The UC Irvine (14-17, 6-6) Anteaters baseball team faced off against the UC Davis (11-17, 5-10) Aggies at Anteater Ballpark on April 4 The Anteaters ran out victorious, the final score being 8-4.
The Anteaters fielded first with redshirt senior pitcher Finnegan Wall the first to pitch. The Aggies’ junior center fielder Tyler Howard led off but was quickly tagged out. Freshman utility Kai Mault got the Aggies their first hit of the game, with a smooth hit in the middle of the Anteater’s left and center fielders. Mault’s progress was quickly nullified, however, when Wall picked him off. Davis left fielder Braydon Woolridge got good contact on the pitch, but the ball flew straight to Irvine redshirt freshman center fielder Zach Doyle.
Doyle led the inning off for the Anteaters, but some poor pitching by the Aggies’ freshman pitcher Jack Pezzolo allowed the former to walk to first base. Pezzolo immediately picked up form, striking out redshirt juniors right fielder Frankie Carney and first baseman Alonso Reyes. A good hit by junior shortstop Zach Fjelstad advanced Doyle to third base, but redshirt junior third baseman Auggie Gutierrez had his ball fly straight to senior left fielder Rowan Felsch.
In the second inning, Pezzolo walked Irvine’s redshirt senior catcher Zach Crandall and junior first baseman and outfielder Landon Gaz. His consultation with his catcher and Aggies coach Tommy Nicholson didn’t do much to help him, as he also walked junior infielder Noah Alvarez. Pezzolo’s pitching improved against Felsch, racking up two strikes, but another four balls walked the latter and sent Crandall home for the first run of the game. Not long after, Nicholson switched pitchers, putting on senior pitcher Jack Meek. Meek represented an immediate improvement, with a good pitch forcing caught balls out of Doyle and Carney. During the latter’s hit, however, Gaz scored, putting the score up to 2-0. Meek’s four balls walked Reyes, and up stepped to the plate Fjelstad with all three bases loaded. Meek, however, shrugged off the pressure and struck out the shortstop to bring the second inning to a close.
As the third inning began, freshman infielder Elijah McNeal stepped up to the plate for the Aggies, and his great contact on the ball was wasted by what turned out to be a simple catch from Doyle. A bunt from senior utility Ryan Lee was quickly tossed to first base, and the Anteaters had racked up two outs in three pitches. A good hit by senior infielder Joey Wright popped just up and over Alvarez, buying him enough time to get to first base. A good hit by Howard and a fielding error by Irvine allowed Howard to run to the second and Wright to the third. Mault followed that up with another good hit and a couple of Irvine fielding mistakes led to Wright and Howard picking up the Aggies’ first runs of the night. Woolridge’s hit to centerfield was promptly caught and ended the half-inning.
The Aggies replaced Meek with sophomore pitcher Matthew Barnes II, who struck out Gutierrez in his first batter faced. Barnes II then followed it up with another strikeout on Crandall. However, his hot streak broke with Gaz, who got walked. Reyes was put out to conclude a short half inning for the Anteaters.
Senior utility Korey Williams stepped up for the Aggies to begin the inning, and a groundball towards left field allowed him to get to first base. Wall struck out sophomore infielder and outfielder Zach Story. A balk by Wall advanced Williams, but Wall quickly made it up with a strikeout on sophomore first baseman Keenan Anzai. McNeal’s ball popped out to left field and was easily caught to end the fourth half-inning, the score still at 2-2.
Felsch stepped up and immediately hit a bomb to center field, which the Aggies couldn’t catch; Felsch’s base-running allowed him to earn a triple out of the situation. Barnes II hit Doyle with the pitch which allowed him to advance to first. A good hit by Carney allowed him to advance to second, Doyle to third, and Felsch back home. The score now was 3-2; Barnes II, in his next batter faced, put out Carney but allowed Reyes to get to first base. The very next batter faced, and a smart double play ended the half-inning.
Lee began the Aggies batting, but was quickly struck out by Wall. Wright stepped up next, but smart fielding by the Anteaters quickly put him out too. Howard was up next, but he got walked to first base. Mault got a good hit and another fielding mistake allowed Howard to advance to third and Mault to advance to first. The threat of a run was quickly eliminated by Wooldridge’s hit being caught in infield.
Gutierrez got a clean hit to left field that allowed him to advance to first. Crandall was struckout. A hit by Gaz and a fumble by an Aggie infielder allowed Gaz to advance to first and Gutierrez to second. Alvarez’s hit advanced him to first and Gaz to second but put the ball near third, so inevitably Gutierrez got put out. A wonderful hit by Felsch right in between the left and center fielders got Alvarez and Gaz home, putting the score at 5-2. The Aggies decided to change up their pitcher, going to junior pitcher Carter Speights. Doyle followed up Felsch with a double, allowing Felsch to score. A Carney single was enough to get Doyle to home, and the game, currently at 7-2, looked like a blowout in the fifth inning.
The rest of the game proved uneventful, save for a homer by Wright and scores from Anzai and Gutierrez. The game ended 8-4.
“Yeah, it’s really good to sweep,” UCI Head Coach Ben Orloff told New University. “I mean it’s hard to win and it’s hard to sweep. And when you have a chance to sweep, you have to be prepared to do it. And, you know, if you want to be a team that’s in it at the end, you got to sweep on these game threes, and [I’m] proud of the team for doing it.”
Next, the Anteaters play the University of San Diego at Anteater Ballpark on April 7th.
Aaron Jaison is a Sports Writer for the winter 2026 quarter. He can be reached at ajaison@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Sasha Alikhanov
