UC Irvine Baseball

Anteaters blanked

MALIBU — No. 11 UC Irvine was blanked 6-0 by Pepperdine in a mid-week contest Tuesday at Eddy D. Field Stadium. The Anteaters, who have dropped four of the last five games, fall to 4-4 on the season while Pepperdine climbs to 3-4 overall.

UCI was held to six hits in the shutout, its first since a 2-0 loss at Tulane in 2008.

Starter Kyle Necke (0-2), making his second collegiate start, pitched five solid innings for the Anteaters, striking out a season-high six batters while yielding a lone run on four hits.

Pepperdine broke through the scoreless tie in the third, getting a two-out RBI single from Brian Humphries. The Waves added a run in the sixth with another two-out hit from Floyd Given to score Humphries, giving Pepperdine a 2-0 lead.

Humphries struck again in the seventh with a two-run double in the seventh and Tyler Brubaker capped the scoring with a two-run home run in the eighth.

UCI put the leadoff runner on in the first three innings but came up empty and was held hitless until Ryan Fisher’s leadoff single in the seventh against reliever Keven Inman.

Gates collected the win to improve to 1-1 after pitching five innings, striking out two and scattering four hits. Inman picked up the save after four innings of two-hit relief.

Jordan Leyland led the Anteaters with two hits.

Nonconference

Pepperdine 6, UC Irvine 0

SCORE BY INNINGS

Necke, Lines (6), Summers (6), Hoover (7), Orozco (7), Bynum (8) and Larson; Gates, Inman (6). W – Gates, 1-1. L – Necke, 0-2. 2B – Leyland (UCI), Humphries (P) 2, Brubaker (P). 2B – Brubaker (P).