College Baseball: Eaters drop series finale to Titans
UC Irvine sophomore Keston Hiura has been so impressive through the first 94 games of his career that a bad weekend represents an excruciating slump.
But after going hitless in four at-bats in Sunday’s 7-2 Big West Conference home loss to Cal State Fullerton, the All-American, zero for 11 in the series, is now hitting a paltry .208 in 12 conference games (10 for 48).
Hiura, who saw his consecutive games streak of reaching base end at 52 on Saturday, missed the UC Davis series last weekend with an injured elbow that he hurt while making a throw on April 19 at San Diego State. His average dropped from .406 before the series to .365.
So, Hiura’s status, much like that of the Anteaters (25-16, 7-8 in conference and a tie for fifth place with Hawaii), is somewhat perilous.
Picked to finish second behind Cal State Fullerton in the preseason Big West poll, UCI, with an RPI of 110 entering the week, heads into its final 15 regular-season games needing to win most of them to put itself in position to make an NCAA regional field.
Some believed the Cal State Fullerton series would reveal whether the ‘Eaters were in fact postseason worthy. And, despite a 2-0 series-opening complete-game victory by UCI senior Elliot Surrey, all indications are that the first-place Titans (27-15, 9-3), who have now won the last seven series against their Orange County rival, are a cut above. The Titans have won 17 of the last 22, dating back to the series finale in 2009.
Fullerton, which entered the series leading the country in earned-run average (2.25), but was hitting a modest .257 to rank seventh in conference, posted a 2.33 series ERA and batted .294, including .346 in its two victories.
The Titans’ 14 hits Sunday matched their best in a conference game this season and six of those were for extra bases.
Further, three UCI errors created three unearned runs, all during a five-run third inning for the visitors that proved to be the difference.
It was the first loss in eight Sunday games for the Anteaters, whose sophomore starting pitcher Alonzo Garcia had had a recent run of Sunday success of his own. Garcia, making his third Sunday start after being inserted into the weekend rotation, had won his previous two Sunday starts and had three wins in his last three Sunday appearances, during which he had allowed four earned runs on eight hits in 18 2/3 innings.
But Garcia surrendered eight hits and six runs (three earned) in three innings Sunday, exiting after 70 pitches. He took the loss and fell to 4-3.
Fullerton starter Colton Eastman allowed five hits and one unearned run in seven innings to improve to 6-2 and lower his ERA to 1.82.
UCI senior Grant Palmer continued his torrid hitting in conference play, lashing three hits in four at-bats, including two doubles, to up his Big West batting average to .449 (22 for 49).
Sophomore second baseman Cole Kreuter was two for four to make him six for 13 in the series, as his average continued its upward swing to .318.
Freshman Jordan Bocko, sophomore Shaun Vetrovec and freshman Dylan Riddle were effective on the mound in relief. Bocko worked a perfect inning, Vetrovec fanned four in 2 1/3 scoreless frames and Riddle allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth.
Nine Titans had hits, including three apiece by Dalton Blaser and Ruben Cardenas.
“We have to bust our tail to work on things we can work on and keep improving,” UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said. “I think we all know that our remaining schedule is no picnic. We knew the toughest part of our schedule was the last four or five weeks. We just have to tape our ankles and go at it.”
UCI visits UNLV on Tuesday, then plays a three-game nonconference series against UCLA beginning Friday.
The Eaters’ three remaining conference series are at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (May 13-15), at home against UC Santa Barbara (May 20-22) and at home against Cal State Northridge (May 26-28).
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Big West Conference
Cal State Fullerton 7, UC Irvine 2
SCORE BY INNINGS
CSF 105 001 000 – 7 14 2
UCI 000 010 001 – 2 8 3
Eastman, Prohoroff (8), Hochin (9) and Bravo; Garcia, Bocko (4), Alvarez (5), Glazier (5), Vetrovec (6), Riddle (0) and Reitano, Mazur (6), Guenette (8). W – Eastman, 6-2. L – Garcia, 4-3. 2B – Pinkston (CSF), Bravo (CSF), Blaser (CSF), Palmer (UCI) 2, Stieb (CSF), Cardenas (CSF). 3B – Cardenas (CSF).
Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5