The UCI Anteaters (15-10) fell to a brutal 6-8 loss from interconference rivals CSUN (15-10) on a gloomy evening at Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark on April 2, in a game that ultimately came down to errors and relief pitching.
After an offensively quiet first inning, the ‘Eaters were first on the board in the bottom of the second. UCI freshman first baseman Dub Gleed and sophomore catcher Abraham Garcia-Pacheco sparked the rally with back-to-back singles and only one out.
UCI’s redshirt sophomore center fielder Luke Spillane worked the count and drew a walk, setting up a bases loaded two out scenario with redshirt sophomore third baseman Connor McGuire stepping up to the plate. McGuire crushed one to the right center field gap, cleared the bases and secured an elusive triple and three RBI’s in the same at bat. This put the score at 3-0 UCI.
UCI added to their lead in the bottom of the third with redshirt senior designated hitter Ben Fitzgerald starting off the inning with a leadoff double down the right field line. Redshirt sophomore right fielder Nathan Church then drew a walk, and with runners on first and second, Gleed smashed a bases clearing double, extending the lead in favor of the ‘Eaters 5-0.
Irvine tacked on one more run in the bottom of the fifth as Garcia-Pacheco contributed a solid base hit RBI, leaving UCI with a 6-1 lead after the first five innings.
UCI redshirt sophomore pitcher Nick Pinto kept the team in the lead through seven impressive innings of pitching, recording five strikeouts in his outing, and giving up only one unearned run — a result of a few defensive errors — in the top of the fifth inning. Irvine remained in the lead, 6-1, as Pinto was eventually relieved in the top of the eighth inning by redshirt sophomore pitcher Jacob King. King gave up a homerun but struckout two batters before being relieved by graduate student pitcher Gordon Ingebritson.
Unfortunately, Gordon’s first matchup resulted in CSUN redshirt junior center fielder Jakob Simons clearing the bases with a two out triple down the right field line, resulting in two runs scored, and UCI’s lead being cut down to just two runs.
A following base hit up 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 redshirt senior designated hitter Gabe Gonzalez singled to center field, bringing in Sojka to score, game tied 6-6.
The game remained tied into extra innings when the final 12th inning resulted in a CSUN rally to end the game. Facing UCI redshirt junior pitcher Michael Stanford, CSUN took advantage of a two out bases loaded scenario when CSUN sophomore first baseman Nathan Barraza cranked out a single to center field, scoring two runs, giving CSUN the lead and ultimately the win of the final score 8-6.
Kira Dort is a Sports Intern for the spring 2022 quarter. She can be reached at kdort@uci.edu.