IRVINE, Calif. --- No. 22 UC Irvine needed a comeback effort to finish off a weekend series sweep of Washington State Sunday afternoon winning 8-4 in Anteater Ballpark.
Slow Start
The Cougars (6-15, 0-3) sparked a first-inning, two-out rally with four straight singles to score a pair in the first inning. They added another in the fourth scoring a run on a groundout after getting the leadoff hitter on to go out in front, 3-0, heading to the bottom of the fourth
Brandon Blastoff
Brandon Lewis had been relatively quiet all weekend, but made his voice known Sunday mashing a long home run to left center in the bottom of the fourth to close the deficit to 3-2. Lewis followed that up the next inning with a laser line drive three-run home run out to left field and capture the lead, 6-3, for the Anteaters
7th Inning Response
The Cougars managed a bloop single in the top of the seventh inning to hang around and score Andres Alvarez to make it 6-4. The Anteaters punched back with a Lewis single and a passed ball allowing him to score on
Adrian Damla's RBI single.
Matt Reitano pinch-hit later in the inning to produce a sac fly and add to the lead, 8-4.
Final Score: No. 22 UC Irvine 8, Washington State 4
Lewis put up his third game with at least five RBIs this season as well as his second two-HR game in a week to power the offense.
Mike Peabody continued his surge going 2-for-2 to keep the average at .452 and up over .500 for the month of March.
Mikey Filia also scored twice and drove in a run. WSU's Andres Alvarez had two doubles scoring once and putting down a sac bunt
Pitchers of Record
Trenton Denholm had a career high 10 strikeouts, the first 10-K game for an Anteater pitcher since Pallante's 10 vs. UC Santa Barbara in 2018. He remains spotless at 4-0 now and give UCI seven straight victories.
John Vergara appeared for a second time this weekend with a scoreless inning. Hayden Rosenkrantz left with a lead allowing two runs through four, but Zane Mills could not record an out as the 'Eaters put four runs on him to dish him his second loss of the year
Next Up
UC Irvine has its first midweek matchup in some time welcoming San Diego into Anteater Ballpark Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. Starters have yet to be announced for the contest.
