UCI’s Gillespie reaches 1,000 wins

UC Irvine baseball coach Mike Gillespie earned his 1,000 career victory on Sunday, reaching the milestone when the Anteaters topped Long Beach State, 7-2, in the third and final game of the round-robin Long Beach State Tournament at Anteater Ballpark.

Gillespie, 73, a member of the American Baseball Coaches’ Assn. Hall of Fame, is in his seventh season at UCI after spending 20 seasons as head coach at USC. He was 1,000-593-2 heading into Tuesday’s home game against Loyola Marymount.

The Anteaters scored two runs in the third inning to break a 1-1 tie and posted three runs in the seventh to extend a 4-2 lead.

Junior first baseman Connor Spencer was three for five with three runs batted in, while junior Taylor Sparks was three for five with two RBIs and two runs scored to lead a 13-hit UCI attack.

Junior Chris Rabago drove in two runs with two hits, while sophomore Grant Palmer and Ryan Cooper also had two hits each for the winners (4-3).

Evan Broke pitched six strong innings to earn his second win in as many decisions and senior Jimmy Litchfield worked three scoreless innings of one-hit relief to notch his first save.

— From staff reports