Anteaters’ capture fifth straight, 4-3
UC Irvine second baseman Cody Cipriano broke a 2-2 tie in the top of
the seventh with a solo home run and outfielder Danny Miramontes
drove in the eventual game-winning run in the eighth as the Anteaters
earned a 4-3 nonconference baseball win at Sacramento State Sunday.
The win, UCI’s fifth straight, upped the Anteaters’ record to
21-16, while the Hornets fell to 18-22.
Sacramento State’s Brett Flowers gave the team a 2-0 lead with an
RBI single in the first and a solo home run in the fourth off UCI
starter Gary Nakashima.
However, UCI’s Matt Anderson crossed the plate on a groundout by
Cipriano in the fifth and catcher Mark Wagner’s double drove in
outfielder Ollie Linton in the sixth to tie the game.
Nakashima pitched four innings, giving up two runs on four hits
while striking out three. He was relieved by Nash Robertson who
allowed a run in 2 1/3 innings to earn the win and improve to 3-2.
Reliever Steve Schroer pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings before
All-American closer Blair Erickson pitched a perfect ninth for his
seventh save of the season, the 24th of his young collegiate career.
Hornet starter Matt Campbell held UCI to two runs on four hits and
struck out three in 5 2/3 innings but was left with a no-decision.
Sacramento State reliever Marshall Plouffe fell to 2-2 after
yielding a pair of runs on three hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Cipriano was 1 for 4 with two RBIs while Miramontes was 2 for 3
with a run batted in.
Senior outfielder Andy Amara, playing near his home town of
Placer, contributed a double to the Anteaters’ seven-hit attack.
The win capped a perfect three-game trip to Sacramento that
included two nonconference victories over Arizona Friday and
Saturday. The three-team confab was a compromise for Arizona, which
inadvertently scheduled both UCI and Sacramento State for these three
dates.
The five-game win streak is the longest of the season for the
Anteaters, for whom first-year coach Dave Serrano shook up the lineup
after a 10-inning setback April 15 at UC Riverside that dropped the
‘Eaters to 16-16, 2-5 in the Big West Conference.
UCI returns to conference play with a three-game set against
visiting Cal State Northridge beginning Friday. First, however, the
Anteaters visit UCLA Tuesday at 6 p.m.
UCLA (8-28), coached by former UCI head man John Savage, has lost
five straight and 24 of its last 25.
Nonconference
UC Irvine 4
Sacramento State 3
Score by Innings
*--*
UCI 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 - 4 7 1
Sac St. 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 - 3 7 0
*--*
Nakashima, Robertson (5), Schroer (7), Erickson and Wagner;
Campbell, Plouffe (6) and Wilson. W -- Robertson, 3-2. L -- Plouffe,
2-2. Sv -- Erickson (7). 2B -- Linton (UCI), Wagner (UCI), Amara
(UCI), Flores (Sac) 2. HR -- Cipriano (UCI), Flowers (Sac).
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