Men’s Track and Field
The ‘Eaters participated in a whopping four meets this weekend, competing in events from Thursday through Saturday.
Sophomore Izzak Mireles paced four ‘Eaters at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa on Thursday, notching a time of 14:56.51 in the 5000m, and sophomore Branden Randall placed 11th in his section in the steeplechase at 9:36.86.
On the same day, Lloyd Sicard was bested for the first time all year in the 110m hurdles at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate in Long Beach, finishing second with a time of 14.12, and senior Matt Seawright placed 16th in the hammer throw at the Mt. SAC Relays in Torrance.
Sophomore Isaiah Jewitt added another individual win to his resume on Friday, taking down the 800m at Mt. SAC with a personal-best 1:48.43.
At the Beach Invitational on Friday, Seawright impressed again with a sixth-place finish in the hammer throw and another personal record at 205-06.
Back at the Bryan Clay, senior David Aguilar led the ‘Eaters with a season-best 800m time of 1:55.68 to finish seventh in his section.
The jam-packed weekend concluded on Saturday at the Beach Invitational, as senior Brandon Howard put up a season-best 400m hurdles with 52.58, good for fifth place.
Women’s Track and Field
Senior Aaliyah Shah bested her own personal record in the steeplechase at the Bryan Clay Invitational with a time of 11:07.40 to finish 27th overall, while senior Saniya Syed clocked a season-best 58.03 in the 400m at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate.
The ‘Eaters were represented at the Mt. SAC Relays by junior Dazhana Bauer-Jackson, who placed 23rd in the hammer throw at 140-08.
UCI dominated at Mt. SAC on Friday, with junior Persis William-Mensah winning the 100m at 11.41, and senior Megan George coming in fourth in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.82.
William-Mensah, George, sophomore Hope Bushnell, and junior Tyra Jones all combined to take second in the 4x100m relay in 45.52.
As the Beach Invitational got underway on Friday as well, senior Courtney Sharar ran the 10000m in 38:59.04, good for seventh place and her own personal record.
William-Mensah was back in action on Saturday at the Beach Invitational, and placed third in the 100m with a time of 11.48, and George clocked a season-best 13.35 in the 100m hurdles which put her fourth overall. Senior Crystal Lizaola ran a PR 60.69 in the 400m hurdles and finished fourth as well.
Sophomore Barbara Coward showed out in the field events, registering a discus throw of 176-06 to place fifth overall and the collegiate runner-up.
Baseball
The ‘Eaters dropped their series opener on the road at UC Santa Barbara 11-3 on Friday, falling behind early and allowing the Gauchos to open up a 7-1 lead. UCI got two runs back in the sixth but allowed UCSB to plate four more runners to put the game out of reach.
Junior Keston Hiura, who landed on the Golden Spikes Award’s Midseason Watch List, scored twice and was driven home by senior Alex Guenette both times.
On Saturday, UCI snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, scoring two runs in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to end their seven-game losing streak.
After a huge sixth inning spurt by the Gauchos, the ‘Eaters fell behind 7-2 before finally clicking at the plate.
Hiura and junior Parker Coss contributed RBI-singles in the seventh, and the ‘Eaters scored on a UCSB error and RBI-single by senior Mikey Duarte in the eighth.
Another Gaucho blunder in the field set the stage for freshman Adrian Damla to score on a sacrifice fly and give UCI the 8-7 win.
The ‘Eaters could not salvage the series, allowing UCSB to comeback this time in the rubber match, falling by the same 8-7 score.
A six-run seventh gave UCI a seemingly insurmountable four-run lead late, but the Gauchos scored three in the eighth and two in the ninth to walkoff against the visiting ‘Eaters, who drop to 13-19, 2-4, on the year.