IRVINE — Christian Bergman hurled 7.1 shutout innings to lead No. 27 UC Irvine to a 4-0 win over UC Santa Barbara Friday at Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark. The win lifted UCI to 31-16 overall and 11-5 in the Big West while the Gauchos dropped to 20-24, 6-10 Big West.
Bergman struck out six, scattered five hits and did not walk a batter to improve to 6-3 on the season. The right-hander dealt a no-hitter through five, facing one over the minimum, before giving up a leadoff single in the sixth.
UCSB mounted its first serious threat against Bergman in the eighth, loading the bases with one out on consecutive singles by Ryan Palermo and pinch-hitters Brett Fick and Beck Wheeler. The Anteaters turned to Kyle Necke, who induced an infield pop-up by Gunnar Terhune and a fly-ball from Sean Williams to keep the Gauchos off the board.
In the UCSB ninth, Matt Valaika and Trevor Whyte led off the frame with consecutive singles. Senior Eric Pettis entered in relief and retired one on a fielder’s choice, struck out Ryan Palermo and then got Ben Edelstein to fly out to right-field to end the inning and pick up his sixth save.
The Anteater offense gave Bergman the early lead as Casey Stevenson’s double was cashed in by a two-out hit by Ronnie Shaeffer in the bottom of the first.
In the UCI fourth, Francis Larson reached base on catcher’s interference and was sacrificed to second by Ryan Fisher. D.J. Crumlich delivered the clutch hit with a single to left-center to drive in Larson for the two-run lead.
Sean Madigan and Brian Hernandez sandwiched an out with a pair of doubles to tack on a run in the seventh and Crumlich drove in his second run of the night with a long single to center to plate Matt Summers in the eighth.
Crumlich was 2 for 4 with two RBI while Hernandez had a perfect day at the plate, batting 3 for 3 with a run batted in.
Starter Mario Hollands fell to 4-4 after giving up three runs (two earned) on nine hits in seven innings. Whyte led the Gauchos with a pair of hits.
The Gauchos continue their series vs. No. 27 UC Irvine on Saturday and Sunday with both games are at 1 p.m
