UCI Baseball (33-9, 19-2) traveled to Anaheim for a nonconference matchup against CSU Fullerton (23-21, 14-7), notching a 5-1 victory in front of its largest crowd of the season on April 29 at Angel Stadium.
Fullerton was the designated home team for the Tuesday night game, sending sophomore left-handed pitcher Payton Hawkinson to the mound for the start against Irvine. He began his outing with two strikeouts and a walk before facing UCI senior right fielder Chase Call, who ran a full count before hitting a line drive to right field that was caught on a dive by junior right fielder Andrew Kirchner.
Behind the plate, Irvine redshirt junior catcher Zach Crandall was more partial than others during the ‘Eaters’ visit to Angel Stadium. Crandall grew up visiting the Big A and said he has the Angels’ 2002 World Series win memorized. Although he was intimidated at first, it felt natural when he started playing.
“It’s a big league stadium, so there [are] extra decks you’re not used to. The conditions are super nice, but [I] grew up coming to games here, so it’s awesome,” Crandall said in an interview with New University. “Once the game starts, it’s still 90 feet between the bases. It’s still 60 feet, six inches [from the mound to the plate].”
On the mound for Irvine was redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Finnegan Wall, pitching in his first season off of a Tommy John surgery and carrying a 5.40 ERA. Like many of his teammates, he was understandably nervous before his outing.
“That was surreal, man. I’ve never pitched in a major league stadium, so that was so cool,” Wall said in an interview with New University about his feelings leading up to the first pitch. “And just taking a moment before we started just to look around and take it in was super cool.”
Wall found his rhythm early, throwing six straight strikes to start his outing and sitting his first two batters down swinging. A flyout to left capped off a scoreless first, sending Irvine back to the plate for the top of the second.
With a grounder up the middle, junior first baseman Anthony Martinez recorded the first hit of the night. The ‘Eaters kept the Fullerton outfield busy, starting with a hard-hit ball to left-center field by redshirt sophomore third baseman James Castagnola. Although it looked like it might split the outfield, Fullerton redshirt freshman center fielder Cam Burdick filled the gap and robbed Castagnola with a moving grab on a full sprint.
UCI’s lineup followed up with a single and a double in the left-field corner by redshirt senior second baseman Will Bermudez, sending Martinez home for a 1-0 lead. Crandall filled the bases on a walk, but a ground ball trailing the chalk at third led to an inning-ending double play.
Wall’s first inning didn’t prove indicative of his second, as he walked his first two batters to immediately threaten the Anteaters’ fresh lead. Fullerton remained aggressive, and Wall escaped the inning with a lineout to center and a strikeout looking before Fullerton junior first baseman Isaiah Gomez lined out to short for the third out.
Hawkinson’s night ended after two innings, handing the ball to sophomore right-handed pitcher Chad Gurnea, who entered with a 17.65 ERA. Nonetheless, he struck out his first two — Irvine’s three and four hitters — before unraveling. Call and Martinez both took walks ahead of Castagnola; running a 2-2 count, Castagnola snuck a fastball through the left side to score a run.
Two more walks loaded the bases and scored Irvine’s third run, ending Gurnea’s outing with only two outs recorded and seven batters faced. Freshman left-handed pitcher Brady Dockan entered in relief and retired Crandall on a full-count lineout to second to end the inning. UCI led 3-0 heading to the bottom of the third.
Fighting back in the third, the Titans placed runners at first and second with a single and an error. They tested UCI’s defense with junior second baseman Eli Lopez pushing a bunt between third baseman Castagnola and Wall. Castagnola charged the ball, but after a miscommunication between the two, Lopez reached to load the bases.
On a sacrifice fly from Kirchner, Fullerton drove in its only run of the game, bringing the score to 3-1. Wall was not out of the woods yet, with runners on first and second and one out. On a hard-hit ball grounded into left, redshirt sophomore left fielder Frankie Carney scooped and threw a strike to home plate to stop the damage. Wall soon closed the inning on a flyout to short center field.
Dockan continued into the top of the fourth for the Titans, tossing a scoreless inning and covering 2.1 scoreless innings overall. UCI junior right-handed pitcher Jack Ross entered for Wall in the bottom of the inning, covering four scoreless innings of his own.
Fullerton pieced together scoreless relief appearances until the top of the eighth. With junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Seo on the mound, a hit-by-pitch to Bermudez allowed senior catcher Blake Penso to pinch hit for Crandall. He took a walk, and Seo was quickly pulled for Fullerton junior left-handed pitcher Jayden Harper.
Harper faced Carney and walked him, loading the bases for Yeaman, who laced a ground ball to left field to drive in two late-game runs for Irvine. Now with a 5-1 lead, UCI senior right-handed pitcher David Butler entered for the bottom of the eighth.
Although Butler has been one of Irvine’s most trusted arms, he tested that trust during his inning of work. Two singles and a walk filled the bases with one out, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Gomez, who had already grounded into a double play in the sixth.
Unfortunately for Fullerton, Gomez lined a 1-0 pitch to third, where Castagnola stepped on the bag and tossed to first to complete an inning-ending double play. Butler eliminated the threat and sent UCI to the ninth still leading 5-1.
The ‘Eaters went scoreless before Irvine sophomore left-handed pitcher Ricky Ojeda took the ball for the ninth. A less-than-inspiring sight for Fullerton, with four runs to overcome — unsurprisingly, Ojeda shut them down with three strikeouts and a final-out roar.
“The guys had a great time and it’s special being here; I think the excitement was there,” head coach Ben Orloff said in a postgame interview with New University. “The execution could have been better, but it’s great for us to be on a big league field.”
The two Orange County teams will compete once more this season in Irvine from May 15 to May 17. After their eighth straight win, the ‘Eaters return to Irvine for their next weekend series against UC San Diego starting May 2.
Avery Rosas is a 2024-2025 Sports Staff Writer. He can be reached at rosasaj1@uci.edu.
Emilie Takahashi is a 2024-2025 Layout Editor. She can be reached at takahae1@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores and Jaheem Conley.