HOUSTON, Tex. --- No. 25 UC Irvine used the long ball to dump the Rice Owls in the series opener Friday night in Reckling Park winning 11-5.
Liftoff
The Anteaters (3-2) made the first move from the bat of
Brandon Lewis busting his third home run of the season launched a shot down the left field line for the 2-0 lead in the first.
Minute Rice
The Owls (2-4) struck back in the bottom of the first with two hits off
Andre Pallante's first two pitches. Pallante nearly averted danger, but a passed ball and wild pitch gave Rice a first-inning run. The Owls jumped out in front the next inning with a two-run HR of their own off the bat of Antonio Cruz to put Rice up, 3-2.
Brandon to Brendan
The two-run HRs kept coming as
Brendan Brooks belted one of his own high and out to left field, the second of his career, to snag the lead back in the third, 4-3. Brooks came up the next time in the fifth inning with the same score and duplicated his third-inning feat lifting a shot high and just out to left-center for a second two-run shot in the game to lead, 6-3.
Nervous Fifth
The Owls loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth inning with just one out chasing
Andre Pallante from the game.
Jordan Bocko let up a sac fly and another wild pitch closing the lead back to 6-5, but he'd shut the door and keep UCI on top.
Bullpen Behemoths
After a raucous start to the game, both bullpens stepped up to shut down the offenses for the next three innings. Jackson Tyner for the Owls did not allow the 'Eaters to get a hit while Bocko and
Taylor Rashi limited Rice to just two hits while dropping seven strikeouts between them as part of the 17 strikeouts from Anteater pitching Friday night.
6-run 9th
The UCI bats finally found their stride in the ninth inning as the 'Eaters batted around scoring five times behind
Mike Peabody's two-run single, RBIs for
Mikey Filia and
Adrian Damla, and even a double steal that brought
Matt Reitano across home plate breaking the game open.
Final Score: No. 25 UC Irvine 11, Rice 5
Brendan Brooks' 3-for-4 night led the charge registering the first 2-HR game since
Cole Kreuter did so in 2018 against Cal State Fullerton. He also finished with four RBI while Lewis and Peabody had 2-RBI nights. Lewis would score twice as did
John Jensen. Rice finished with eight hits including two-hit days from Braden Comeaux and Bradley Gneiting.
Pitchers of Record
Jordan Bocko earned the win, his second of the year, and
Taylor Rashi struck out three of the four hitters he faced.
Andre Pallante was stuck with five runs, four earned, on five walks and nine strikeouts in his 4.1 innings of work. Rice starter Matt Canterino was saddled with the loss after 4.2 innings allowing four earned with six strikeouts.
Hear from Brendan Brooks
"I've never ran into two like that. First one I was ahead in the count, but the credit is all to J.T. [Bloodworth] and helping with my approach. Canterino had really good stuff all night, it's just when you get ahead in the count, you get fastballs and sometimes you get lucky."
Next Up
The Anteaters and Owls continue their series Saturday with a 2:00 p.m. start, 12:00 p.m. back in Irvine, as
Tanner Brubaker faces off with Rice lefty Evan Kravetz. The win Friday night was the first for UCI against Rice as the program met for the first time in each of their histories.
