IRVINE, Calif. --- The Anteater offense managed just two hits in a letdown from yesterday's offensive outburst as UC Riverside evened the series Saturday at Anteater Ballpark, 7-1.

Neither offense had anything going early as UC Irvine (30-22, 11-9) managed the only hit between the teams through three innings. Trenton Denholm each the first nine batter he faced until UC Riverside cracked his code in the fourth.

Leadoff hitter Dylan Orick singled and moved to third on a Connor Cannon double. The Highlanders got each of them home on a Yeager Taylor sacrifice fly and a two-out Matt Hardy single to pull ahead, 2-0, in the fourth.

UCR extended the lead to 3-0 in the fifth bringing a leadoff triple around ending Denholm's day. Reliever Sean Sparling incurred a brunt of the damage on the day as he was unable to complete his sixth inning leaving after four Highlander runs had come up to open the gap up to 7-0.

Meanwhile, UC Riverside's Trenton Toplikar sailed along shutting out the 'Eaters, and was responsible for just the one hit until an infield single in the seventh broke his rhythm. He would give way to Max Compton who kept the two-hitter in check giving up an unearned run, a product of three walks from the senior, eventually closing out the 7-1 UCR victory.

Denholm dropped his third straight decision now to go to 4-7. Jake Lachemann and Ryan Johnston came together to shut down UCR out of the pen allowing one baserunner over the final 3.1 innings.

Toplikar now stands at 6-3 on the year striking out four on his way to seven shutout innings. Robert Cruz helped him out for the nine-hole in the order with two hits and three RBI. Connor Cannon scored twice and Hardy drove in two as UCR pounded six of its 10 hits for extra bases including a pair of doubles from Tony Gudino.

Cole Kreuter's double alongside Nick Anderson's infield single were the only two Anteater hits. Jake Palmer walked in a pinch-hitting role and scored the only 'Eater run on an errant throw from the catcher trying to catch Christian Koss stealing.

The Anteaters' postseason hopes were put on life support now four games back of the Cal State Fullerton Titans with four games to go. UCI desperately needs a positive result on Sunday against UC Riverside to have any say in the postseason. Sunday's game will begin at 1:00 p.m. following a ceremony for the senior class made up of Devin Pettengill, Sean Sparling, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Cole Kreuter, Chris Vargas, Nick Anderson, and Parker Coss.