Simple twist of fate gives Irvine victory

UCI 6 UCLA 4

By Scott Bair
Daily Bruin Contributor

The UC Irvine Anteaters went into Tuesday’s contest
against UCLA looking for their first win since 1992. On the fourth
game of this season, destiny brought them a 6-4 win. Not even God
could’ve stopped Irvine from winning.

The score was knotted at three in the bottom of the seventh.
With a runner on first and no outs, Irvine second baseman Effren
Trejo bunted the ball down the first base line to charging freshman
first baseman Wes Whisler who hesitated, allowing Trejo to reach
first.

Then fate took over.

With bases loaded and no outs, Irvine third baseman Steve
Guthrie hit a ball down the third base line that looked like it was
going foul. The ball mysteriously defied physics and caromed off of
the outside corner of the base and went into foul territory. The
fair ball scored two Anteaters and put them ahead for good.

“Baseball is a weird game, sometimes things just
don’t go your way,” UCLA starting pitcher Chris
Cordeiro said.

After Irvine (1-3) scored, UCLA (0-1) responded with two runs in
top of the third. True freshman and Irvine native Kevin Conlin
registered the first hit of the 2002 season with a base hit to
start the Bruin rally, which produced a 3-1 cushion for
Cordeiro.

Early on, Cordeiro looked dominant, striking out four of his
first six batters.

“The game plan was to give them a lot of first pitch
breaking balls,” Cordeiro said. “I was doing alright
and then things just stopped going my way.”

Cordeiro couldn’t catch a break in the third. He balked
home the second Anteater run and threw a wild pitch to the next
hitter. After the following batter, Cordeiro gave up a run scoring
double and the only clean hit of the inning to eliminate the UCLA
lead.

From the third inning on, the Bruins never gave themselves a
chance to come back, registering one hit and 13 strikeouts.

“Baseball is a simple game and we made it hard
today,” Conlin said.

Destiny had it so that Irvine’s first win since
resurrection was against the same team which they defeated upon
creation.

“What can I say,” UCLA head coach Gary Adams said.
“I guess now we’re in their media guide.”