"Winning, 10-0, a lot of coaches would say that's great," Serrano said. "But I just felt like some complacency was getting in there. I didn't think we were really battling. When you win 9-0 [Friday] and 10-0, you can lose that drive."
But there was clearly no lack of motivation when the No. 12-ranked Anteaters (37-14-1, 12-5 in conference) took the field behind junior starting pitcher Wes Etheridge.
Etheridge worked five hitless innings, before surrendering a hit to lead off the sixth. Etheridge, who improved to 11-4 with his second win in his last two starts, struck out just four through eight solid innings. He allowed only four singles.
So while Etheridge was allowing Matadors to put the ball in play, UCI defenders were capturing the spotlight.
In the second inning, first baseman Taylor Holiday dived to his right to stab a line drive headed toward right field to end the inning.In the third, third baseman Tyler Vaughn dived to his left to snag a hard-hit bounder, then sprung to his feet to throw across the diamond and record the out at first.In the fifth, Vaughn ranged 20 feet to his left to snare a high chopper to first in time to ruin a would-be infield hit.In the seventh, right fielder Bryan Petersen left his feat to squeeze a line drive headed for the right-center-field gap.Additionally, shortstop Ben Orloff made five assists and two putouts, while catcher Aaron Lowenstein picked a runner off first base, with the help of first baseman Zach Robinson sneaking in behind.
