MALIBU, Calif. --- A pair of unearned runs were the difference in a 4-3 loss for UC Irvine as the Anteaters suffered their second loss to Pepperdine.
Starter Evan Manarino hurt his own cause in the bottom of the first, hitting leadoff batter, Hutton Moyer with the pitch. Then with an 0-2 count against Austin Davidson, Manarino's pickoff throw to first went wide into foul territory, allowing the speedy Hutton to reach third, who then scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Bryan Langlois to give the Waves a 1-0 lead.
The Waves added a run in the third. Kolton Yamaguchi singled and was pushed to third on a double by Michael Perri before eventually scoring on the second sacrifice of the day, this time by Moyer.
UCI broke through in the fourth as Taylor Sparks crushed his fourth home run of the year to lead off the inning and trim the Waves' lead to one at 2-1. The home run was Sparks' 17th career round-tripper, placing him in a tie with Jeff Cusick for fourth in the UCI records.
Manarino gave way to Kyle Davis in the fourth and the right-hander was promptly tagged for a one-out double by Aaron Brown and an RBI single from Aaron Barnett as the Waves stretched their lead to 3-1.
The Anteaters battled behind Grant Palmer, who came up clutch in the seventh. Palmer laced a two-out, RBI hit to left to drive in John Brontsema, who had punched a one-out hit to center before taking second on a grounder to second.
A failed pickoff cost the Anteaters again, this time in the bottom of the eighth. With two outs and a runner on third, McClanahan's pick to third was off line and got past Jonathan Munoz, allowing Moyer to plate an insurance run.
Brontsema, who was 2 for 3, sparked the Anteaters in the top of the ninth, hitting a ground-rul double to give UCI a runner in scoring position. Evan Cassolato moved Brontsema to third with a groundball to second and Brontsema would score the final run on a wild pitch from closer Eric Karch.
Manarino pitched three innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out one to fall to 1-3. Kyle Davis pitched 2.1 innings, giving up an earned run. Matt Fielding pitched 1.2 shutout frames and Jimmy Litchfield logged an inning, striking out one and surrendering an unearned run.
Starter Matt Maurer improved to 3-1 after pitching five innings and holding UCI to one run while striking out four. Karch registered his ninth save after an inning of one-run relief.
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