The UC Irvine Anteaters (1-0), ranked No. 21, defeated the North Dakota State Bisons (0-1) 14-2 on Feb. 16 at Anteater Ballpark in the first game of the highly anticipated 2024 season campaign. After narrowly missing the 2023 NCAA baseball tournament, the ‘Eaters have high expectations this year, with most of their players from last year returning for another season .
Action began in the bottom of the first inning as UCI senior infielder Jo Oyama walked and redshirt junior infielder Woody Hadeen singled. Following that, NDSU sophomore right-handed pitcher Parker Puetz balked – an illegal motion to pitch which is deceitful to a runner – which allowed Oyama to score and gave the Anteaters a 1-0 lead.
However, the ‘Eaters weren’t finished yet. The run continued as senior outfielder Caden Kendle singled, allowing Hadeen to score and give the Anteaters a 2-0 lead.
UC Irvine continued to build their lead in the bottom of the second when graduate outfielder Luke Spillane doubled and Hadeen hit a fly ball that allowed Spillane to score, making the lead increase to 3-0.
In the bottom of the third, the Anteaters added to their lead as Kendle doubled and junior outfielder Myles Smith walked. NDSU junior right-handed pitcher Alex Karns threw a wild pitch, giving Kendle the opportunity to score and increase UC Irvine’s lead to 4-0.
Next up, redshirt junior infielder Will Bermudez singled and allowed Smith to score giving the Anteaters a 5-0 lead. That was followed up with a single by Oyama which allowed Bermudez to reach home and make the lead 6-0.
In the top of the fourth, the Bison scored their only two runs of the game as sophomore infielder Davis Hamilton singled to leadoff the inning. Senior infielder James Dunlap then singled to center, advancing Hamilton to second. Senior infielder Jack Steil drew a walk loading the bases then a single from junior outfielder Colten Becker brought Dunlap and Hamilton home.
With no outs in the top of the fourth, graduate pitcher Nick Pinto clutched up, denying any more Bison runs. He forced a flyout from junior outfielder Sam Canton, and found himself in another dangerous situation when senior catcher Will Busch walked, loading the bases again with just one out. However, UCI head coach Ben Orloff’s faith in Pinto was rewarded, as keeping Pinto in the game allowed him to record back-to-back strikeouts, ending the inning and preserving the 6-2 Anteater lead.
Going into the bottom of the sixth, Hadeen singled, paving the way for junior infielder Dub Gleed, who reached first on a fielding error. Kendle walked, loading the bases, and a double from Smith allowed Hadeen and Gleed to score and extend UC Irvine to a 8-2 lead.
Following, senior catcher Thomas McCaffrey hit a sacrifice fly which allowed for Kendle to score and give the Anteaters a 9-2 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Anteaters put the finishing touches on the opening win. Sophomore first baseman Anthony Martinez singled, and Kendle and Smith both walked, loading the bases for the Anteaters again. Igniting the fireworks, McCaffery hit a grand slam which gave UC Irvine a 13-2 lead. Following the home run, Spillane tripled and scored off of a passed ball – a pitch which a catcher could have reasonably caught, but was unable to – to extend the Anteaters lead to 12.
The Anteaters closed out the game with three quick outs in the top of the ninth to claim their first win of the season, 14-2.
Pinto claimed the win for the ‘Eaters, recordeding six strikeouts in his five and a third innings of play.
McCaffrey was the hero for the Anteaters, hitting a grand slam and recording five runs batted in (RBI’s). In an interview with the New University postgame McCaffrey credited the win to his teammates.
“This dugout is amazing and playing the games is a lot of fun … my teammates put me in a good spot,” McCaffrey said.
The Anteaters played two more games against the Bison winning 7-2 on Feb. 17 and 10-4 on Feb. 18.
UC Irvine was scheduled to return to action on Feb. 20 against University of San Diego at Anteater Ballpark, but the game was canceled as a result of rain in Irvine.
Next the Anteaters will travel to New Orleans, Louisiana to play the Tulane Green Wave on Feb. 23 at Turchin Stadium.
Jack Fedor is a Sports Staff Writer. He can be reached a jfedor@uci.edu.
Edited by James Huston, Jaheem Conley and Laiyla Santillan