College Baseball : UC Irvine Falls One Rally Short in Loss to Fresno State

UC Irvine, mired in a sub .500 season, faced Fresno State, winners of 19 of its last 22 games, in a Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game Saturday at Anteater Stadium.

Knowing that, one might have expected a relatively easy victory for the Bulldogs. But the Anteaters battled Fresno State and star pitcher Mark Gardner before falling, 4-3, in 10 innings.

UCI (8-10 in the PCAA South Division, 21-23-1 overall) rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the fifth inning. In the seventh, Irvine trailed, 3-2, and came back to tie.

After the Bulldogs, leaders of the PCAA’s North Division, scored in the 10th, the Anteaters finally ran out of gas.

In the 10th, Fresno right fielder Cal Cain grounded into what could have been an inning-ending double play, but he hustled to beat the relay throw to first. Eric Fox, who had led off with a single and gone to second on Bob Bafia’s infield hit, scored on the play.

That was typical of the way it went for Irvine.

“The key was that we didn’t take advantage of scoring situations,” UCI Coach Mike Gerakos said.

The eighth inning was one example of the Anteater missed opportunities. With the score tied, 3-3, leadoff hitter Don Davis walked. Catcher Steve Morgan then bunted up the line and was tagged out by first baseman David Studdert. Morgan threw a body block at Studdert in an unsuccessful attempt to jar the ball loose. Mike Fay, who pinch-ran for Davis, tried to advance to third during the collision.

But Studdert alertly threw to third to get Fay for an unusual double play. Right fielder Paul Hammond followed with a single to left, which would have scored Fay had he been on base. The inning ended harmlessly when the next batter, Bob Perry, flied out to center field.

Much of the credit for stopping UCI in crucial situations must go to Gardner. The senior right-hander struck out 10 to boost his NCAA-leading strikeout total to 140. It was the fifth time this year Gardner (13-3) has struck out 10 or more.

“I really didn’t have good stuff,” said Gardner, who also leads the nation in victories. “I wasn’t getting my breaking ball over, so I had to rely on my fastball to get those strikeouts.”

Although the Anteaters got 11 hits, Gardner was able to cut short several potentially big innings. Irvine got no more than three hits in a single inning. Gardner struck out the side in the fourth.

“There’s a good reason he leads the nation in strikeouts,” Gerakos said. “He’s got a good arm.”

The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a two-run triple by designated hitter Steve Bates. The Anteaters rallied on left fielder Tom Baine’s two-run triple in the fifth. But Gardner struck out the next hitter, Ed Clark, and Brady Anderson flied out to end the inning.

With two out in the seventh inning and Fresno State leading, 3-2, Clark got an infield hit. He scored on Anderson’s single to center when Fox bobbled the ball for an error, one of three the Bulldogs committed. But Gardner survived the inning by striking out shortstop Adam Ging.

“The strikeouts came when I really needed them,” Gardner said. “They came with people on base, which was when I really needed them.”

The teams play a doubleheader at noon today in Anteater Stadium.