‘Eaters zero in again

IRVINE — Not since “Seinfeld” has there been a series so much about nothing.

The UC Irvine pitching staff imposed its nil will on visiting San Francisco for a third straight day Sunday, blanking the Dons, 6-0, to become the first team in the school’s 30-season baseball history to post three straight shutouts.

Sophomore Christian Bergman allowed one runner to reach second base in seven strong innings, before freshman Crosby Slaught and sophomore Eric Pettis put up zeroes in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, to close out a dominant pitching weekend for the unbeaten Anteaters.

The nonconference bagel-fest began Friday night when junior Scott Gorgen threw a one-hit shutout.

UCI (7-0), ranked No. 20 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Assn., then used four pitchers to blank the Bay Area batsmen on four hits Saturday.

Sunday, USF (3-5) managed six singles and the game’s only extra-base hit, a two-out double in the ninth. But Mitchell Bialosky, who pulled the aforementioned double inside third base against Pettis, was stranded at second. There was, in fact, only one Don who advanced to third base in the entire series, which spanned seven hours, 39 minutes of action, 88 San Francisco at-bats and 363 pitches by UCI hurlers.

UCI Coach Mike Gillespie, in his 37th season as a college coach, said if he has been involved with a team that has produced three consecutive shutouts, he does not remember it.

And it’s not something one might forget. Just ask USF head man Nino Giarratano.

“Don’t underestimate anything that [the Anteaters] did,” said Giarratano, who prior to this season had guided the Dons to their most successful four-year stretch in the program’s history, including a West Coast Conference title and NCAA Regional berth in 2006. “They pitched great the entire series, their short game was outstanding, they hit when they needed to hit, and they their defense was unbelievable. So, yeah, in a lot of ways, I think they’re pretty good.

“I really felt that we didn’t play that badly, we just didn’t score any runs. Give a lot of credit for that to what they were able to do.”

Gillespie, in his first season at the Anteaters’ helm, wasn’t about to overanalyze his pitchers’ success.

“[The three straight shutouts] is a rarity and it’s encouraging,” said Gillespie, who along with first-year pitching coach Ted Silva, has a staff with a collective 1.29 earned-run average and an opponent’s batting average of .190.

“Bergman pitched much better today [than his first start Monday, when he surrendered two earned runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings of a no decision against Loyola Marymount]. He got [11 ground-ball outs] which is what he should do. We think he’s got that little sink going.”

A sinking feeling wasn’t reserved for USF hitters, as the Anteaters used their trademark brand of offensive aggression to create a 5-0 cushion after two innings.

Junior shortstop Ben Orloff walked to lead off the game and stole second, the first of eight steals on the day by UCI, which stole 17 in the series. Orloff advanced to third when the catcher’s throw went into center field and UCI center fielder Ollie Linton drove him home with an opposite-field single to left.

After Linton stole second — he had three on the day and seven in the series — freshman left fielder Ryan Fisher singled up the middle to plate Linton. Fisher, who added an RBI single in the second to bring his season total to 14 RBIs, including at least one in every game, later scored on a balk to give Bergman three first-inning runs.

“That never hurts,” said Bergman, who collected his first collegiate wins in five decisions, dating back to last season. Bergman said the strong wind that blew directly toward home plate from left field, also helped add movement to his pitches.

Movement was a key on offense for the hosts, who banged out nine singles, received eight walks, and had three batters hit by pitches. But breakdowns in execution, including a botched squeeze play that USF turned into a double play, led to UCI stranding 12 runners.

Linton, who was three for three Saturday, went two for two Sunday, while Fisher and junior third baseman Eric Deragisch also had a pair of hits for UCI.

“Linton and Orloff wreaked some havoc again early, and we were able to steal some bases that enabled us to get off and running pretty good,” Gillespie said.

“We’d like to think we’re going to execute things better than we did late in that game. But nonetheless, I really don’t want to be in any way negative. It was a good day and a good weekend.”

Gillespie said the coming week, when UCI, off to its best start ever, plays host to San Diego Tuesday at 6 p.m. and travels to Tulane for a three-game series beginning Friday, should provide the strongest competition the ’Eaters have seen this season.

“It ought to be a pretty good measure of what we are,” Gillespie said.

Nonconference

UC Irvine 6, San Francisco 0

SCORE BY INNINGS

Anderson, Lujan (3), Burns (6), Luippold and Lipkin, Wiley (5), Higgs (8); Bergman, Slaught (8), Pettis (9) and Lowenstein. W – Bergman, 1-0. L – Anderson, 1-1. 2B – Bialosky (USF).

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.