Gillespie gets No. 900

IRVINE — Now at 11-1 this season, it would be difficult to convince anyone that the UC Irvine baseball team was limping along or in need of any sort of medicinal aid.

But Saturday’s 5-3 nonconference win over visiting Sacramento State did have elements of bruises and bandages.

The former reference was a swollen right ankle that junior first baseman Jordan Fox not only played through, but went two for three with four runs batted in for the winners, ranked No. 18 in the USA Today/ESPN poll.

Fox fouled a ball off the ankle in his first at-bat, but played on after taping it up to limit the swelling.

The bandages refer to a collective tunicate applied by the UCI bullpen, which, in somewhat of a recurring theme, used four pitchers to complete five scoreless innings after starter Kyle Hooper surrendered three runs on six hits in four innings.

The game was also noteworthy as victory No. 900 in the Division I ranks for Anteaters Coach Mike Gillespie, who received a commemorative bat autographed by members of the program after the series-clinching triumph.

“It’s a great milestone in his career and it just shows how good of a coach he is,” said Fox, whose third-inning double with the bases loaded turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 UCI lead.

“That’s a lot of wins,” said freshman Andrew Thurman, who struck out the side to strand a leadoff double against Litchfield in the Hornets’ scoreless seventh inning. “He’s a great coach and a great mentor and I’m really happy for him.”

Gillespie, in his fourth season at UCI after 20 at USC, is now 900-526-2 as a Division I coach. He was more pleased by the level of his team’s play that achieved the win than the milestone the victory marked.

“It was a good game and I thought it was a clean game,” Gillespie said. “It was well-played, the relievers picked us up and I feel pretty good about our offense.”

Junior designated hitter Jordan Leyland’s solo home run to lead off the fourth inning broke a 3-3 tie and was the biggest of the ‘Eaters’ four extra-base hits. UCI, which had just seven hits, also had doubles by junior catcher Ronnie Shaeffer and junior center fielder Christian Ramirez.

Ramirez, who went to third on his double when the outfielder stumbled while fielding the ball, scored on a sacrifice fly by Fox in the seventh.

Litchfield, who started the fifth, worked two scoreless innings to win his first collegiate decision.

Thurman allowed one hit in 1 1/3 and sophomore Matt Whitehouse allowed one hit in two-thirds of an inning.

Senior Brian Hernandez entered with a runner on in the ninth. He struck out the first hitter, then induced a game-ending double play for his second save of the week and the season. His ERA is 0.00 through 8.1 innings, despite not having pitched previously since high school.

Fox’s big day gives him a team-leading 19 RBIs, one more than the total produced entering the game by the entire lineup for Sacramento State (4-11).

But regardless of the level of competition, UCI is piling up victories and performing well in all areas.

“Sometimes, we’ve won in spite of ourselves, but for the most part, it has been good,” Gillespie said. “This is the best game we’ve played all week, all things considered. But we’re going to have to keep getting better to compete going won the road.”

Thurman, who now has 17 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings, is part of a staff that has a combined 2.47 ERA.

UCI is hitting .329 as a team and has 11 errors in 12 games, including three in Friday’s 9-5 series-opening win.

“Everybody has been doing their jobs great,” Thurman said. “The defense has been doing well, the hitters have been just money and the pitching staff has been good. Everyone has been clicking and it’s a great start so far.”

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Nonconference

UC Irvine 5, Sacramento State 3

SCORE BY INNINGS

Sac St. 200 100 000 – 3 11 1

UCI 003 100 10x – 5 7 0

Chadwick, Galvan (7) and Chung; Hooper, Litchfield (5), Thurman (7), Whitehouse (8), Hernandez (9) and Shaeffer. W – Litchfield, 1-0. L – Chadwick, 1-2. Sv – Hernandez (2). 2B – Chung (S) 2, Fox (UCI), Ayers (S), Shaeffer (UCI), Ramirez (UCI). HR – Leyland (UCI).