UCI Anteaters (15-10) suffered a brutal 6-8 loss to interconference rivals CSUN (15-10) on a dismal night at Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark on April 2, in a match that ultimately ended in mistakes and relief. pitch.
After an offensively quiet first inning, the ‘Eaters were first on the board late in the second. UCI first-year first baseman Dub Gleed and second-year wide receiver Abraham Garcia-Pacheco sparked the rally with back-to-back singles and just one out.
Luke Spillane, the UCI redshirt second-year center fielder, worked the count and drew a walk, setting up a loaded two-base scenario with the third baseman in redshirt Connor McGuire taking over. McGuire smashed one wide of right center field, cleared the bases, and had an elusive triple and three RBIs in the same at-bat. This brings the score to 3-0 UCI.
UCI added to their lead late in the third with senior redshirt designated hitter Ben Fitzgerald starting the inning with a brace down the right field line. Redshirt sophomore right fielder Nathan Church tied the game next, and with runners first and second, Gleed smashed a punting double to extend the ‘Eaters’ lead 5-0.
Irvine tacked on one more run in the bottom of the fifth as Garcia-Pacheco contributed a solid RBI base hit, leaving the UCI with a 6-1 lead after the first five innings.
UCI redshirt sophomore pitcher Nick Pinto kept the team ahead for seven impressive pitching innings, recording five strikeouts on his outing and giving up just one unearned run – following a few defensive errors – at the start of the fifth inning. Irvine stayed ahead, 6-1, as Pinto was finally relieved in the top of the eighth inning by redshirt sophomore pitcher Jacob King. King allowed a home run but struck out two batters before being relieved by graduate student pitcher Gordon Ingebritson.
Unfortunately, Gordon’s opener saw CSUN redshirt junior center fielder Jakob Simons clear the bases with a two-out triple down the right field line, resulting in two runs scored and the lead. of the UCI was reduced to just two points.
A following base hit in the middle by CSUN junior right fielder Andrew Sojka scored Simons, with the score now 6-5. CSUN tied the game in the eighth when senior redshirt designated hitter Gabe Gonzalez singled to center field, bringing up Sojka to score, the game tied 6-6.
The game remained tied to extra innings when the last 12and The round culminated in a CSUN rally to end the game. Facing UCI redshirt junior pitcher Michael Stanford, CSUN took advantage of a heavy two-goal scenario when CSUN second baseman Nathan Barraza threw a single to center field, scoring two points, giving CSUN the lead and ultimately the final score victory 8-6.
Kira Dort is an athletic intern for the Spring 2022 term. She can be contacted at kdort@uci.edu.
