Anteaters can’t finish the job

IRVINE — In what amounted to somewhat of a job fair on the diamond Sunday, visiting Long Beach State clearly had the more impressive applicants.

The No. 18-ranked 49ers, who had played poorly in dropping the first two games of the Big West Conference-opening series, rode a revamped lineup that included three freshman reserves to a 12-4 triumph in the series finale before 2,026 at Anteater Ballpark.

Meanwhile, No. 24-ranked UCI’s search for a Sunday starting pitcher revealed a handful of candidates who need to bolster their mound résumés.

Beginning with senior Gary Nakashima, selected to replace former Sunday starter Cory Hamilton after Hamilton threw poorly in practice during the week, the Anteaters’ first four pitchers all allowed at least two earned runs in, at most, 2 2/3 innings.

Nine UCI hurlers, including Hamilton, who walked the only two batters he faced, combined to issue nine walks and also hit three batters.

“We’re scrambling right now for that third starter,” said UCI Coach Dave Serrano, who watched Friday starter Scott Gorgen improve to 5-1 and Saturday starter Wes Etheridge improve to 8-0 with wins over Long Beach State (14-11, 1-2 in conference) the previous two games.

“We made a decision based on who has been pitching better in the bullpen. Gary pitched Tuesday and threw a fabulous inning [at UNLV] and he has been pitching tremendously.”

But like the rest of his teammates, what had been happening in the bullpen, stayed in the bullpen for Nakashima, Serrano said.

“I was disappointed that with his experience, he pitched timid in my mind,” Serrano said of Nakashima, who surrendered two runs on four hits in two innings.

Relievers Christian Bergman, Cole Hathcock and Daniel Bibona did little to impress Serrano, who also serves as the team’s pitching coach.

“From a pitching standpoint, I’m very disappointed,” Serrano said. “We threw a lot of guys today that in my mind have been fooling us in the bullpen with their work, because it didn’t translate to the game.”

First-inning home runs by Taylor Holiday and Cody Cipriano erased UCI’s 1-0 deficit, but Nakashima failed to hold the lead in the second.

Long Beach State moved ahead, 3-2, in the fourth, then erupted for six runs in the fifth to take command. The key blow during the inning was a three-run homer by freshman Taylor Krick.

Krick and fellow freshmen TJ Mittelstaedt and Steve Tinoco were a combined six for 14 with seven RBIs.

“We put some young guys in who haven’t had a lot of chances and they’re trying really to earn a spot,” Long Beach Coach Mike Weathers said.

“I thought Tinoco rebounded well from [Saturday], and the young kid Mittelstaedt, out of Mission Viejo [High] did a really nice job.

“I was really proud of those three guys [including Krick],” Weathers said. “I thought they had good at-bats. Especially Mittelstaedt, who really has worked hard the last two weeks to get on the roster.”

Robert Perry also homered for the visitors, who had 14 hits and did not make an error. They had seven errors in the first two games against UCI.

Holiday added a second home run, a two-run shot in the seventh, but the Anteaters’ three dingers may have done more harm that good, Serrano said.

“On Sunday [day games], this is an offensive ballpark and we’ve run into some balls,” Serrano said. “But we’ve kind of changed our approach as an offensive team. We don’t stay with lining up to the middle and backspin line drives and we start getting a little greedy and guys want to turn on some balls and that isn’t our style of baseball. We’re about scratching out runs. If guys run into balls, we want that, but we’ve got to stay with what we do best.”

Though a sweep would have been the best-case scenario, Serrano said winning two of three from the 49ers, who had won 10 of the last 12 games with UCI heading into this series, was a plus for the Anteaters (21-7-1, 2-1). UCI has now won seven straight series, heading into a three-game set that begins Thursday at conference-leading Cal State Fullerton.

“[Sunday’s loss] is disappointing, because we had something out in front of us [a sweep] that would have been special to do,” Serrano said. “But I’m still not disappointed in the weekend series win. That will hopefully bode well for us down the line. But it would have been really nice to sweep those [49ers] and give us a real leg up going into next weekend and the rest of conference.”

Holiday was two for four with three RBIs to lead the Anteaters’ six-hit attack.

Sophomore left-hander Shane Peterson, who came in having pitched 11 straight scoreless innings, settled down after the two first-inning homers. He allowed just two more hits through five, before exiting with his first win in two decisions.

“Peterson didn’t have much, but I thought he did what he has been doing, which is throw enough strikes with a decent curveball to keep them off balance,” Weathers said.

“The key was, we didn’t make any errors. We kind of played our typical game. We put the ball in play and caught the ball like we’re supposed to and threw the ball over the plate, for the most part.”

Serrano said the search for a Sunday starter will continue.

“It’s back to the drawing board,” he said. “But we’ll iron it out and get that fixed. We’re going to make a run at [the conference title].”

Big West Conference

Long Beach State 12, UC Irvine 4

Score by Innings

Peterson, Liebel, (6), Rasco (7) and Capon; Nakashima, Bergman (3), Hathcock (5), Bibona (5), Erickson (8), Hamilton (9), Pettis (9) and Lowenstein. W -- Peterson, 1-0. L -- Bergman, 1-1. 2B -- Perry (LB), Mittelstaedt (LB). HR -- Taylor (UCI) 2, Cipriano (UCI), Perry (LB), Krick (LB).