Weaver outduels Smith

Barry Faulkner

The ovations were nice and there were several, including some rousing

applause when he merely took the mound for the ninth inning. But,

perhaps, the best souvenir Long Beach State junior ace Jared Weaver

will take from Friday’s complete-game, 3-0, Big West Conference

baseball victory over visiting UC Irvine Friday night, came from the

opposing dugout after the game, before 2,706 at Blair Field.

That came in the form of praise from renowned pitching guru and

UCI Coach John Savage, who spared few plaudits when discussing the

prized right-hander.

“[Mark] Prior and [Barry] Zito were special guys, but what can you

say about Weaver,” said Savage, who tutored Prior and Zito in his

former role as pitching coach at USC. “Weaver is in that class, at

least as a college pitcher. Who knows about the future. But, as of

right now, he’s having a Prior-type year, and against the same type

of competition. He’s as good as advertised.”

Weaver’s first complete game of the season included 12 strikeouts

and just four Irvine hits. He needed just 108 pitches to hand rival

starter Brett Smith his first loss in seven decisions this spring.

UCI (23-8-1, 2-2 in conference), ranked No. 7 by Collegiate

Baseball, blanked for only the second time this season, had just two

runners reach second base, despite an aggressive approach meant to

jump on Weaver early.

“I thought we had some good at-bats, I really did,” Savage said.

“But it’s a situation where the guy throws a lot of strikes. He

throws three pitches for strikes. That changeup is really an

underrated pitch with him. It’s really developing. It’s a solid,

legit, three-pitch, major-league mix.”

After UCI catcher Mark Wagner managed the second hit against

Weaver in the first eight Anteater batters, Weaver virtually took the

visitors out of any offensive mix. After a fielder’s choice nailed

Wagner, who had advanced to second on a wild pitch, at third, Weaver,

who five times has been named national Player of the Week by

Collegiate Baseball this season, retired 14 in a row, including seven

strikeouts.

By the time David Kennedy’s one-out double in the eighth broke up

the dominant run, Long Beach had already gotten to Smith with a run

in the seventh to break a scoreless tie.

Weaver then finished off five of the final six he faced to improve

to 11-0 and earn his 33rd career victory as a 49er. The latter ties

him for the school’s all-time record, but there figure to be many,

many more records and accolades for the man Baseball America named

the top midseason prospect in the nation.

“We tried to hit early in the count, because when he gets two

strikes, he can really finish you off,” Savage said. “We tried not to

hit with two strikes, but, you know, the guy’s good. He’s in that

class of the upper-echelon college pitchers, so those guys get you at

two strikes before you know it. He came on and struck out some guys

late. Tonight was his night.”

It was also a solid night for Smith, who extended his

scoreless-inning streak to 31, before surrendering his only run in

the seventh.

Brad Davis and Jason Vargas singled to open the inning, putting

runners on the corners. UCI elected to play its infield back, which

allowed Danny Mocney’s grounder to short to drive in Davis for all

Weaver would need. Smith, who left the bases loaded in the first,

worked out of the jam without further damage. But, having thrown 98

pitches, his night was over.

“I thought Brett really competed and battled,” Savage said. “But

he didn’t have his best stuff. In his 31-inning scoreless streak, he

pitched out of problems. That’s what makes him so great. To have a

0-0 game into the seventh inning, you can’t ask for more out of him.

Long Beach (24-9, 4-0), ranked No. 5 by Baseball America, scored

twice in the eighth off UCI relievers David Huff and Steve Schroer,

the former absorbing both runs, though one was unearned, having

reached on a three-base throwing error by second baseman Matt Fisher.

Fisher, Kennedy, Wagner and pinch-hitter R.J. Brown accounted for

UCI’s four hits, giving Weaver just 40 hits allowed in 802/3 innings

this season. Weaver also has 118 strikeouts and just 13 walks,

including none Friday. His ERA this season is now 1.00 and teams are

hitting a paltry .146 against him.

“Going into tonight, I knew it was going to be a pitchers’ duel,”

Weaver said. “[Smith, who earned the win in UCI’s 1-0 home

nonconference decision over Long Beach March 27] has great stuff and

I knew he was going to keep our hitters off balance. I knew it was

going to be a battle. I just had to keep my mind-set the whole game

... I’ve got to give it up to our team for getting that run. That was

great and it boosted my confidence.”

ZOTS - UC Irvine entered Friday’s game 9-1-1 this season against

ranked teams ... UCI freshman closer Blair Erickson entered Friday

with 12 saves, tops in the nation. Santa Clara’s Anthony Rea is

second with nine and Long Beach State junior Neil Jamison entered

with eight ... With his three strikeouts Friday, Brett Smith upped

his career total to (started with 218), moving within two of Jerry

Manus (1972-75), who ranks No. 2 on the school career list. Gary

Wheelock (1972-74) ranks atop the career strikeouts list with 287 ...

UCI sophomore outfielder Erik Johnson, who has a team-high 31 RBIs

and owns an eight-game hitting streak, injured his wrist diving to

try to catch a fly ball Tuesday against the University of San Diego

and is out indefinitely... The series continues at 2 p.m. today and 1

p.m. Sunday at Blair Field. The pitching matchups: UCI’s Glenn

Swanson (6-1 with a 3.80 ERA) vs. Cesar Ramos (6-2, 1.99) Saturday

and UCI’s Chris Nicoll (3-1, 1.80) vs. Jason Vargas (4-5, 3.56).

*--*

Big West Conference

Long Beach State 3, UC Irvine 0

Score by Innings

UCI 000 000 000 - 0 4 1

LB St. 000 000 12x - 3 8 0

Smith, Huff (8), Schroer (8) and Wagner,

Wehrun (8); Weaver and Davis. W - Weaver,

11-0. L - Smith, 6-1. 2B - Kennedy (UCI),

(LB). 3B - Hofius (LB).

*--*