LOS ANGELES, Calif. --- UC Irvine had all systems go Tuesday night at Page Stadium connecting on all facets of the game to win game number 313 at UC Irvine for Head Coach Mike Gillespie to the tune of 5-1 over Loyola Marymount.
Keston Hiura wasted no time belting a solo home run to left center to put UCI (6-3) up 1-0 after half an inning.
Fellow sophomore Cameron Bishop followed his lead setting down all six batters he faced to get the Anteaters rolling early.
The staff followed suit retiring the first 11 hitters of the game, and not allowing a hit to the Lions (3-5) until Jamey Smart flipped a double over the third base bag with two outs in the 7th inning.
Hiura didn't let up smoking a second homer in the 'Eaters' half of the seventh putting UCI up 3-0 at the time.
Bishop slammed the door on the offensive end as well lacing a double off the right field wall to score two more and open the lead up to 5-0.
LMU broke through in the bottom of the eighth with a run on a groundout, and put a couple runners on base in the ninth, but Calvin Faucher ended any thoughts of a comeback getting the final out on a groundball to Cole Kreuter to finish off the five-hitter, 5-1.
Bishop collected the win in his shortened outing, and picked up three hits and three RBIs with the stick. Jonathan Munoz scored a pair of runs, both from Bishop hits.
"Hiura was superman once again," noted coach Gillespie. "Mazur got a couple of hits. Bishop with a clutch double and drove in the other three runs. A lot of people were involved and contributed with clutch hits."
Kreuter had a chance to break the game open in the fifth smashing a liner into the left center gap with two runners on, but LMU's Billy Wilson laid out to rob him of an extra-base hit and end the inning stranding the runners.
Hiura's 2-HR game marks the 26th in program history and first of his career. He nearly had a third launching a fly ball to the warning track in the ninth inning that Austin Miller hauled in. He was successful in extending all of his streaks now standing with a 25-game on-base streak, 11 straight with a hit, eight with an RBI, four with a run, and four with an extra-base hit to go with his back-to-back games collecting a homer.
The pitching staff was nearly spotless going 6.2 hitless innings, helped along by Bishop, Miles Glazier, and Mitchell Miller, and did not surrender a walk until the ninth inning. A couple of rough innings were weathered along the way.
Glazier was coasting through his second inning of work in the fourth until he pegged three consecutive Lions to load the bases. Miller relieved him with a devastating hook to strike Jamey Smart out looking and end the threat.
The Lions looked to strike again in the seventh following their first two hits of the game putting runners on the corners with two out, but Ben Ritchey turned them away again with a groundout to end the inning.
"We got real good pitching from three or four guys. Certainly we were encouraged by what we saw from Bishop. Miller picked us up in a big way there with a called third strike on a 2-2 slider, and then he threw a good inning in addition to it."
The Lions didn't do themselves any favors committing four errors leading to two unearned runs for their pitchers. Brenton Arriaga went a solid 5.1 innings allowing an earned run and striking out four.
The man behind it all, Mike Gillespie, reaped the benefits securing the team's fourth win in a row and win No. 313 in his illustrious Anteater career that has spanned nine seasons now. He passed Mike Gerakos who had won 312 games from 1981-1992. Gillespie didn't have any thoughts on the milestone, simply adding, "all in all, it was a good night."
He will look to increase his total over the weekend as they welcome UTSA in to Anteater Ballpark beginning Friday night, March 4, at 6:30 p.m.
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