UC Irvine blasts Rainbows in baseball, 14-3
Advertiser Staff
Francis Larson drove in five runs, batting 5 for 5 with three doubles, and Bryce Stowell pitched six scoreless innings to lead No. 8 UC Irvine over Hawai'i, 14-3, today in the first game of a doubleheader at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, Calif.
Stowell (3-0) gave up four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts for the Anteaters (13-1). Three other pitchers tossed an inning each, each allowing a run.
Matt Daly (3-2) was tagged for six runs (four earned), four hits and two walks in four-plus innings, his shortest outing of the season for the Rainbows (7-11).
It was a costly loss for the Rainbows, as DH Ryan Asato and shortstop Greg Garcia left the game with injuries.
The Anteaters jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Daly on a two out, two-run double by Francis Larson.
They added two more in the second on a run-scoring triple by Aaron Lowestein and RBI double by Ollie Linton.
The Anteaters plated three in the fifth, two charged to Daly. Fisher and Cusick drew successive walks to start the inning against Daly, who was pulled for Cameron Wheeler. Larson doubled to left-center to make it 5-0 to put runners at second and third. Wheeler balked to score Cusick and send Larson to third, where he scored on Sean Madigan's sacrifice fly to center that made it 7-0.
UCI sent 11 batters to the plate in a five-run sixth to increase its lead to 12-0.
The Rainbows scored for the first time in the series with one out in the top of the seventh against reliever Chris Lopez. Jeff Van Doornum led off with a double and out out later took third when Matt Roquemore singled. Van Doornum scored on Nate Young's line single off the pitcher to make it 12-1.
The Anteaters made it 13-1 in the bottom of the seventh on Madigan's RBI single off Cory Kahn, UH's fourth pitcher of the game.
Hawai'i scored off a second UCI reliever in th eighth when Derek DuPree tripled and scored on Macdonald's single to make it 13-2.
But UCI answered with a solo home run by Ollie Linton in the eighth off Kahn to make it 14-2.
Hawai'i scored for the third consecutive inning against a third reliever for UCI in the ninth when Young tripled and scored on Jon Hee's sacrifice fly to center to make it 14-3.
