College Roundup: Hiura goes five for five

BASEBALL

UC Davis 11, UC Irvine 9

Junior designated hitter Keston Hiura went five for five to lift his nation-leading batting average to .442 to lead the host Anteaters in the Big West Conference game Saturday, their season finale.

Hiura’s average is a UCI single-season record and his 24th double of the season tied a school record. In four games last week, Hiura, expected to be a first-round pick in the June draft, was 14 for 19, a .737 average. He earned Big West Conference Player of the Week honors.

Hiura’s on-base percentage of .693 also leads the nation. He drove in three runs and scored one.

Hiura’s 54 doubles are a UCI career record.

Senior shortstop Mikey Duarte was three for five with a home run, three runs and two RBIs.

Freshman second baseman Kristian Coss was three for five and junior left fielder Cole Kreuter was two for four with two RBIs.

UCI finished 23-33, 9-15 in conference to finish seventh in the nine-team Big West.

UC Davis finished 21-30, 10-14.

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UC Irvine 6, UC Davis 5

Keston Hiura was three for four with two runs, while senior Evan Cassolato and freshman Christian Koss both had two RBIs for the host Anteaters on Friday.

Senior Calvin Faucher earned the win with two innings of relief after Michael Martin blanked the Aggies on one hit in his two relief innings.

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UC Irvine 2, UC Davis 1

Louis Raymond allowed one run on seven hits over seven innings to lead the host Anteaters in the series opener on Thursday.

Andre Pallante allowed one hit in two scoreless innings to earn his second save and allow Raymond to even his record at 5-5.

Keston Hiura was two for five with one RBI, while Mikey Duarte was two for four and Parker Coss was one for three with an RBI for the winners.

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MEN’S TRACK & FIELD

NCAA West Preliminaries

AUSTIN, Texas — UC Irvine senior Lloyd Sicard (110-meter high hurdles) and sophomore Isaiah Jewett (800 meters) advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with strong performances on Saturday and Friday, respectively.

Sicard, a three-time Big West Conference champion, earned his third straight nationals berth with a fourth-place finish in a time of 13.60 seconds, which matched his school record.

Jewett finished in 1 minute, 48.40 seconds to place second in the third heat. The top three in each heat guaranteed themselves a spot in the NCAA championships, June 7-10 in Eugene, Ore.

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NAI Championships

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Vanguard University sophomore Winston Lawson finished third in the decathlon to earn All-American honors in the meet concluded Saturday.

Lawson was leading through six events, but a leg injury sustained in the pole vault hurt his chances for the gold medal.

He finished with 6,729 points, well off the winner’s 6,855, but only three points shy of the runner-up.

Lawson’s mark of 166 feet, 11 inches in the javelin was a personal best.

Vanguard junior Noah Rodgers finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.79 seconds, to earn All-American recognition.

Senior Zach DeAtley was 17th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10 minutes, 31.85 seconds.

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WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD

NCAA West Preliminaries

AUSTIN, Texas — UC Irvine senior Megan George advanced to the quarterfinals of the 100-meter hurdles on Saturday to finish 20th and fail to advance.

The top 12 finishers earned a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

George’s quarterfinal time was 13.39 seconds, her fourth-best time of the season.

George will leave UCI as one of the most decorated athletes in program history. Earlier this month, she claimed her third straight Big West title in the 100 hurdles.

She owns school records in the 100 hurdles (13.28), the indoor 60-meter hurdles (8.44) and was part of record-setting 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams (44.51 and 3:42.57, respectively).