By Jordan Medina
Fresh off their sweep of Nevada over the weekend, UC Irvine (6-3) continued their winning ways, defeating Loyola Marymount (3-5) 5-1 on Tuesday. The win marked coach Mike Gillespie’s 313th as the Anteater coach, moving him past Mike Gerakos, who coached the ‘Eaters from 1981 to 1992, as the program’s all time wins leader.
UCI raced out to a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning after sophomore outfielder Keston Hiura launched a home run to left centerfield. The pitching staff preserved the lead by not allowing a base runner until the fourth inning. With two outs in the fourth inning, LMU loaded the bases after UCI hit three consecutive batters, but freshman pitcher Miles Glazier struck out the next batter to get out of the jam.
Still clinging to a one run lead, the Anteaters extended their advantage in the sixth inning after Cameron Bishop singled with the bases loaded to double the lead. Hiura pushed the lead to three runs in the seventh inning after hitting his second home run of the game and his fourth of the year.
The Anteater arms continued to dominate and didn’t give up a hit until the seventh inning when a two out double broke up the combined no-hit bid. After Bishop extended the lead to five runs in the eighth with a two run double, UCI gave up its first and only run of the game in the bottom half of the frame. Junior pitcher Calvin Faucher entered in the ninth and after only giving up one hit in the frame, Faucher forced the last LMU batter to ground out, locking up the victory.
UCI returns to Anteater Ballpark on Friday for a three game series against University of Texas-San Antonio. Due to forecasts of rain, the third game of the series, originally scheduled for Sunday, will be played on Saturday as the second half of a doubleheader.
