The No. 23 UC Irvine Anteaters (42-16, 24-6) defeated the Fresno State Bulldogs (31-29, 18-12) 8-3 in a NCAA regional elimination game at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles on May 31.
UCI’s win extended the team’s season into June and ended the season of the only Mountain West team in the NCAA tournament.
The Anteaters were the designated away team, while the Bulldogs were the designated home team for the neutral site matchup.
In the top of the second inning, UCI senior right fielder Chase Call reached base and senior catcher Blake Penso was walked. Two at-bats later, redshirt sophomore third baseman James Castagnola hit a home run to put UC Irvine up 3-0.
During the next inning, UCI sophomore center fielder Jacob McCombs hit a solo home run to extend the lead to 4-0.
In the top of the fourth, UCI sophomore designated hitter Alonso Reyes reached base via a walk and eventually scored, extending the lead to 5-0 in favor of the Anteaters after a slew of hits.
Fresno State attempted to come back in the bottom of the inning. As senior catcher Justin Stransky reached base, senior shortstop Lee Treviño hit a single to score Stransky and cut the lead to 5-1.
The comeback attempt continued in the bottom of the fifth, as Fresno State senior second baseman Eddie Saldivar hit a home run to cut UC Irvine’s lead to 5-2. This prompted the removal of UCI redshirt sophomore pitcher Riley Kelly. Kelly allowed four hits and two runs with four strikeouts in under five innings.
Fresno State junior right-handed pitcher Aidan Cremarosa allowed seven hits, five runs and had seven strikeouts in what is tied for his longest outing of his collegiate career at 118 pitches.
UCI looked to extend their lead in the top of the seventh, as junior shortstop Colin Yeaman singled. UCI junior first baseman Anthony Martinez later hit a single of his own, and McCombs hit his own single to score Yeaman and put the Anteaters up 6-2.
In the top of the eighth, Reyes walked but was replaced by UCI freshman infielder Ryan Castro. Following that, UC Irvine redshirt sophomore left fielder Frankie Carney and redshirt senior second baseman Will Bermudez walked. Yeaman then singled to score Castro, and Martinez flew out to score Carney. By the end of their portion of the eighth inning, the Anteaters were ahead 8-2.
For the Bulldogs, Saldivar singled in the bottom of the eighth. A few at-bats later, Stransky singled to score Saldivar to cut the Anteater lead to 8-3.
Fresno State got a runner on base in the bottom of the ninth, but no scoring resulted from it. Their season came to an end as did the game with an 8-3 loss.
UCI redshirt senior pitcher David Utagawa improved to 2-0, while Cremarosa fell to 6-6.
UC Irvine’s baseball season came to an end following the Los Angeles regional championship on June 1.
Jack Fedor is a 2024-2025 Assistant Sports Editor. He can be reached at jfedor@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores and Mia Noergaard.