The UCI Baseball team (32-15, 13-10) defeated the California State University, Northridge (CSUN) Matadors (28-16, 14-9) in a 10-2 victory at Matador Fieldon Saturday, May 13. The Anteaters were defeated by CSUN, 10-15, the day prior.
The starter for the Anteaters was redshirt senior right-handed-pitcher Michael Stanford, while the Matadors sent up sophomore right-handed pitcher Thomas Bainton.
UCI struck first in the top of the first inning with sophomore shortstop/infielder Dub Gleed reaching base after a fielder’s choice to the CSUN shortstop, which brought in a runner from third base to make it 1-0. UCI did not score any more in the first inning. CSUN went down in 1-2-3 fashion to Stanford’s superb pitching in the bottom of the first.
Later on, in the top of the third inning, Gleed reached base yet again off another fielder’s choice to shortstop to send a runner home from third base, extending the UCI lead to 2-0. Soon after, junior catcher Thomas McCaffrey reached base after a consecutive fielder’s choice to the shortstop position to bring home another man to make it 3-0. CSUN collapsed yet again in a 1-2-3 fashion in the bottom of the third.
At the top of the fifth, Gleed added another run to the scoreboard with a two-run home run to left field, widening the scoring gap to 5-0.
The Anteater offense was just getting started. At the top of the seventh, freshman first baseman Anthony Martinez hit a big three-run home run to right field to break the game wide open to 8-0.
During the eighth inning, Martinez reached base off of a throwing error by the pitcher to third base, which was flung past the CSUN junior third baseman Mason Le, thus allowing the runner on third base to come home and extend the game to 9-0. Soon after, Gleed grounded out to third base, but not before the runner on third ran home to home plate, making it a 10-0 Anteater spectacle.
CSUN didn’t go down without a final fight. At the bottom of the eighth, sophomore second baseman/infielder Shunsuke Sakaino reached on a fielder’s choice to third base, which allowed the runner on third base to go to home plate, making it 10-1. An RBI single to center field by redshirt sophomore Graysen Tarlow added one final run to the scoreboard to make it a close 10-2.
UCI redshirt senior right-handed-pitcher Tanner Brooks ended the game in the bottom of the ninth inning in a quick 1-2-3 fashion.
The ‘Eaters fell to the Matadors the following day, 7-9.
Phillip Lemus is a Sports Apprentice. They can be reached at plemus1@uci.edu.
