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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 5:37 p.m., Saturday, February 21, 2009

Errors help UC Irvine win second game, sweep UH in baseball

Advertiser Staff

Hawai'i's two errors led to two unearned runs that made the difference in UC Irvine's 5-4 win in the second game to complete collegiate baseball doubleheader sweep today at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Anteaters (3-0) also won the opener by the same score against the Rainbows (0-3).

The second game was a seven-inning affair. UCI coach Mike Gillespie watched the second game from the stands, as he was serving a one-game suspension, he said.

Brock Bardeen (1-0) allowed a run in 2 1/3 innings of relief. Eric Pettis gave up two singles, but still got his second save of the series.

In the bottom of the seventh, Vinnie Catricala led off with a walk against Pettis and took second on Jeff Van Doornum's single to center. Kevin Macdonald fouled out to the catcher on a bunt attempt and Christian Johnson grounded to second for a game-ending double play.

Alex Capaul (0-1) gave up four runs in four innings for UH.

Hawai'i took the lead for the first time in the series in the first inning. With one out, Greg Garcia doubled to right-center and scored on Vinnie Catricala's ground single to left-center to make it 1-0. After taking second on a balk, Catricala could only take third on Jeffrey Van Doornum's double to right, apparently thinking the right fielder was going to make the catch. But Kevin Macdonald grounded a two-run single to center to make it 3-0 before Slaught got the next two batters on grounders to second.

The Anteaters wasted littie time to tie it in the top of the second. After two outs, Tony Asaro singled and Casey Stevenson was hit by a pitch. D.J. Crumlich, Sammy Donabedian and Sean Madigan each followed with RBI singles to tie tie game at 3. With runners at the corners, Ben Orloff grounded out to third to end the inning.

The Anteaters took the lead in the fourth. Tony Asaro led off with a walk, took second when Stevenson grounded out to second on a hit-and-run and advanced to third on a pick-off throwing error from catcher Kevin Fujii. Asaro then scored on Crumlich's sacrifice fly to right to give UCI a 4-3 lead.

Hawai'i threatened in the fourth, but couldn't score. With one out, Ryan Morford singled to left-center and took second on a passed ball before Fujii walked. Slaught was pulled for the left-handed Noel Avison to face the left-handed hitting Kolten Wong, who was hit by a pitch to load the bases. But Garcia popped to short and Avison was pulled for the right-handed Brock Bardeen to face the right-handed hitting Catricala, who grounded out to third to leave the bases loaded.

The Anteaters added to their lead in the fifth. Orloff walked with one out and went to third when Cusick reached on a fielder's choice grounder to short that shortstop Garcia threw wildly to second for an error to put runners at third and second. Dillon Bell's ground out to first score Orloff and moved Cusick to third before Francis Larson struck out to end the inning.

The Rainbows cut their deficit to one in the fifth. Van Doornum led off with a single, stole second and took third on catcher Donebedian's throwing error on a called strike three to Macdonald. Christian Johnson tripled to left-center to score Van Doornum to pull UH to 5-4. Sean Montplaisir flied out to shallow left against a drawn-in infield, but Morford grounded out to third to end the inning.