The 13th-ranked UC Irvine baseball team survived and then thrived in Thursday’s 3-1 victory over Hawaii at Cicerone Field at Anteater Park in Orange County, Calif.
Despite issuing eight walks, the Anteaters turned two double plays in the first two innings, threw out two would-be stealers and caught a runner off third base in the eighth.
UCI first baseman Anthony Martinez drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and the Anteaters added an insurance run an inning later to improve to 26-9 overall and 14-2 in the Big West.
In dropping the opener of a three-game series before a crowd of 733, the ’Bows fell to 25-11 and 10-9. They also missed a chance to claim sole possession of fourth place. Instead, the ’Bows remain tied for fourth with UC Santa Barbara. Five teams qualify for next month’s Big West Tournament in Fullerton, Calif.
“Those are tough ones,” said UH coach Rich Hill, whose ’Bows are 3-3 on this 14-day, eight-game road trip.
UH center fielder Matthew Miura went 4-for-5, including a run-scoring double in the fifth to tie it a 1. Miura also made six putouts.
In the UCI seventh, Frankie Carney and Colin Yeaman drew back-to-back one-out walks against left-handed reliever Cory Ronan.
Jacob McCombs struck out swinging on a wild pitch as Carney raced to third. To deter Yeaman from trying to steal second, first baseman Ben Zeigler-Namoa played close to the bag. Martinez then pulled a grounder that was just past the reach of Zeigler-Namoa and could not be fielded by second baseman Shunsuke Sakaino. Carney came home with the tie-breaking run.
“Hit ’em where they ain’t,” Hill said, citing one of baseball’s popular sayings.
Martinez, who averages 1.24 RBIs per game across his three-season UCI career, has driven in 41 runs in 27 games this season.
The ’Bows missed a chance to tie it in the eighth. With pinch runner Jarret “JJ” Nielsen on third, Jordan Donahue showed a bunt stance on what was supposed to be a run-on-contact attempt. But the pitch was high, Donahue did not swing, and Nielsen, who broke for home, was caught in a rundown and eventually tagged out.
“It’s all part of the learning process,” Hill said.
That play became moot when the Anteaters added an insurance run in the eighth.
Chase Call walked to open the eighth and then went to second on pinch hitter Landon Gaz’s sacrifice, on which Zeigler-Namoa fielded the bunt and tossed to Sakaino covering first base.
After Freddy Rodriguez replaced Ronan, Call stole third base. Blake Penso then drew a walk. Will Bermudez put down a drag bunt that Zeigler-Namoa fielded. Zeigler-Namoa’s throw home eventually led to Call being tagged out. Two batters later, Carney singled home Penso.
Ricky Ojeda, who pitched 31⁄3 scoreless innings of relief, improved to 8-0. Max Martin earned his ninth save.
In a telephone interview, Hill praised Itsuki Takemoto, who allowed one run in five innings as the ’Bows’ starting pitcher and went 3-for-4 as the cleanup hitter.
Hill also applauded Miura as being “great,” Zeigler-Namoa for handling Gaz’s bunt, and right fielder Jared Quandt for throwing out a runner at the plate.
“It was a very evenly matched game,” Hill said, “and they got the big hit when they needed to.”
The rematch is Friday, beginning at 3 p.m. Sebastian Gonzalez will be the ’Bows’ starting pitcher.
BIG WEST BASEBALL
Conference Overall
W L Pct. GB W L
Cal Poly 15 1 .938 — 27 9
UC Irvine 14 2 .875 1 26 9
CS Fullerton 10 6 .625 5 19 18
Hawaii 10 9 .526 61
⁄2 25 11
UCSB 10 9 .526 61
⁄2 24 12
UCSD 8 8 .500 7 18 18
CS Bakersfield 7 9 .438 8 15 24
LBSU 8 11 .421 81
⁄2 14 20
UC Davis 6 10 .375 9 17 19
CS Northridge 4 14 .222 12 8 25
UC Riverside 3 16 .158 131
⁄2 12 23
Thursday
UC Irvine 3, Hawaii 1
Cal Poly 4, UC Santa Barbara 3
Cal State Fullerton 5, Long Beach State 4
UC Davis 3, Cal State Bakersfield 1
UC San Diego 7, UC Riverside 3
x-Oregon State 13, Cal State Northridge 8
Today
Hawaii at UC Irvine, 3 p.m.
Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara
Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton
UC Davis at Cal State Bakersfield
UC San Diego at UC Riverside
x-Oregon State at Cal State Northridge
Saturday
Hawaii at UC Irvine, 10 a.m.
Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara
Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton
UC Davis at Cal State Bakersfield
UC San Diego at UC Riverside
x-Oregon State at Cal State Northridge
x-non-conference game
NO. 13 UC IRVINE 3, HAWAII 1
RAINBOW WARRIORS AB R H BI BB SO LOB
Miura cf 5 0 4 1 0 0 0
Sakaino 2b 3 0 0 0 2 0 1
Zglr.-Namoa 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 2
Takemoto p/dh 4 0 3 0 0 1 0
Nielsen pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nahaku lf 3 0 0 0 1 2 0
Quandt rf 0 0 0 0 4 0 0
Donahue ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 5
Nushida 3b 3 0 0 0 0 1 2
Kinzie 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bowen ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Palmeira c 3 1 1 0 1 0 0
Totals 30 1 8 1 8 5 10
ANTEATERS AB R H BI BB SO LOB
Carney lf 4 1 2 1 1 0 1
Yeaman ss 3 0 1 0 1 0 0
McCombs cf 3 0 1 0 0 1 0
Martinez 1b 4 0 1 1 0 1 1
Castagnola 3b 3 0 0 0 1 2 4
Call rf 3 1 1 0 1 0 0
Felsch dh 2 0 0 0 1 0 0
Gaz ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Penso c 3 1 1 1 1 0 1
Bermudez 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 2
Totals 28 3 7 3 6 5 9
Hawaii 000 010 000 — 1 8 0
UC Irvine 000 100 11x — 3 7 0
Records:
Hawaii (25-11, 10-9 Big West)
UC Irvine (26-9, 14-2 Big West)
DP—Hawaii 1, UC Irvine 2. LOB—Hawaii
10, UC Irvine 9. 2B—Miura, Takemoto; Call.
HBP—Yeaman, McCombs, Bermudez.
SH—Gaz. SB—Nielsen; Call, Felsch. CS—
Miura, Nielsen, Palmeira. PO—Nielsen.
HAWAII IP H R ER BB SO
Takemoto 5 4 1 1 1 3
Ronan (L, 1-2) 21
⁄3 1 2 2 4 2
Rodriguez 2
⁄3 2 0 0 1 0
UC IRVINE IP H R ER BB SO
Kelly 42
⁄3 5 1 1 5 1
Ojeda (W, 8-0) 31
⁄3 2 0 0 3 4
Martin (S, 9) 1 1 0 0 0 0
WP—Ronan. HB—Takemoto 3.
Umpires—HP: Rob McKinley. 1B: Anthony
Norris. 3B: Denver Dubreuil. T—2:56.
A—733.
