IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine sophomore Trenton Denholm nailed down a series victory for the Anteaters with a one-hitter Sunday dropping St. John's, 3-0, in Anteater Ballpark.

Offensive Opening
The Anteaters (9-4) once again found their hitting legs early getting help from a puzzling play from second baseman Brandon Bossard allowing a weak single through the right side from Brandon Lewis to put runners on the corners and one out. Matt Reitano would make him pay lacing a ball to center that Sean McGeehan couldn't get to on a dive giving Reitano a double and scoring both runners for the early 2-0 UCI lead in the first.

The One Hit
St. John's (3-9) got a one-out double from Ryan Hogan after his two-hit Saturday night over the third base bag. A walk to Wyatt Mascarella put two on for the Red Storm, but Denholm escaped the jam going on to silence the Red Storm bats the rest of the way. The hit snapped 10 consecutive hitless from from Denholm. The right-hander got seven hitters out on the first pitch in the contest, and at one point retired 16 straight opposing hitters from the final out of the second until hitting the first batter of the eighth.

UCI's Third Run
The Anteaters couldn't manage much off St. John's starter Jeff Belge as he exited after six innings. Reliever Joe Kelly allowed the first two 'Eaters to reach on a HBP and a single in the seventh before a sac bunt and Mikey Filia sac fly brought in an insurance run to make it 3-0.

Final Score: No. 24 UC Irvine 3, St. John's 0
The Anteaters again found a way to win with just six hits on offense. Adrian Damla and Mike Peabody got the first multi-hit games for an 'Eater in the series. Reitano added a pair of RBIs while Jake Palmer walked twice and scored a run

Pitchers of Record
Trenton Denholm's season ERA dipped lower to 0.93 on the year as he's built a shutout streak of 19 innings pitched. He improves to 2-0 after throwing just 87 pitches over a new career high of eight innings, and got a save from Taylor Rashi, his fifth, after allowing his second baserunner of the season. The two combine on a one-hitter of the program, its first since 2012 when Andrew Thurman one-hit Bakersfield a week before throwing a no-hitter. Rashi has a shutout streak of his own up to 14.2 innings pitched now. Belge lost his third game of the season despite his best pitching performance of 2019 with eight strikeouts over six innings.
 

Postgame with Trenton following his shutdown Sunday performance #???? pic.twitter.com/csgK6knk50

— UCI Baseball (@UCIbsb) March 10, 2019

Next Up
The Anteaers now have wins in all four weekend series in 2019. They will not play during the midweek making the next matchup another weekend series heading on the road to Utah Valley, March 15-17. Andre Pallante, Tanner Brubaker, and Trenton Denholm are scheduled to start once again