IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine's bats woke up with a big seventh inning to erase a three-run deficit and top Washington, 6-4, to win the opening series of 2019 Sunday night in Anteater Ballpark.

Hometown Harm
The Huskies (1-2) jumped on the board first for the first time in the series with a pair of runs in the top half of the first inning. Irvine-native Jonathan Schiffer dropped a single down the left field line to plate a pair of Huskies. UW led 2-0 after the half inning, and despite an Anteater error, both runs were still earned.

Silent Night
With a lot of wind and chill in the air after the game time was move to 6:00 p.m., the UC Irvine (2-1) bats cooled down with it going without a hit for the first four innings. Three 'Eaters reached base on walks from Washington starter Josh Burgmann, but the sophomore was just two over the minimum behind his 2-0 lead. Trenton Denholm followed his lead, and aside from the shaky first inning, mowed right through his first four innings collecting a career high seven strikeouts before being lifted before the fifth inning.

Jolt From Jensen
The junior right fielder for the Anteaters broke the drought smacking a leadoff triple in the bottom half of the fifth. He would score on a sacrifice fly from the next hitter, Matt Reitano, and just like that, the deficit was now 2-1. Mikey Filia and Jake Palmer also got hits in the inning, but couldn't find their way to home plate.

UW's Answer
The Huskies quickly snapped back and added back to their lead with single runs in the sixth and seventh innings. The 'Eaters were all but out of the inning in the sixth, but a high throw on a would-be double play from Christian Koss allowed Schiffer to come around the score. Koss would successfully turn the double play on the next batter. In the seventh, more field woes as John Jensen misjudged a tailing fly ball in right field off Kaiser Weiss' bat putting him on second base. The next hitter, Mason Cerrillo, tripled past a diving Jensen to score Weiss. Jordan Bocko would bounce back and strikeout the next two Huskies to hold the UW lead at 4-1

The Seventh Inning
Washington got five solid innings from Burgmann, and his replacement, Chris Micheles, struck out the side in the sixth, but he couldn't replicate it in the next inning walking the first two 'Eaters to light the fire. Leo Nierenberg was called upon, but he allowed an Andre Antone single, hit Mikey Filia in the head, and walked Jake Palmer to draw UW back to 4-3 as Nierenberg gave way to Dylan Lamb without recording an out. Lamb would get the next two outs via flyout, but Koss' out scored the tying run making it 4-4 with two away. The Anteaters found the two-out gold in consecutive RBI singles from Konnor Zickefoose and Brendan Brooks to take the lead and then some, 6-4.

Final Score: No. 25 UC Irvine 6, Washington 4
It wasn't the prettiest of offensive evenings, but the 'Eaters put together the winning formula. Seven different Anteaters accounted for their seven hits, and six different 'Eaters had RBIs. Jensen scored twice and also drew two walks along with Jake Palmer. Adrian Damla came in with a late pinch-hit double while Dailin Lee pinch-ran for Antone and scored the tying run. Schiffer for UW had three hits including a double and drove in two. Cerrillo and Nick Kahle also had two hits.

Pitchers of Record
Jordan Bocko was rewarded for his effort bending but not breaking in his two innings to collect the win, his seventh in his career. Taylor Rashi continued his dominance striking out the side for his second save of the weekend. Dylan Riddle and Ryan Johnston put together two solid innings of relief as well allowing just an unearned run and adding to the 15 strikeouts from Anteater pitchers. The Anteater pitching staff as a whole walked three Huskies on the weekend, and the bullpen was responsible for one earned run. The loss fell to Nierenberg allowing all three hitters he faced to score.

Next Up
The Anteaters head on the road for the first time in its first midweek matchups, Tuesday, February 19, at San Diego State. The Aztecs are also 2-1 this year, but UCI swept them in two matchups in 2018. For the Anteaters, it will be the first of eight straight games away from home with the next action at Cicerone Field coming Wednesday, March 6 against No. 17 Michigan.