Smith spins shutout

Barry Faulkner

While the UC Santa Barbara hitters were padding their stats last

weekend, UC Irvine junior right-hander Brett Smith was polishing and

plotting.

While the Gauchos were thumping their way to a three-game sweep at

Sacramento State, Smith, during UCI’s weekend off, was squeezing in

three more bullpen workout sessions than he normally gets between

starts and pushing himself through conditioning drills, aiming to

extend his recent dominance.

After striking out a career-high 13 in a complete-game, 7-0 Big

West Conference-opening baseball triumph over visiting UCSB Thursday,

Smith gave the Gauchos something to work on.

“Usually when you have time off, you don’t get as sharp,” UCI

Coach John Savage said of Smith, who extended his scoreless-innings

streak to 24 with the five-hitter and upped his season record to 6-0.

“But, to his credit, he was sharper.”

UCSB Coach Bob Brontsema was also quick with praise for Smith.

“He was throwing four pitches for strikes, using both sides of the

plate,” said Brontsema, who watched Smith end his team’s nine-game

winning streak, during which it had outscored foes, 116-26, including double-digit scoring in all but one game.

“Other than Long Beach State [with All-American Jared Weaver,

Smith would] be most teams’ No. 1 guy,” Brontsema said. “He was the

difference tonight. As a freshman, he was good against us. He was

just OK last year, but he was outstanding today.”

Savage said Smith was never better.

“It was fun to watch,” Savage said. “He had all four of his

pitches going tonight and I think it was his best outing here at

Irvine. Santa Barbara can hit. Santa Barbara is offensive. They came

in with big numbers, they have a lot of experience and a lot of

left-handed hitters. But I just think that [Smith] battled ‘em and it

was his night tonight.”

Smith went 7 1/3 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts in a 1-0 win

over Long Beach State March 27, after fanning 10 in 8 2/3 innings of

a 3-0 win over Minnesota March 18.

Smith, who was backed by solid defense and never let a runner

reach third base -- only three reached second -- said he was happy to

finish the job Thursday.

“I’ve been busting my butt on conditioning and I was glad [Savage]

let me finish it,” Smith said. “League is important and this helps us

start on the right foot.”

Savage, whose staff had not produced a complete game this season,

said he considered taking Smith out.

“He was at 108 pitches after eight innings and normally our cutoff

is 100 pitches. We’ve never gone over 110 or 115 pitches in his whole

career and I think he ended up with 120. But a player can earn the

right to go back out there [for the ninth] and, in his case, he has.”

It was the eighth win in the last nine games for the Anteaters

(21-6-1), who equaled last year’s win total with still 28

regular-season games remaining. UCI, ranked No. 10 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 16 by Baseball America, also displayed timely

hitting and the aforementioned sparkling defense to end UCSB’s streak

of scoring at least one run at 202 games.

The Gauchos, who had not been blanked in their last 202 games,

dating back to May, 2000, are now 20-11.

Senior second baseman Matt Fisher made a diving stop on a hard-hit

grounder for the first out of the game and opened the second by

ranging to his right, then leaping in the air and throwing back

toward first while drifting toward left field, for another out.

Left fielder Jordan Szabo also wowed the 474 in attendance by

laying out in foul territory to haul in a fly ball for the second out

in the first.

Szabo also led the hosts’ 11-hit attack by going 3 for 4 with one

RBI and one run.

Junior David Kennedy, who had only 10 at-bats coming in, took

advantage of Savage’s hunch to start him in right field, based on

matching up with UCSB sophomore Michael Martin, who fell to 8-1.

Kennedy’s two-out single in the second plated designated hitter

R.J. Brown to open the scoring and Kennedy added a single to finish 2

for 4.

Brown went 2 for 5 with an RBI and one run, while Fisher parlayed

a two-run double and a sacrifice fly into three RBIs. He was 1 for 3.

UCI added three runs in the third, two in the fourth and one in

the fifth, then cruised to the victory.

UCSB, which came in with a .312 team batting average, managed just

four singles and a double. Only Chris Malec and Chris Kalafatis

managed to avoid being fanned by Smith, who struck out the side in

the seventh, after fanning two in the fourth, fifth and sixth. Smith

struck out four straight spanning the fourth and fifth.

“I’m glad it happened and I’m glad I felt the way I did,” Smith

said. “I’d like to keep going off this.”

ZOTS -- Current and former members of the United States military

will receive two free admissions (with military ID) to Saturday’s

series finale with UC Santa Barbara at 1 p.m. Costa Mesa resident

Lefteris “Lefty” Lavrakas, a World War II veteran, is scheduled to

throw out the first pitch ...Senior Glenn Swanson (5-1, 3.76 ERA) is

scheduled to start tonight’s game at 6, while sophomore Chris Nicoll

(3-0, 1.58) is slated to start Saturday for UCI.

*--*

Big West Conference

UC Irvine 7, UC Santa Barbara 0

Score by Innings

UCSB 000 000 000 -- 0 5 1

UC Irvine 013 210 00x -- 7 11 0

Martin, Fraser (5), Posthumus (8) and

Kalafatis; Smith and Wagner. W - Smith,

6-0. L - Martin, 8-1. 2B - Anderson (UCI), Fisher (UCI), Malec (UCSB).

*--*