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Baseball reaches 30-win mark in record time with 4-1 win over UC Irvine

Freshman third baseman Cody Regis went 1-2 with one RBI in the No. 5 Bruins’ 4-1 win over UC Irvine on Tuesday at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

By Blair Angulo

April 27, 2010 10:25 p.m.

The 2010 UCLA baseball team continues to leave its mark in the program record books.

First it was the mind-numbing 22-game win streak to open the season. Then came the nation’s No. 1 ranking.

On Tuesday night, UCLA reached the 30-win plateau in the fewest games in school history, defeating UC Irvine 4-1 at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

With the win, the Bruins (30-7) also improved to 18-5 at home this spring.

Senior right-hander Garett Claypool played a major role in the feat, allowing just one run in a career-high seven and two-thirds innings to lower his earned-run average to 2.11 ““ tops amongst UCLA starting pitchers.

“I had a mentality coming in of just attacking the glove, going pitch to pitch,” Claypool said. “I kind of let them hit it ““ that kept my pitch count down and kept me in there longer.”

Claypool (6-1) surrendered his only run with two outs in the top of the eighth, with UCLA holding on to a 4-1 lead.

Then, coach John Savage had no choice but to bring out his bullpen.

“Claypool did what he does on Tuesdays,” Savage said.

“He earned it. When a guy has a shutout and works his tail off all week for it, you have to reward him.”

The same could not be said for Claypool’s counterpart, right-hander Evan Brock of UC Irvine (24-14).

Brock lasted only one inning and a third, allowing five of the nine batters he faced to reach base.

The Bruins, though, failed to cash in on a bases-loaded opportunity in the first frame when junior shortstop Niko Gallego struck out swinging.

Brock exited with runners on second and third, but UCLA only mustered one run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of freshman outfielder Beau Amaral.

In all, the Bruins left eight runners stranded in the first four innings.

“We had plenty of opportunities,” Savage said. “That game could have had a bigger spread, but Irvine was not going to throw cookies over the plate.”

UCLA finally snuck into the kitchen and reached into the cookie jar in the fifth inning.

Freshman outfielder Cody Keefer led off with a double to the right field corner and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Gallego.

With the infield drawn in, freshman third baseman Cody Regis did what his teammates could not in the innings prior, lining a single to right to score Keefer and give the Bruins a 2-0 edge.

It didn’t end there.

Junior outfielder Chris Giovinazzo promptly jumped all over Irvine pitcher Kyle Hooper’s next offering, launching a towering home run to the Eucalyptus trees beyond the left-field fence for his first round-tripper of the season.

“We were just trying to be aggressive,” Giovinazzo said. “Coach (Rick) Vanderhook told me to get a first pitch and just let it fly. I ran into one.”

All of a sudden, Claypool had a four-run cushion.

“It was a big relief,” Claypool said. “I believed in our hitters, they battled and got the job done.”

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Blair Angulo
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