IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine got its weekend series off on the right foot dishing out a 4-1 win over Nevada Friday night in Anteater Ballpark.
Elliot Surrey was back to his old ways going six inning allowing just an unearned run for his first victory of the season.
The run came on an interesting play in the fourth as Nevada (3-3) loaded the bases with two outs. Justin Hazard dribbled a ball up the first baseline that forced Alex Guenette to make a play on. Guenette fired to first, but tagged Hazard in the back leaving everyone safe on a run to come home.
The Anteaters (3-3) dished out their own quirky sequence to tie the game up in the bottom half. A leadoff double by Mitchell Holland set the stage for Guenette whose trickled ball out in front of home plate. Wolf Pack starter Christian Stolo pounced on it, but slipped and bounced a late throw to first. The 'Eaters would load the bases with one out as Grant Palmer executed a textbook squeeze play to score Holland.
The offense used the long ball to get the lead in the fifth inning via a one-out home run from Keston Hiura to make it 2-1.
Parker Coss added some insurance in the sixth after getting runners in scoring position thanks to some more erratic defense by the Wolf Pack. Coss singled through the left side scoring two before being thrown out himself and extending the lead to 4-1.
Surrey continued to deal striking out five and even picking off a pair of runners. Sean Sparling relieved him getting some defensive help behind him in the eighth. Keston Hiura gunned down Miles Mastrobuoni attempted to stretch a ball in the gap to a double. Evan Cassolato capped off the inning with a sliding grab on a blooper.
Calvin Faucher worked the ninth to get his first career save despite allowing the tying run to come to the plate.
Stolo and the Nevada staff were not as fortunate as three of the four runs they gave up were unearned thanks to a pair of Nevada errors.
The 'Eaters have now traded wins and losses over the last four contests, and will look to build a winning streak on Saturday as Cameron Bishop takes the mound at 2:00 p.m. to face Nevada and Mark Nowaczewski.
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