College Baseball : UCI Rallies to Defeat Long Beach, 9-8

Cal State Long Beach left fielder Don Blankenship hit a game-tying, three-run triple in the top of the ninth Friday, but UC Irvine’s Mike Fay beat Blankenship’s throw to the plate in the bottom of the inning to give the Anteaters a 9-8 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. victory at Anteater Stadium.

Long Beach (3-3 in conference and 11-16 overall) trailed, 8-5, going into the ninth. With one out, Rob Canepa drew a walk and advanced to second on a single by Tony Felicione. Jim Spooner followed with another single to load the bases and knock out Anteater starter Doug Linton.

In came Lanny DeRose and up came Blankenship. Following the triple, DeRose retired the next two batters as Blankenship, representing the go-ahead run, stood at third.

Don Davis led off UCI’s ninth by beating out a grounder to third base and advancing to second when the throw went over the 49er first baseman’s head. Fay came in to pinch-run for Davis. Steve Morgan, who was 3 for 4 on the day with a double, homer and two RBIs, was walked intentionally. Bob Perry’s sacrifice moved the runners to second and third. Mike Sugar then lifted a short fly to left-center field, Fay tagged at third and beat Blankenship’s throw home.

The Anteaters (2-1, 12-9-1) had 13 hits. In addition to Morgan’s 3-for-4 performance, Brady Anderson also went 3 for 4 with a double, homer and one RBI, and Perry was 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs.

Long Beach countered with 13 hits, led by Blankenship’s 4-for-5 day and Dan Twiss’ two-run homer.

UCI and Long Beach meet again today in a noon doubleheader at Irvine.

In other PCAA action:

Cal State Fullerton 10-10, Nevada Las Vegas 4-3--The Titans hit seven homers (three in the first game and four in the second) in their doubleheader sweep at Las Vegas.

In the first game, the Titans (5-3 and 14-14-1) trailed, 1-0, going into the third inning, but then John Fishel hit a three-run homer and Fullerton never trailed thereafter. Rich Slominski hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Blaine Larker followed with a two-run shot in the fifth.

Fullerton outhit the Rebels, 15-9, in the first game.

Mike Belanger (5-1) went the distance for the Titans, shutting out UNLV (3-5, 11-6) for the final three innings. Belanger had six strikeouts and two walks.

The Titans scored five runs in the first inning in the second game, and Mike Schooler improved his mark to 3-0, giving up just three Rebel hits.

Kevin Reimer’s first inning, three-run homer keyed the Titans’ big first inning. Fishel (in the third) Jose Mota (in the fifth) and Shane Turner (in the seventh) hit solo home runs for Fullerton. The Titans outhit UNLV in the second game, 15-3.

Fullerton plays host to Azusa Pacific at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

In CCAA action:

In nonconference action:

Southern California College 7, Iona 2--Junior catcher Ron Nelson had three home runs and six RBIs to lead the Vanguards to the victory at Costa Mesa. Nelson was 4 for 4, including a run-scoring single. He has eight home runs on the year. Randy Roether (1-0) picked up the win. The Vanguards (15-8-2) visit Azusa Pacific for a doubleheader today at noon.