Portland 3/5/17
The ‘Eaters completed the sweep of the Portland Pilots on Sunday afternoon, battling out a 5-3 win to put them two games above .500 at 6-4 on the season.
Freshman Cole Spear made his starting debut, limiting the Pilots to one run through four innings with a pair of strikeouts.
UCI fell behind 1-0 in the fourth, but answered in the bottom half as junior Keston Hiura scored off an RBI single from junior Cole Kreuter. Senior Adam Alcantara would also score on a fielder’s choice to put the ‘Eaters in front.
Sophomore Jordan Bocko came on in relief of Spear and gave up two more runs over two innings, but senior centerfielder Evan Cassolato stayed hot from the batter’s box, tripling in the tying run and coming around to plate the go-ahead run after a single from senior Mike Duarte.
Alcantara scored again to add some insurance to the lead, and UCI would come away with the 5-3 decision after junior Michael Martin and senior Calvin Faucher combined for three scoreless innings to shut the door.
Loyola Marymount 3/7/17
Cassolato provided some late-game heroics for the ‘Eaters on Tuesday at Loyola Marymount, as the senior came up big again for UCI who return home boasting a 4-game winning streak after prevailing 7-6.
Down 6-4 with two on and one out in the top of the ninth, Cassolato sent a three-run shot over the fence for his first career home run and catapulted the ‘Eaters ahead for good. Cassolato would finish 4-5 with five RBIs and two runs scored.
Faucher stepped up to pitch the ninth, and proved reliable once again locking in his fifth save of the year. Faucher retired the first two Lions before loading the bases, but struck out the final batter to preserve the game for UCI.
Duarte was active at the plate as well tallying four hits, and junior Jake Hazard made the most of his first start of the season knocking three hits and an RBI-triple.
The ‘Eaters (7-4) will play an exhibition game against Korean pro club NC Dinos on Wednesday before welcoming #1 TCU to Anteater Ballpark this weekend.