April 16, 2011

Box Score

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STOCKTON, Calif. - Senior 1B Brian Martin (Livermore, Calif.) posted a two-for-three night with four runs batted in to lead Pacific baseball to a 6-4 win over No. 17 UC Irvine Saturday night at Klein Family Field. Martin became the 10th player in Tigers history to post 100 career RBI as his two-run double in the fifth knocked home the 100th and 101st runs of his career and put the Tigers on top 4-3. In the seventh, he stroked an opposite field single into the left-centerfield gap to provide the game-winning margin.

Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Tyger Pederson (Palo Alto, Calif.) and senior LF Matt Carvutto (Poway, Calif.) posted singles and with one-out, Martin ripped a double down the left field line to plate them and put Pacific ahead 4-3.

After an unlucky bounce on a stole base attempt allowed Drew Hillman to come in to score and tie the game 4-4, Martin batted again with two on in the bottom of the seventh.

Pederson singled to open the seventh, and after a sacrifice from 3B Dustin Torchio (Santa Cruz, Calif.), Carvutto was intentionally walked to face Martin. UC Irvine coach Mike Gillespie summoned a left-hander from the bullpen to face the lefty-hitting Martin, but after a wild pitch advanced the runners, Martin burned LHP Matt Whitehouse with an opposite-field single into the left centerfield gap to plate both runners and put the Tigers up for good, 6-4.

"I was battling, fouling balls off," Martin said of the at bat. "He left one up with two strikes and I got the bat on it and hooked it into left and got the runs in again. I was just trying to battle and put the ball in play. It was really important for us to get the win tonight with Jake [Hummel] going tomorrow. He's our guy and now we have a chance to win the series tomorrow."

The Anteaters got on the board in the second on a single and from CF Christian Ramirez and a hit and run single from C Ronnie Shaeffer. With first and third, DH Jonathan Hurst lined to Tigers junior RF Allen Riley (Fresno, Calif.) in right. Riley made the grab and came up throwing, but Ramirez scored for the 1-0 lead on the sacrifice fly.

Pacific tallied in the bottom of the third, as junior SS Josh Simms (La Mesa, Calif.) reached on an error and Torchio pulled a double down the right field line, his second double of the game, to tie the game at 1-1. Carvutto followed with a single up the middle to score Torchio and put the Tigers ahead, 2-1.

UC Irvine got the lead back in the fifth as 1B Jordan Leyland poked a one-out single to left, and came in to score on a double by SS D.J. Crumlich. After a groundout moved Crumlich to third, 3B Brian Hernandez singled through the left side to put the Anteaters up 3-2.

That set up Martin's first two-run hit, the double which put him over the century mark in career runs batted in. The four-year senior, who picked up his 200th career hit last weekend at UC Riverside, joined five other Tigers with over 100 career RBI with the double to right field off RHP Nick Hoover, who entered to face Martin.

The two runs were charged to Anteaters' starter RHP Andrew Thurman went 4.1 innings with four runs allowed, three earned, allowing six hits while striking out three.

In the sixth, Drew Hillman singled to centerfield, and while stealing second base, was hit with the throw. The ball caromed off Hillman and into left center as the Hillman raced home to tie the game at 4-4.

Tigers senior RHP Marcus Pointer (Pacifica, Calif.) retired the side in the seventh, and departed after seven strong innings with three earned runs allowed, and three strikeouts, scattering nine hits. He earned the victory to improve to 2-5 on the season.

After Martin's two-run single in the seventh, junior RHP Chris Larsen (Moline, Ill.) set down the Anteaters in the eighth 1-2-3, and after hitting a batter allowing a single, prompted a fly out to center field from Hernandez to end the ballgame and record his third save of the season.

Pacific (11-20 overall, 3-5 Big West) improved to 2-2 on the year against ranked teams, as the Anteaters sit No. 17 in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25. UC Irvine falls to 22-9 overall and 5-3 in the Big West. Hoover took the loss to fall to 2-2 on the season, as he allowed two earned runs in two innings of work.

The three-game Big West series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. on another Salute to the Troops day at Klein Family Field. Senior RHP Jake Hummel (Peoria, Ariz) gets the start for Pacific as he brings his 4-2 record and 2.67 ERA into the rubber game of the series. UC Irvine's starter is TBA.