College Baseball: ‘Eaters even series

It was a doozy of a hiccup, but the manner in which UC Irvine pitcher Matt Esparza caught his breath Saturday was impressive indeed.

Esparza’s ability to withstand a five-run third inning helped the Anteaters post a 9-6 victory over visiting Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to even the Big West Conference baseball series at one game apiece.

The win, which improved Esparza’s record to 8-1, helped UCI (30-17, 12-5 in conference) take sole possession of second place, one game behind Cal State Fullerton with seven conference games remaining.

UCSB, which lost to Cal State Fullerton for the second straight night, fell to third place.

Esparza returned the first six he faced, but was put on the ropes when the first seven Mustangs hitters reached base in the third. Six of those were hits, including a pair of doubles that helped Cal Poly (23-23, 10-7) create a 5-1 cushion.

But the Anteaters, who have now won six of their last seven, fashioned an offensive uprising of their own in the bottom half of the inning. UCI used seven hits and a hit batter to score seven times and take command.

And Esparza, who had posted four no-decisions in his previous four starts, settled down to limit the Mustangs to three hits and one run the next 5 2/3 innings before giving way to Cameron Bishop with two outs in the ninth.

Bishop walked the only hitter he faced, allowing Cal Poly to bring the tying run to the plate.

UCI then went to senior Sam Moore, who needed just one pitch to induce a fielder’s choice grounder and close out his team-leading fourth save.

“He was close,” UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said of whether he considered pulling Esparza in his tumultuous third inning. “We weren’t far away from making the change. But I give him high marks for competing. I think he really, really competed and really pitched as well as he’s ever pitched – before and after that [third inning].”

Esparza, who had gone nearly a month since his seventh win gave him five wins in as many starts on April 11, was happy to have survived. He struck out eight and walked two, though his earned-run average rose to 3.61.

“Once we got out of that inning, the mindset was that was all they would get,” Esparza said. “And the [Anteaters] offense was huge. It picked our team up and put us ahead again. And from there, I felt like there was no looking back.

“The eighth win has been tough to get and it was tough to get tonight,” Esparza said. “But all credit to this team and I think we’re going to make a nice push at the end of the season.”

Offensively, senior catcher Jerry McClanahan went three for five with two runs and one run batted in to lead UCI’s 15-hit attack.

Freshman second baseman Cole Kreuter was two for four with two RBIs, two doubles and one run.

Sophomore right fielder Adam Alcantara was two for three with two runs and one RBI and freshman center fielder Keston Hiura was two for four with one RBI and one run for the winners.

It was the RBI No. 48 for Hiura, a UCI freshman record. Hiura also extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

Mitchell Holland, Grant Palmer, Kris Paularino and Grant Palmer also drove in runs for UCI, which closes the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.

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Big West Conference

UC Irvine 9, Cal Poly SLO 6

SCORE BY INNINGS

CPSLO 005 001 000 – 6 9 0

UCI 107 000 10x – 9 15 0

Smith, Gomez (3), Calomeni (3) and Barbier; Esparza, Bishop (9), Moore (9) and McClanahan. W – Esparza, 8-1. L – Smith, 5-6. Sv – Moore (4). 2B – Alcantara (UCI), McClanahan (UCI), Kreuter (UCI) 2, Schuknecht (CP), Ellis (CP), Zehner (CP).