NORTHRIDGE, Calif. --- UC Irvine trailed heading into the ninth inning, but found two runs to erase the deficit and win Saturday afternoon at Matador Field, 5-4, to overtake CSUN and win its third straight Big West series.
The ninth inning kicked off with a fly ball that kept traveling off the bat of
Cole Kreuter and knocked off the center field wall for a triple.
Christian Koss promptly hit a fly ball of his own for a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 4-4. CSUN closer Cassius Hamm then got the second out, and looked to get it to the bottom half of the inning tied, but
Matt Reitano had other ideas ripping a 3-1 fastball way gone to left-center to put the Anteaters (23-14, 7-4) up for the first time all day, 5-4.
Jordan Bocko pitched a quiet bottom of the ninth racking up his sixth save of the year and second of the weekend to preserve the win and push the 'Eaters higher in the Big West standings.
The Anteater offense was stagnant early on with one base runner in the first four innings, and no hits until
Christian Koss doubled with two out in the fifth as CSUN (17-21, 5-6) starter Isaiah Nunez was locked in through five innings even collecting 12 straight outs.
The Matador offense supplied enough support with a pair of sac flies and a solo HR for the 3-0 lead behind Nunez as the game entered the sixth inning.
UC Irvine found its rhythm against the junior lefty with a four-hit frame in the sixth to finally knock Nunez out after 5.1 innings.
Cole Kreuter's sac fly would plate the tying run after an RBI single from
Ryan Fitzpatrick and a wild pitch scoring
Brendan Brooks start the scoring putting the game at 3-3 in the sixth.
Anteater starter
Taylor Rashi kept up with Nunez also tossing 5.1 innings before giving way to
Nick Anderson who stranded an inherited runner from Rashi, and kept the 'Eaters in it through his 2.2 innings. Anderson would claim the win to improve to 2-1 lifting UCI to its third straight conference series win and fourth straight win overall.
Entering the ninth, UC Irvine had lost all 12 games prior this season when trailing in their last at-bat. CSUN had been 94-3 since 2015 when entering the ninth with a lead.
Reitano's home run is his third of the season, and second that broke a tie in the ninth inning or later joining his 11th-inning blast at USD to help UCI win, 2-1. He finished as the only Anteater with two hits on the afternoon, CSUN's Kevin Riley held that title for the Matadors as he also singled and homered.
Ryan Fitzpatrick reached four times on the afternoon going 1-for-2 with an RBI, BB, and HBP.
The series wraps up on Sunday, April 22 with a 1:00 p.m. start as UCI looks for the sweep which would be a first for any Anteater series this year.
