College Baseball : UC Irvine Comes Back to Earn Split at Cal State Long Beach

UC Irvine split a Pacific Athletic Assn. doubleheader at Cal State Long Beach Saturday. Both games were decided by one run, with the 49ers winning the opener, 3-2, and the Anteaters coming back in 10 innings to win the second game, 4-3.

In the first game, Long Beach (6-14, 20-32) took a 3-0 lead in the third inning as Tim McNaughton drove in Gary Sloane with the game-winning hit. Irvine failed to score against 49er pitcher Mike Villasenor (2-1) until the eighth inning, when Adam Ging homered for the third time in two days.

The Anteaters (8-9, 21-21-1) trailed 3-2 after Tom Baine’s ninth-inning single drove in Bob Perry. But with two out and two men on, the 49ers brought in left-handed reliever Scott Sisk, who struck out left-hander Brady Anderson to end the game. UCI’s Craig Brink (3-2) pitched nine innings and took the loss.

Irvine broke the silence in the sixth inning of the second game, taking a 2-0 lead on Perry’s two-run double. Long Beach’s Derek Stewart responded with a solo homer in the sixth, and the 49ers tied the game on an RBI single in the seventh by Paul Thibert, who was 5 for 5 including two doubles.

Irvine’s Brady Anderson singled with two out and the bases loaded in the ninth, scoring Mike Faye. Baine also attempted to score from second, but the home plate umpire ruled he had failed to touch the plate. When Thibert doubled to score Don Blankenship in the bottom of the ninth, the game went into an extra inning tied at 3-3.

Ging scored the winning run on Steve Morgan’s sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the 10th. Bo Kent (2-4), who entered the game in the ninth inning, received credit for the victory, while reliever Bill McVicar (3-5) was charged with the loss.

In NAIA District 3 action:

Southern California College 9-8, Azusa Pacifica 1-2--The Vanguards’ Brian Otten (10-3) pitched a five-hitter to earn his third victory of the week in the opener as SCC (12-2, 31-14-2) scored four runs in the fourth inning to win at home.

Vanguard Dave Turney contributed three hits and two RBIs, while Dean Harvey had two hits and two RBIs.

SCC freshman Randy Redberg (4-2) pitched seven innings and allowed just four hits in the second game. Reliever Edwardo Andrews did not give up a hit in two innings, and the pair combined to strike out nine.