Axelrod sharp in UCI win

IRVINE — Former UC Irvine starting pitcher Dylan Axelrod has clearly found coming out of the bullpen to be, well, a relief.

The senior right-hander, who in three early starts gave up 13 earned runs and 14 hits in 8 1/3 innings (a 15.1 ERA), continued a string of strong relief performances Sunday to help lead the Anteaters to a 7-4 nonconference baseball triumph over Nevada at Anteater Ballpark.

Axelrod, who took over for starter Reid Suitor with two on and no outs in the third inning, battled out of that jam and worked five hitless innings to earn his first victory of the season.

“To me, the whole game was Dylan getting out of that first-and-second jam with no outs,” said UCI Coach Dave Serrano, who watched Axelrod pounce on a would-be sacrifice bunt in time to force the lead runner at third, before striking out the final two hitters of the inning to preserve a 1-1 deadlock.

“That changed the whole momentum of the game,” Serrano said. “A lot of people might have questioned why I went and got Suitor so fast. I just didn’t like the tempo he had going. It was deep counts and kind of a molasses kind of deal. And on Sundays you just can’t have that. Dylan came in and established strikes and turned the whole [complexion] of the game around. Him getting out of the that jam without them scoring a run was huge for us and a back-breaker for them.”

UCI (15-5-1), which swept the three-game series and has now won five straight weekend series, after surrendering two of three at Cal to open the season, scored three runs in the fourth inning. It then tacked on one in the sixth and two in the seventh to take control against the Wolf Pack (10-12).

Meanwhile, Axelrod, who lowered his ERA from 8.78 to 6.38 by matching his longest outing of the season, continued to mow down Nevada hitters.

He struck out the side in the fourth and finished with nine strikeouts in his five innings.

“It was one of those days when I was just in the groove,” said Axelrod, who has now pitched nine relief innings this season, in which he has surrendered just two hits and no earned runs, while fanning 15. “Everything was working. I spotted my fastball really well and they were chasing the slider, which was really tight. It was a great feeling. And I’ve been waiting for that win for a little bit, so that felt good, too.”

Nevada managed an unearned run in the sixth, when the leadoff hitter reached on a passed ball after striking out, moved to second on a walk, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and came home on a sacrifice fly.

After Axelrod’s performance left the Anteaters dugout in feel-good mode, Nevada made things interesting against three subsequent UCI relievers.

But senior closer Blair Erickson, who entered with the bases loaded and UCI up, 7-3, retired two of the three hitters he faced to pick up his eighth save of the season, the 48th of his career.

Erickson, who became the all-time Big West Conference saves leader by closing out Saturday’s 3-0 win, is now one shy of tying the national career saves mark set by USC’s Jack Krawcyzk from 1995-98.

Serrano said Axelrod may be better-suited for relief.

“I like him in that role and I think he feels a little more confident in that role,” Serrano said. “He’s a little bit of an analytical guy, and I think when he knows he’s starting, he thinks too much when he knows it’s coming down the line.

“I think when we just give him the ball, he just goes out there and allows himself to take care of business.”

Axelrod said his recent success has put him back on track.

“I have a lot of confidence right now and I think that’s huge for me too,” said Axelrod, who was 3-3 with a 4.59 ERA in 28 appearances as a junior, 27 of which were in relief. “I don’t know what I’ve been doing differently, but it has just all come together.”

Taylor Holiday, Cody Cipriano, Matt Morris, Sean Madigan and Ben Orloff had two hits apiece for the Anteaters, who improved to 8-1 at home.

Madigan, a freshman designated hitter, was five for nine in the series, with six RBIs to lead a UCI offense that had 10 earned runs in 35 innings in four games last week.

Tony Asaro drove in two runs with a single in the seventh, while Morris, Madigan, Aaron Lowenstein and Tyler Vaughn added RBIs for the winners.

“I’m excited, because we’re not just winning games from the offensive standpoint now,” Serrano said “The defense has been fabulous all weekend long. We made one error [against Nevada] and we’ve made just one error in our last seven games. If we can continue to get that quality pitching and play good defense and scrap out runs … We’re in probably a little bit of a rut, offensively, but that’s OK, because I know offense goes in phases and we’ll get it rolling again.”

The Anteaters continue their eight-game homestand Tuesday against Portland at 6 p.m. They will then play a three-game series with New Mexico, Friday through Sunday.

Nonconference

UC Irvine 7, Nevada 4

Score by Innings

Nevada 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 - 4 8 2 UCI 0 1 0 3 0 1 2 0 x - 7 12 0

Howe, Renfree (5), Kaup (7), Colton (8) and Schmidt, Krukow (8); Suitor, Axelrod (3), Calahan (8), Pettis (9), Erickson (9) and Lowenstein. W -- Axelrod, 1-1. L -- How, 1-2. Sv -- Erickson (7). 2B -- Fierro (N), Kaup (N), Cipriano (UCI), Morris (UCI).