Bishop strong for UCI

The acrimony between UC Irvine baseball coach Mike Gillespie and the umpiring crew was anything but subtle Saturday afternoon. But his team’s performance in a 2-1 Big West Conference victory over visiting UC Riverside did much to soothe the 75-year-old skipper’s mood.

“My track record is pretty good and I’m not sure I’ve ever been tossed [at Anteater Ballpark],” Gillespie said of his nine seasons at UCI. “But I’m not sure I’m going to make it through the weekend [without being ejected].”

Gillespie was given a warning after yelling a snarky comment about a balk called on the Highlanders in the third inning (a reference to a balk call against UCI that perplexed him Friday). Gillespie, an American Baseball Coaches’ Assn. Hall of Famer, was told to about-face back to the dugout when he stepped out to express displeasure with a bang-bang out call the first-base umpire Stephen Fritzoni appeared to miss in the Highlanders’ favor in the sixth.

And while no one was thrown out, sophomore left-hander Cameron Bishop was dialed in on the mound, producing the most effective outing of his career.

Bishop, who had allowed seven earned runs on 12 hits in 7 2/3 combined innings over his previous two starts, struck out a career-best eight and worked into the eighth inning for the first time in his life, he said. Bishop yielded only four hits in 7 2/3 innings, including only one after the first inning, when the Highlanders (13-16, 3-2 in conference) took a 1-0 lead.

“[Bishop] was good,” Gillespie said. “He got some sliders over and he actually threw at least four by-design, chase-pitch strikeout pitches that he dotted and got.”

UCI (17-10, 2-3), which tied a season low with four hits in Friday’s 3-1 loss, doubled that total Saturday. Seven of those hits came on 15 combined at-bats by the last five hitters in the batting order.

Adam Alcantara, Grant Palmer and Jake Hazard all had two hits apiece, while sophomore third baseman Parker Coss and junior catcher Alex Guenette both drove in runs.

After Alcantara singled and Palmer slashed a hit-and-run single through the vacated shortstop hole to open the fourth inning, Coss doubled into the left-field corner to knot the score.

Guenette followed with a sacrifice fly to right that plated Palmer with what turned out to be the game-winner.

“When you score two runs and you lose, 7-2, you’re not feeling very good about your two,” Gillespie said. “But when you pitch well enough, why then two might be enough to win.”

The victory was pivotal for the ‘Eaters, who avoided falling three games below .500 in conference play for only the second time in 10 seasons (they were 0-3 after being swept by the Highlanders in the conference-opening series in 2013, then won their next four).

“It was huge,” Gillespie said of the win, which upped Bishop’s record to 5-1.

“It was a really important win for us,” said Bishop, who watched from the dugout as junior closer Calvin Faucher notched the final four outs on strikeouts to make it an even two-dozen Highlanders who have been fanned in the series.

Faucher posted his fourth save.

After the first inning, the Highlanders had only three runners reach second base, as junior Richard Delgado absorbed the loss to fall to 0-5.

UCI sophomore center fielder Keston Hiura, who leads the Big West in several hitting categories, was hitless in his four at-bats and is two for his last 14 to see his average “dip” to .408. But an error by Riverside second baseman Adonis Morrison allowed Hiura to get aboard in the eighth inning, extending his streak of reaching base to 43 consecutive games.

Weather permitting, the series is scheduled to conclude Sunday at 1 p.m., when UCI freshman Mitchell Miller is scheduled to make his first start.

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Big West Conference

UC Irvine 2, UC Riverside 1

SCORE BY INNINGS

UCR 100 000 000 – 1 7 1

UCI 000 200 00x – 2 8 2

Delgado, Fagalde (7) and Worden, Zarate (8); Bishop, Faucher (8) and Guenette, Mazur (8). W – Bishop, 5-1. L – Delgado, 0-5. Sv – Faucher (4). 2B – Morrison (UCR), Coss (UCI).