IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine fell behind early to the Cal State Fullerton bats, and never could quite climb out of the hole dropping the finale and the series, 7-2, Sunday afternoon at Anteater Ballpark.
Cal State Fullerton (27-15, 9-3) got things going in the first inning with a pair of two outs hits for the 1-0 lead. It built it into a six-run advantage off five hits and an error in the third inning powered by a Ruben Cardenas triple and a two-run single from Hank LoForte.
The teams exchanged runs in the fifth and sixth as the margin remained five. Grant Palmer got on with a popup to the pitcher's mound. Tanner Pinkston could make the play as he approached the mound allowing Palmer to reach second. Adam Alcantara singled him home shortly thererafter. Cameron Bishop nearly closed the gap with a towering pinch-hit to right field, but landed inches from the fence turning away the 'Eaters (25-16, 7-8) from any more damage.
Titan starter Colton Eastman shut down UCI with seven strong innings and 89 pitches. He allowed just the one unearned run on five hits to collect his sixth win. Dylan Prohoroff and Chad Hockin bridged the gap to the end to complete the 7-2 Titan win.
Anteater starter Alonzo Garcia could not build on his two marvelous starts coming into the weekend lasting just three innings being battered around for eight hits and six of the runs, three unearned. UCI's bullpen made another respectable showing allowing one run and striking out seven over six innings to keep UCI in the game.
Cal State Fullerton made their money with six more extra-base hits out of the 14 on the day totaling 15 extra-base hits out of 32 on the series. Ruben Cardenas and Dalton Blaser each had three hits and two RBIs with Cardenas recording a double and triple. LoForte added his two RBIs while Pinkston scored twice.
Alcantara's RBI single was coupled with a ninth-inning RBI groundout from Alex Guenette as the UCI runs. Grant Palmer added three hits including two doubles to his performance. Cole Kreuter had a pair of hits and Wyatt Castro singled and scored for the extend of the Anteater attack.
The loss pushes them away from the top of the Big West Conference now five losses behind CSF at the top at 7-8. UCI is 25-16 overall with five of their next six games coming outside the conference beginning with a 2:05 p.m. Tuesday start at UNLV.
________________________________________________________
For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mail athletics.tickets@uci.edu. For more information click here.
For information on how you can help support UC Irvine Athletics, please call (949) 824-6933 or e-mail aaf@uci.edu. For additional information, click here.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and by downloading the UCI Front Row app, available free to all Anteater fans through iTunes and Google Play, to view schedules, results, and up-to-the-minute news.
