Anteaters inflict damage at UCR

RIVERSIDE — The line drive off his thigh was only part of the hurting the UC Irvine baseball team put on UC Riverside starting pitcher Paul Bargas in the Anteaters’ 16-1 win Friday night at the Riverside Sports Complex.

The painful projectile off the bat of Eric Deragisch that became an infield single and prompted a visit from the trainer, was followed, on back-to-back pitches, with home runs by Ronnie Schaeffer and Francis Larson in a five-run UCI fifth inning.

The double dose of dingers capped a stretch of 11 hitters in which Bargas — the ace of what UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said entering the Big West Conference series may be the best in the conference — allowed nine hits.

Against Bargas, a left-hander who saw his earned-run average swell from 3.42 to 4.70, UCI managed 10 hits and nine runs.

That offensive production alone was more than enough for UCI junior starter Danny Bibona to breeze to his sixth win in seven decisions this season.

Bibona fanned seven in seven innings, allowing four hits, all singles, and one run to lower his earned-run average from 2.33 to 2.21. He walked two and issued a season-worst four wild pitches.

But it was the UCI hitters that made this a wild one, as the No 3-ranked visitors (24-10, 9-1 in conference) protected their three-game lead atop the Big West standings.

Shaeffer, a freshman designated hitter batting third for only the second time this season, went three for five with five runs batted in.

Freshman right fielder Tommy Reyes was two for four with three RBIs, while Larson, moved to the cleanup spot, was four for five with two RBIs. Larson had two doubles to go with his team-leading seventh homer of the season. He now has 15 career homers, which ties him for No. 4 on the school’s career list.

Freshman third baseman DJ Crumlich was two for five, with one RBI, and he stung the ball on two of his outs.

Senior shortstop Ben Orloff was three for six and scored twice, while Deragisch added two hits to the visitors’ 20-hit attack.

“Who could explain it,” Gillespie said of the ’Eaters’ eighth double-digit scoring output of the season. It was the first time in 10 games that UCI scored in double figures, only the second time in 10 conference games.

Bargas had allowed just one hit through three innings, in which he threw just 22 pitches, 18 for strikes.

“He’s been very good and, the fact is, he is good,” Gillespie said of Bargas. “It’s just one of those weird deals.”

That one hit, a Larson double to lead off the second, turned into a run when Reyes followed with a sacrifice bunt and junior first baseman Jeff Cusick plated Larson with a groundout.

Riverside (20-11, 2-5), which botched a suicide squeeze attempt in a scoreless second, tied it with a run in the third.

But a two-run double by Reyes and an RBI single by Crumlich gave UCI a 4-1 lead, and it was just the tip of the iceberg.

“It was just one of those unexplainable good nights for us,” Gillespie said. “Too bad we couldn’t bank a couple of these runs. When you get a night like this and you win, 16-1, it’s hard for our players to know that this [Riverside] team is good and that [today] is a new day,” Gillespie said. “So, we’re trying to make them understand that.”

Ten Anteaters got at least one hit, including junior Dillon Bell, who singled in two in a five-run eighth.

Senior Matt Dufour and freshman Maverick Olivares each pitched a scoreless, hitless inning of relief as UCI pitchers combined to strike out eight and allow just four hits.

Riverside is now hitting .180 as a team in seven conference games and has only two players — Ryan Goetz and Michael Hur, who each had a hit Friday — hitting better than .209 against Big West pitching.

UCI continues the Big West series at Riverside today at 6 p.m.

Big West Conference

UC Irvine 16, UC Riverside 1

SCORE BY INNINGS

Bibona, Dufour (8), Olivares (9) and Larson; Bargas, Larkins (5), Wolford (7), Dickey (9) and Pellegrino. W – Bibona, 6-1. L – Bargas, 4-3. 2B – Larson (UCI) 2, Reyes (UCI), Orloff (UCI). HR – Shaeffer (UCI), Larson (UCI).

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].