ROUND ROCK, Texas (AP) - U-C Irvine used a three-run eighth
inning to defeat Texas 9-6 today and win the N-C-double-A regional
in Round Rock.
The Anteaters (3-0) advance to the Super Regionals by knocking
out Texas, the nation's Number Four seed. U-C Irvine will play the
winner of the Wichita regional.
The game picked up from the bottom of the seventh inning after
rain suspended play yesterday with U-C Irvine up 6-5.
The Anteaters expanded their lead in the eighth when pinch
hitter Dillion Bell singled to right with Bryan Peterson on first.
Right fielder Kyle Russell threw the ball over the third baseman's
head into the dugout, allowing Peterson to score. Later in the
inning, Tyler Vaughn hit a two-run double to add to U-C Irvine's
lead.
Anteaters' ace Scott Gorgen, who beat the Longhorns (2-2) on
Saturday with a complete-game five-hitter, threw a perfect eighth.
Texas threatened in the ninth, scoring a run on a bases-loaded
walk. But U-C Irvine pitcher Wes Etheridge induced Chais Fuller to
ground into a bases loaded fielder's choice to end the game.