IRVINE — Sometimes in life, just as in baseball, it’s the little things that make all the difference.
When it came down to the little things the last three days, it was UC Irvine doing all of them right and Long Beach State left wondering what could have been.
After two losses to start the series at Anteater Ballpark, mental errors and miscues once again plagued the Dirtbags in a 9-5 defeat in the finale to give UCI the sweep.
LBSU (14-17, 2-4 Big West Conference) has dropped five in a row after a seven-game win streak.
“We gotta figure out a way to get better,” head coach Mike Weathers said. “All the things that our team’s do here, we aren’t doing those things right now.”
It was a see-saw battle early on that saw the Dirtbags and Anteaters score runs in six consecutive frames from the second to the fourth innings before UCI (22-9, 8-1 Big West) prevailed.
Seven of UCI’s eight runs came with two outs as LBSU pitchers were unable to shut down the Anteater’s rallies.
“That’s one of those things I think all coaches appreciate the most is a two-out, run-scoring hit,” UCI head coach Mike Gillespie said.
LBSU grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Steve Tinoco led off the inning with a double to left-center and scored on a sacrifice fly by Taylor Krick.
UCI evened the game in its second at-bat. Casey Stevenson was hit by a pitch with one out and went to second on a balk. He came around to score on a two-out single to right by Tommy Reyes.
The Dirtbags took the lead back momentarily in the third. Derek Legg led off with a double before Tre Dennis roped a triple to the wall in right to score Legg and give LBSU a 2-1 edge. Leadoff hitter Jonathan Jones plated Legg with a sacrifice fly.
Not to be outdone, the Anteaters added three more two-out runs in the third. Ronnie Shaeffer singled in Ben Orloff from third to make it 3-2. Orloff reached via an infield single and went to second when Dirtbags starter Andrew Gagnon threw wide of first base.
Shaeffer’s single kept the rally alive for Anteater catcher Francis Larson and he came through in a big way. He hit a high fly ball over the New Balance sign in left field for a two-run homer and a 4-3 UCI lead. It was the fifth home of the year for Larson.
The Dirtbags wasted no time getting two of their own to take a 5-4 advantage. Tinoco walked to lead off the inning and Devin Lohman hit a long double to the gap in left-center, scoring Tinoco standing up. Lohman went to third on a balk and scored the fifth Dirtbag run of the game on a sacrifice fly from catcher John Hill.
Once again, UCI had an answer with two more runs in the bottom half of the fourth. DJ Crumlich reached with a single and Reyes was hit in the back with a Gagnon pitch. Cory Olson sacrificed the runners over and Orloff brought Crumlich in to tie the game with a sacrifice fly. A single from Eric Deragisch gave UCI the lead for good at 6-5.
After a walk to the next man up, Jeff Cusick, Josh Corrales relieved Gagnon (2-4). The Freshman right hander went just 3 2/3 innings, getting tagged for six earned runs on seven hits. He walked a man and struck out three, taking the loss.
“You have to stop them after your offense scores,” Weathers said, “and the first three innings we scored, they were scoring. It negated anything that we did positive there.”
UCI pitchers settled down after that. LBSU managed just one hit after the fourth inning — a Hill single in the sixth — never threatening to re-take the lead. In all, the Irvine bullpen retired 20 Dirtbag hitters in a row dating back to Friday and gave up no runs in 11 innings of work in the series.
The game quieted down again until Irvine added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. After three scoreless innings from a trio of LBSU relievers, the Anteaters punched another one across for a 7-5 lead. Shaeffer doubled and scored on an infield hit by Stevenson, running hard on contact and coming all the way around to score after Stevenson was called safe on a close play at first.
UCI would add two more in the bottom of the eighth when Olson singled and went to third on a hit-and-run single by Orloff. With two outs, Cusick reached on an infield single that scored Olson and Orloff would score on a wild pitch. UCI pounded out 16 hits against seven different Long Beach pitchers.
“They play well together,” LBSU designated hitter Jordan Casas said. “That’s why they’re at where they’re at. They’re well coached and they execute pretty good.”
Crosby Slaught (3-0) got the win for UCI. He gave up five runs on six hits in six innings on the mound. Kyle Necke got his first save by working 1 1/3 innings of relief.
LBSU returns to the field Monday afternoon in Malibu against Pepperdine University. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
For more Dirtbags coverage, visit Tucker Savoye’s blog.