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Sophomore closer Joe Kelly
picked up back-to-back saves against #5 UC Irvine
over the weekend.
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(April
20, 2008) - UC Riverside finished with 12 hits to pick up
a 7-5 win on Sunday afternoon and take the weekend series,
2-1, from #5 ranked UC Irvine in Irvine, CA. UCR had Ryan
Goetz and Daniel Pellegrino each produce three-hit games with
Goetz also driving in three RBI for the Highlanders who improved
to 11-23 overall and 5-4 in the Big West.
UCR
had four players record multi-hit games and used a three-run
sixth and four-run seventh to pick up their second series
win over a top-10 ranked opponent this season after taking
two-of-three from then #9 Long Beach State.
UC
Irvine (24-9, 6-6 Big West) took a 1-0 lead on solo homer
by Dillon Bell off of Highlanders starter Paul Bargas to lead
off the third.
Anteater
starter Daniel Bibona cruised through the first five innings,
allowing just three UCR hits and held onto the 1-0 lead before
running into trouble in the sixth. UCR had the top of the
lineup due up to start the sixth, leadoff hitter Carl Uhl
started the inning with a double that one-hopped the left
field fence. The next batter, Joey Gonzales, then squared
around as if to bunt Uhl over but on the pitch, he pulled
back and laced a line drive to left over a charging third
baseman. Uhl scored easily to tie the game at 1-1 and one
batter later; Aaron Wible drew a walk to set up first and
second for the left-handed hitting Goetz. Goetz picked up
his first RBI of the day with a base hit through the right
side to bring across Gonzales and send Wible to third. Pellegrino
followed the Goetz single with a blooper that dropped in right
field after the UCI right fielder and second baseman collided,
allowing Wible to score easily from third and put UCR up 3-1.
In
the bottom half of the inning, UCI used an RBI ground out
and a pop-fly single of their own to tie the game back up
at 3-3. With runners on second and third and two outs in the
inning, UCR reliever Ryan Platt entered the game and struck
out Anteater pinch-hitter Casey Stevenson on three pitches
to end the threat.
The
top of the seventh again had the UCR top of the order doing
the damage, as Gonzales started the two-out rally wtih a lazer
double to right field. UCI then intentionally walked Highlander
leading hitter Drew Garcia to set up a force play. The move
didnt pay off at Wible followed with a ground ball just to
the left of the second base bag that was picked beautifully
by a diving Irvine shortstop, Ben Orloff, who then tried to
flip the ball to Ryan Fisher covering at second base. With
Garcia bearing down on the bag, Fisher couldn’t gather
in the toss, and the bball then rolled away from the two players
that were left tangled up at the bag. Gonzales, having moved
up to third on the play, alertly scampered home as the ball
trickled away to score the go-ahead run. Goetz then sent a
shot deep into the right center gap for a two-run triple,
scoring Garcia and Wible all the way from first and opening
the Highlander lead to 6-3. Goetz then came home on an Anteater
wild pitch to compete the four-run inning to put UCR up 7-3.
UCI
battled back with two runs in their half of the seventh, UCI
brought two runs across off of Platt to cut the lead to 7-5
before Rob Waite came in and induced a inning-ending groundball.
Waite then pitched a scoreless eight before handing the ball
over to All-American closer Joe Kelly who fired a perfect
ninth to preserve the 7-5 series-clinching win.
Platt
improved his record to 2-2 and Kelly picked up his third save
of the season and second in as many days. UCI reliever Christian
Bergman took the loss after allowing four earned runs in his
1.1 innings of work. Gonzales picked up two hits to extend
his hitting-steak to 10 straight games.
UCR
begins a four-game home stand with Loyola Marymount at 3:00
p.m. on Tuesday.
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