The UCI Men’s Baseball team defeated Tulane University 3-0 in Game 1 of their first home series of the season at the Anteater Ballpark on Friday, Feb. 17.
The Anteaters began their season with a bang in the first inning, with redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher (RHP) David Vizcaino hitting the first batter for Tulane and sending him to first base. However, Tulane was unable to make any offensive magic happen, ultimately leaving two men on base.
The Anteaters didn’t fare much better offensively in the bottom of the first, with two players striking out to Tulane junior left-handed pitcher Dylan Carmouche, one lining out into the outfield and a fourth player left on base.
The bottom of the second inning started with a walk for UCI sophomore left fielder Myles Smith. This was followed by a strikeout for sophomore designated hitter Chase Call for the first out. Junior third baseman Jo Oyama singled up the middle to get men on first and second base. However, his efforts were all for naught as junior catcher Abraham Garcia-Pacheco popped out into the foul ground territory for the second out, and redshirt junior center fielder Luke Spillane grounded out to first base to end the second inning with two men left on base.
The top of the third inning was another quick 1-2-3 rotation for Vizcaino. With a groundout to the shortstop position for the first out, Vizcaino struck out sophomore designated hitter Jackson Linn for his third strikeout of the night, and a line-out to third base.
UCI began the bottom of the third inning with a bang go-ahead triple by redshirt sophomore second baseman Will Bermudez. He then scored with a run-batted-in single by junior right fielder Caden Kendle to give UCI their first lead of the night at 1-0. Kendle then went ahead and stole second base to give the Anteaters a runner in scoring position advantage.
After freshman first baseman Martinez was struck out by Carmouche, Kendle made the error of running to third a bit too early and was caught stealing for the second out. Sophomore shortstop Dub Gleed then doubled to left field to grant UCI another runner-in-scoring-position advantage, which was then followed up by a walk by Carmouche to Smith. Call ultimately grounded out to third base to end the third inning with two men left on base.
The ‘Eaters were swept under the rug during the bottom of the fourth, with Carmouche delivering a strikeout while being kept alive by his infield and outfield, unable to come up with a run.
The fifth inning was largely a continuation of Vizcaino’s excellence on the mound with another strikeout for him and another 1-2-3 inning in the bag for the Anteater ball club. At the same time,
UCI was stopped in its tracks offensively by Carmouche with another strikeout for Bermudez and the Tulane second baseman tagging out Gleed after reaching base on a fielder’s choice play.
The top of the sixth inning unfolded with a pop-up to center field for the first out. Tulane sophomore shortstop Gavin Schulz doubled to right center field to get into scoring position. Vizcaino walked the next batter up and struck out sophomore right fielder Teo Banks. Vizcaino was then taken out of the game, having pitched five full innings and being responsible for the runner on second base.
UCI’s next reliever pitcher was redshirt junior RHP Cameron Wheeler, who immediately went to work by striking out the final batter to stop Tulane from beginning up an offensive response.
The Anteaters really started cooking offensively in the bottom of the sixth inning with a single by Smith to third base. After Call flew out to right field for the first out, Oyama tripled to left center field, bringing Smith to home plate to give UCI a 2-0 lead. Garcia-Pacheco then hit a sacrifice fly out to center field to bring in Oyama to widen the score gap to 3-0, with two outs left in the inning. Spillane lined out to right field to end the inning with UCI in the lead.
The seventh inning featured the game’s only double play started by junior pinch hitter Brayden Morrow in the top half. Otherwise, both ball clubs put up 1-2-3 performances defined by the pitching matchup.
The eighth inning continued UCI’s pitching dominance, with redshirt senior RHP Tanner Brooks striking out the side. However, the Anteaters failed to come up with an offensive response, leaving three men on base in the process.
The final three outs of the game were all strikeouts, courtesy of UCI redshirt junior RHP Jacob King. Though he allowed one single, King striking out the side at the end granted UCI their first win of the season at home, 3-0.
The ‘Eaters went on to secure another victory against Tulane on Saturday, Feb. 18. Read about it here.
Phillip Lemus is a Sports Staff Writer for the winter 2023 quarter. They can be reached at plemus1@uci.edu