PROVO, Utah ---Matt Whitehouse pitched his second consecutive complete game but this time emerged with his first career loss as the No. 21 Anteaters fell 3-1 at BYU to lose their first series of the year.
Whitehouse faced the minimum through 4.1 innings before BYU put together back-to-back singles from Brock Whitney and Kelton Caldwell in the fifth. Bret Lopez hit a 2-1 pitch to right-field that glanced off the glove of Kris Paulino for an RBI double. A wild pitch on a swinging third strike by Dakota Hernandez allowed Caldwell to score and extended the inning with runners on first and third for Hayden Nielsen, who beat out a bunt single back to Whitehouse for a run-scoring hit, giving BYU a 3-1 lead.
Whitehouse would go on to pitch eight innings, striking out six and not issuing a walk while giving up three runs on seven hits to fall to 2-1.
UCI put together back-to-back hits in the sixth on singles from Dominique Taylor and Connor Spencer. Taylor Sparks hit a clutch one-out single to drive in Taylor. The Anteaters then loaded the bases but Adam Miller handled a comebacker off the bat of Chris Rabago and recorded the 1-2-3 inning-ending double-play.
The Anteaters put runners on first to lead off the seventh and eighth innings but were unable to cash them in against reliever Matt Milke, who pitched two shutout innings. James Lengal recorded his second consecutive save against UCI while Miller improved to 1-3 after holding UCI to a run on six hits in six innings.
Connor Spencer led UCI at the plate, batting 3 for 4 while Ryan Cooper and Taylor each chipped in two hits.
UCI looks to salvage the series in the finale Saturday at 11:00 a.m.
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