Bibona honored for opener

UC Irvine All-American pitcher Daniel Bibona struck out 10 and pitched seven scoreless innings to win Big West Pitcher of the Week honors.

Bibona’s performance led UCI to a 5-1 win its season opener Friday against Loyola Marymount. The southpaw retired the first six batters he faced, including striking out the first four.

Bibona did not allow an LMU base runner to reach second until yielding a fourth-inning double. The Lions threatened UCI in the seventh, putting runners on first and third with no outs, but the senior induced a fly-ball out and struck out two of the next three batters to escape the inning.

Bibona (1-0) has 240 career strikeouts and has collected eight straight wins.

It is the third time Bibona has received the conference’s weekly honor.

— From staff reports