The UC Irvine Baseball team (12-4,1-1) defeated the Cal State Fullerton Titans (7-8,1-1) in a commanding 12-5 victory at Anteater Ballpark on Saturday, March 18. After being shut down at home the day before in a massive 0-10 loss to the Titans, the Anteaters returned the favor.
Starting on the mound for the Anteaters was redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Nick Pinto, while the Titans went with redshirt junior right-handed pitcher (RHP) Trevor Hinkel.
Fullerton drew first blood in the second inning off an RBI sacrifice fly by junior catcher Cole Urman, bringing a man home to give the Titans the first lead, 1-0. UCI left one man on base and were unable to capitalize, leaving the inning with no score.
In the top of the third inning, the Titans left two men on base but couldn’t translate them into runs. In the bottom half, the Anteaters got a run on the board after an RBI sacrifice fly to center by freshman first baseman/catcher Anthony Martinez brought home one runner on base, tying the score at 1-1.
The Anteaters exploded offensively in the bottom of the fifth inning, starting off with a sacrifice fly to center field by junior outfielder Caden Kendle to bring a man on third base home, making the score 2-1. Another sacrifice fly to left field by Martinez brought home a man on third base. Hinkel then loaded up the bases then walked a runner and brought home another runner-on-base, extending the lead by three points. The three runs for the Anteaters forced Hinkel out of the game after 4.2 innings pitched.
Sophomore RHP Jason Blood came in from the CSU Fullerton bullpen with the responsibility of cleaning up Hinkel’s mess. What followed instead was a hit-by-pitch and two consecutive walks by Blood to increase the Anteater lead to 7-1. Indeed, he left the fifth inning with blood on his hands.
The Anteaters piled more runs onto the offensive gap in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI triple down the left field line by sophomore designated hitter Chase Call to bring one home and extend the lead. Sophomore left fielder Myles Smith then hit a single to center field to bring another man home, pushing the score to 9-1.
Cal State Fullerton netted more runs onto the scoreboard in the top of the seventh inning, beginning with an RBI sacrifice fly to center field by sophomore second baseman Maddox Latta. An RBI single to right field by senior designated hitter Zach Lew added another run to the scoreboard, 9-3. The Titans began to hit their stride with several more hits off of UCI redshirt junior RHP Cameron Wheeler, and piled two more runs to the scoreboard before ending the inning with a 9-5 deficit to the ‘Eaters.
The Anteaters added more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning with an RBI double by Martinez to bring two runners to home plate. Redshirt junior center fielder Luke Spillane added another run to the scoreboard with an RBI single of his own to center field, bringing one more runner home to extend the lead to 12-5.
UCI graduate student RHP Sean Higgins closed the game out, allowing one single to slip past before striking out the final batter and delivering the win for UCI.
The Anteaters closed out the series against CSU Fullerton with a 5-9 defeat on Sunday, March 19. They will look for their first Big West Conference series victory at Cal Poly next weekend at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 24.
Phillip Lemus is a Sports Staff Writer. They can be reached at plemus1@uci.edu.