‘Eaters outduel Seattle
Friday-night-mound matchups are the heavyweight title fights of college baseball. And UC Irvine senior Elliot Surrey showed once again Friday that he has more than a puncher’s chance.
The veteran left-hander threw eight scoreless innings to emerge with the victory in a 4-0 nonconference triumph over visiting Seattle, and its sophomore lefty ace Tarik Skubal.
Surrey, bouncing back from a rough start at Tennessee in which he gave up nine runs on eight hits in three innings, surrendered only two hits to the Redhawks, who had just one runner reach second base against him.
Surrey’s scoreless outing continued a trend of quiet effectiveness in his first three starts of the season, before last week. In four starts not in the Volunteer State, Surrey has not allowed an earned run in 23 innings. During that stretch, he has yielded only 12 hits and struck out 14.
He fanned five, matching his season high, and also picked a runner off first base to help earn his second victory in three decisions this season.
But Skubal, who came in 4-0 with a 1.12 earned-run average and whom UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said was being scouted by representatives of USA Baseball, proved a formidable foe. The 2015 Freshman All-American worked seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out eight. He threw 115 pitches to lower his ERA to 0.87 in 31 innings.
“We had to pull out our first full-on pitcher’s duel of the year,” said UCI junior shortstop John Brontsema, whose single through the right side drove in the first of four eighth-inning runs for the ‘Eaters (12-6) against senior reliever Grant Gunning.
“This was throw-it-back to the less-offense, more-pitching era [at UCI]; something we haven’t seen much of this year,” Brontsema said. “[Skubal] was throwing 91-92 mph real effortlessly with a plus changeup. We did a good job of working the count enough to get into their bullpen late and take advantage.”
Gunning started the eighth for the Redhawks, however, and walked Parker Coss to spark a rally.
After Cole Kreuter executed a two-strike sacrifice bunt, center fielder Keston Hiura, a Freshman All-American himself last season, skied a single in between three converging players behind first base to put runners at the corners.
Brontsema followed with a single through a drawn-in right side to open the scoring and senior designated hitter Mitchell Holland followed with a bunt single on a squeeze play to double the lead.
Junior right fielder Adam Alcantara capped the rally with a two-out, two-run double into the left-field corner for the last of UCI’s eight hits.
Brontsema was two for four with a double and a stolen base, while junior catcher Alex Guenette also doubled for the winners.
“It feels good,” said Surrey, who threw 118 pitches, 72 for strikes, “Especially after [being roughed up in Knoxville]. “We knew coming in that [Seattle] had top-of-the-line pitching and runs were going to be at a premium. You kind of have to take the scoreboard out of it and just control what you can control. Competing in crunch time is what makes baseball fun and winning a game in the late innings is what you play for.”
Brontsema said the quick-working Surrey was a pleasure to play behind. The two teams combined to leave only 10 runners on base and the game was completed in two hours, 21 minutes.
“[Surrey] looked real good and was really sharp,” Brontsema said. “He was ahead in the count and threw his off-speed pitches for strikes. When he does that, he is going to be successful.”
It was the fourth shutout of the season for UCI, which claimed a 2-0 triumph in the finale at Tennessee behind Cameron Bishop, who gets the start Saturday in the second game of the three-game series with Seattle. First pitch is 2 p.m.
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Nonconference
UC Irvine 4, Seattle 0
SCORE BY INNINGS
Seattle 000 000 000 – 0 3 0
UCI 000 000 04x – 4 8 0
Skubal, Gunning (8) and McCann; Surrey, Ritchey (9) and Guenette. W – Surrey, 2-1. L – Gunning, 0-1. 2B – Guenette (UCI), Brontsema (UCI), Alcantara (UCI).
