‘Eaters shut out Nevada

IRVINE — Things continue to come together for the UC Irvine baseball team, and there’s nothing Anteaters Coach Dave Serrano likes to see blended more than pitching and defense.

With that in mind, one might consider Saturday’s 3-0 nonconference victory over visiting Nevada a diamond smoothie.

“That’s how you win championships,” Serrano said of defense and pitching, which was abundant whenever the blue-jerseyed Anteaters took their positions.

Junior Wes Etheridge pitched eight innings, allowing just four hits, to improve to 6-0, while senior closer Blair Erickson worked the ninth for his seventh save this season.

It was Erickson’s 47th career save, giving him outright possession of the Big West Conference career record and pulling him within two of tying the national record held by USC’s Jack Krawcyck (49 saves from 1995-98).

Etheridge’s sinker ball combined with the Irvine infield, produced 16 ground-ball outs in the first eight innings, including a double play that ended the third inning.

Etheridge, a Cypress College transfer whose first four wins this season came in relief, struck out six and walked just two.

Barring the out recorded when catcher Francis Larson threw out a runner trying to steal second, Etheridge recorded only one fly-ball out.

Two of Nevada’s hits againt Etheridge were infield singles. The others were a soft liner to center and a ground ball through he shortstop hole.

“That was a very well-pitched game by Etheridge,” Serrano said. “He kept throwing that sinker and the bottom was falling out of it. There were a ton of ground balls. You look at the pitching performance and what he did, but we played stellar defense on the infield. [Third baseman Tyler Vaughn] made three or four spectacular plays; [shortstop Ben Orloff] made some great plays; and [second baseman Cody Cipriano] made some great plays.”

Serrano left out first baseman Zach Robinson, whose backhanded pick of a low throw by Cipriano helped Etheridge complete a one-two-three seventh.

“I got some great help,” said Etheridge, who lowered his ERA to 1.50 this season, in which he has given up just 28 hits in 42 innings. “You could see how many balls were hit up the middle and in the hole. And our defense just made outstanding plays. It’s easy top pitch with that defense.”

Etheridge, whom Serrano said has nailed down the role of Saturday starter, said the mix of his sinker and the infield behind him may continue to be a winning combination.

“It’s unbelievable,” Etheridge said. “They’re all over the place, they all run fast and they all have good arms. You just have to throw the ball over the plate. Tonight [the Wolf Pack] didn’t hit many balls to the outfield, but when they do, our guys run them down, too.”

Nevada starter Rod Scurry, son of the former Major League pitcher by the same name, matched Etheridge through three innings.

But UCI junior right fielder Bryan Petersen cleared the thick night air, as well as the right-field fence, with a home run to lead off the fourth to give the Anteaters all they would need.

“That was unreal,” Etheridge said of Petersen’s blast, his second of the season and the Anteaters’ first dinger in eight games at Anteater Ballpark this season. “I mean he hit it and you think ‘OK, it’s going to be caught,’ because you’re used to those balls being caught. To hit it out of here at night … it’s something special, it really is.”

UCI (14-5-1), which clinched its fifth series victory in six tries this season, added some insurance in the sixth inning to chase Scurry.

Petersen led off with a walk and, with one out, scored on a triple by senior Matt Morris, who was two for three.

After Mario Rivera took over on the mound for Scurry, freshman designated hitter Sean Madigan bunted Rivera’s first pitch successfully to score Morris on a squeeze play.

Orloff went three for four with a double, while Larson and Vaughn added singles to the Anteaters’ eight-hit attack.

“We’ve got the offense, we know that,” said Serrano, whose team is 7-1 at home this season and is now 5-1 on Fridays and 5-1 on Saturdays. “It has been slowed down a little bit [UCI was shut out on two hits Tuesday by visiting San Diego], but pitching and defense has taken over. When we put it all together, that could end up being pretty special.”

Erickson provided a special end to this one, fanning two and recording the final out on a deep fly to center fielder, with runners on first and second.

Erickson, who has now thrown nine innings this season, has an ERA of 1.00. He also has 16 strikeouts to give him 176 in 133 2/3 career innings as an Anteater.

UCI and Nevada close out the series today at 1 p.m.

Nonconference

UC Irvine 3, Nevada 0

Score by Innings

Nevada 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 5 2

UCI 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 x - 3 8 1

Etheridge, Erickson (9) and Larson, Lowenstein (9); Scurry, Rivera (6) and Schmid. W -- Etheridge, 6-0. L -- Scurry, 0-4. Sv -- Erickson (7). 2B -- Orloff (UCI). 3B -- Morris (UCI). HR -- Petersen (UCI).