‘Eaters topple Huskies in twin bill
Chris Yemma
The UC Irvine baseball team, cooped up for a day and an extra two
hours because of rain delays, released its tensions Saturday in its
home opener plus one.
The Anteaters were scheduled to host Washington Friday in what
would have been a home opener, but the rain forced the two teams to
play a doubleheader Saturday. UCI came out throwing heat in the first
game, and swinging deep in the second, on its way to back-to-back
victories over the Huskies in nonconference play at Anteater Stadium.
UCI rode the pitching of Chris Nicoll on its way to a 6-3
first-game victory, and rode a six-run first inning, peaked with a
Chad Lundahl grand slam, en route to an 8-3 second-game win.
In the early stages of a season that is showing promise,
first-year UCI Coach Dave Serrano has the Anteaters (4-1) thinking
big picture.
“I’m not afraid to say that my expectations are no different than
at the other schools I’ve worked at,” Serrano said. “And that’s to be
there at the big dance. I think I’d be selling these guys short and
myself short if we didn’t have those expectations.”
If there was any preseason questions about UCI’s capability this
season, some light was definitely shed after the Anteaters took care
of Washington (0-2), ranked No. 8 by Baseball America.
Huskies’ pitcher Tim Lincecum, a Collegiate Baseball preseason
All-American and member of the preseason All-Pac-10 team, made his
2005 debut against UCI, pitching 5 2/3 innings and allowing four
runs and six hits.
Nicoll, making his home debut, stole the spotlight from Lincecum,
as he pitched seven innings with eight strikeouts and only one run
scored against him. Nicoll was credited the win after Blair Erickson
came in during the eighth inning and finished the game off for the
Anteaters.
After allowing only four hits compared with Lincecum’s four runs,
and allowing just one run in 13 innings dating to a previous win
against Cal, Nicoll didn’t want to take anything away from the
preseason All-American.
“I don’t face [Lincecum], I face nine batters,” Nicoll said. “I
don’t think of it in terms of facing him.”
Issues of last year’s offensive production were put in check
Saturday as well.
After a two-run double in the first inning of Game 2 by Matt
Anderson, Lundahl stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and
smacked it over the right-field fence, 335 feet out, to give UCI a
6-0 cushion.
“It was an awesome feeling to get a hold of it like that,” Lundahl
said. “Doing anything like that to help the ballclub out to a big
lead is an awesome feeling.”
Lundahl’s seven RBIs this season are one more than his 2004 total,
while Anderson was 4 of 6 with a triple and a double. Gregg Wallis
went 2 for 5 with a double and Danny Miramontes was 3 for 6.
UCI added to its second-game lead, scoring a run in both the
second and third innings after R.J Brown and Wallis RBIs. And UCI
walked off the field, playing two days’ worth of baseball in one,
with two victories.
“This is a good start, but we still have a long way to go,”
Lundahl said. “We’re still building on stuff and learning from our
mistakes. I think we’re going to do well this year.”
Nonconference
First game
UC Irvine 6,
Washington 3
Score by Innings
*--*
Wash. 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 -- 3 7 1
UC Irvine 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 2 x -- 6 8 0
*--*
Lincecum, Dowling (6), Cononver (8) and Lane; Nicoll, Schroer (8),
Erickson (8) and Wagner. W -- Nicoll, 2-0. L -- Lincecum, 0-1. Sv --
Erickson (1). 2B -- Batkoski (W). 3B -- Anderson (UCI). HR -- Johnson
(W).
Second game
UC Irvine 8,
Washington 3
Score by Innings
*--*
Wash. 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 -- 3 7 3
UC Irvine 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 x -- 8 7 0
*--*
Parker, Ponzoha (3), Hague (7) and Dunn and Lane; Swanson, Koehler
(6) and Wagner. W -- Swanson, 1-0. L -- Parker, 0-1. Sv -- Koehler (1). 2B -- Burnham (W), Wallis (UCI), Anderson (UCI). 3B --
Lillibridge (W). HR -- Lundahl (UCI).
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