusick

Cusick was three for four to pace UCI’s nine-hit attack.

Pettis earned the win to improve to 5-2.

Nonconference

UC Irvine 5, UCLA 4 (10 innings)

SCORE BY INNINGS

Claypool, Rasmussen (6), Brooks (7), Cole (10) and Rodriguez; Bardeen, Necke (4), Pettis (9) and Larson. W – Pettis, 5-2. L – Cole, 4-7. 2B – Shaeffer (UCI), Cusick (UCI), Giovinazzo (UCLA), Reyes (UCI). HR – Deragisch (UCI), Decker (UCLA).