The UC Irvine Baseball team (3-0) slugged their way past the North Dakota State Bisons (0-3) to sweep their opening series, 10-4, at Anteater Ballpark on Sunday, Feb. 18.
Going into the final game of the series, the Anteaters gave the starting nod to true freshman pitcher Trevor Hansen, who followed the weekend’s common theme of making his collegiate and Anteater debut. Hansen struggled early as the Bisons strung together three straight hits to get the scoring started, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
NDSU freshman starting pitcher Landon Koenig was extremely solid for the Bisons through the first two innings, stifling an extremely dangerous and experienced Anteater lineup.
However, the Anteaters refused to be shut down and broke the game open in the bottom of the third inning thanks to two monster home runs. The first came off the bat of sophomore first baseman Anthony Martinez. The preseason All-American third-team member unloaded on a pitch, launching a 458-foot rocket, while registering a 107 mph exit velocity. The three-run shot gave UCI a 3-0 lead.
Impressively, the ‘Eaters weren’t done scoring just yet. Senior second baseman Jo Oyama got into a ball of his own, launching it over the right field fence for a two run home run, increasing the ‘Eaters lead to 5-1 heading into the fourth inning.
NDSU refused to go away quietly as they immediately answered with two runs of their own in the top half of the fourth inning.
This success was short lived, however, as the Anteaters turned to their bullpen to shut down the NDSU production and never looked back. Stellar performances by redshirt freshman pitcher Ryder Brooks, graduate pitcher and San Diego State transfer Ricky Tibbett and redshirt junior pitcher David Vizcaino proved to be the difference of the day.
Brooks came in during a tough spot and silenced the NDSU offense going one and two thirds innings, punching out three Bisons along the way. Tibbett, who was another Anteater making their UCI debut, followed suit going a strong two innings and racking up four strikeouts of his own. Vizcaino relieved Tibbett to close the game, pitching the top of the ninth, striking out two and only allowing one run on his way to securing the win for the Anteaters.
During the stellar bullpen performance, the Anteaters managed to tally another five runs, increasing their total to 10 runs on the day and posting a final score of 10-4.
After the game Martinez broke down the weekend sweep, his home run and maintaining his approach despite a pesky shift that teams have begun using to combat the slugging first baseman.
“It was super frustrating man, but [it’s] just baseball,” Martinez said in an interview with the New University. “My approach stayed the same the whole weekend, which was to keep hitting the ball hard. Even though they were finding gloves I was doing my part and controlling what I can control.”
When asked about his mammoth home run Martinez said, “It was a super exciting swing to get the scoring started and get the guys rolling. It was awesome to start the year off with the sweep. We are going to be really great this year and this weekend was just scratching the surface.”
The Anteaters game against the University of San Diego Toreros at home on Tuesday, Feb. 20 was canceled.
The ‘Eaters will make the trip to New Orleans to face the Tulane University Green Wave for a weekend series on Feb. 23-25.
Zeke Bellino is a Sports Staff Writer. He can be reached at zbellino@uci.edu.
Edited by James Huston, Andrea Garcia, and Laiyla Santillan