IRVINE, Calif. --- No. 21 UC Irvine scores its second midweek victory of 2019 edging San Diego State, 6-5, Tuesday night in Anteater Ballpark

Bloop Troop
Anteater starter John Vergara, making his first career start with UC Irvine, was greeted by a pair of bloop doubles from San Diego State (21-16, 7-6) with one coming around to score on a grounder giving the Aztecs the early 1-0 lead. Chad Bible greeted him with a non-bloop double deep into left center to start the second inning, but Vergara turned it around striking out the next three Aztecs and leaving Bible on base.

The 2nd Inning
UCI (22-9, 5-4) answered back by pushing SDSU starter Harrison Pyatt out of the game in the second inning as he walked the bases loaded, part of his four walks allowed in an inning-plus. The 'Eaters made him pay taking their aggression out on reliever Daniel Ritcheson who allowed the tying run to score on a passed ball, but then Brandon Lewis broke things open with a two-run single. Adrian Damla followed with what looked like two-run homer on a ball that hit the top of the fence, went straight up, and landed back on the warning track for an RBI double. He would score on John Jensen's two-out single completing the five-run frame to put UCI up 5-1 after two

Sneak Attack
The Aztecs inched their way back into the game on the heels of a two-run double from Angelo Armenta in the third and a Matt Rudick sacrifice fly in the fourth to make it 5-4, Anteaters. Ritcheson found his groove holding the 'Eaters down for four innings throwing 90 pitches and striking out eight hitters along the way

Late Life
The 'Eaters got a key run in the fifth started off by Christian Koss who reached on a fielder's choice. He went from first to third on a wild pitch scoring on the next pitch to Griffin Mazur to score him with two outs and make it a two-run game, 6-4. SDSU would get a run back on a two-out single from Mike Jarvis in the seventh, but never even the game falling by that 6-5 score

Final Score: No. 21 UC Irvine 6, San Diego State 5
Brandon Lewis had two RBIs to lead the 'Eaters as he and Mazur each recorded two hits. Mazur also walked as part of nine Anteater walks with Jensen and Konnor Zickefoose drawing a pair each. Koss scored twice while Damla had a hit, run, walk, and RBI on the evening. SDSU's Armenta led all players with three RBIs scoring Casey Schmitt twice.

Pitchers of Record
Jordan Bocko earned the win improving the 4-1 after he held San Diego State hitless and scoreless over the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. Taylor Rashi retired all six hitters he faced including two strikeouts to earn his eighth save and run his scoreless inning streak to 23.1 IP. Starter John Vergara allowed one run over two innings striking out the side in the second inning and not issuing a walk. Pyatt was saddled with the loss for SDSU allowing three runs in 1+ innings off four walks. Jacob Flores and Casey Schmitt combined for three scoreless innings for the Aztecs as SDSU pitching allowed just six hits while striking out 12 Anteaters

Next Up
The weekend comes quick for the Anteaters as games will be played Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday afternoon with Easter coming on Sunday. UCI hosts CSUN this weekend with the teams separated by just a game in the standings.