FULLERTON, Calif. --- No. 19 UC Irvine started the weekend off well dispatching of Cal State Fullerton Friday night at Goodwin Field, 7-3.

Out In Front
UCI (27-9, 9-4) made the first move capitalizing on Mike Peabody's leadoff double and a wild pitch scoring him on Brandon Lewis' grounder for a 1-0 lead in the first. The 'Eaters got some more good fortune in the second. They manufactured a second run from a single, walk, sac bunt, and Sam Ireland sac fly to make it 2-0. Peabody reached with a two-out walk putting Lewis back up. He skied a ball into right field, but CSF right fielder Jairus Richards lost the ball letting it drop and allowing both runs to score for a 4-0 Anteater lead after two innings.

Jockeying for Position
The Titans (16-21, 4-6) fought back scoring twice in the third inning and chopping UCI's lead in half on a Sahid Valenzuela groundout and a two-out rip off Lewis' glove into LF by Daniel Cope to score the second. Lewis would swing the momentum back UCI's way with a two-out blast to LF the next inning making it a 5-2 Anteater lead in the fourth

Fielding Your Position
Andre Pallante's performance was steady against Fullerton allowing runners in every inning, but holding the Titans back with timely strikeouts and double plays. In the fourth inning, he jumped off the mound to field Brett Borgogno's squeeze attempt cutting down the runner at home. He was also the beneficiary of a double play in the seventh that glanced off of him and picked up by Christian Koss for a double play

Nervous Ninth
Both squads went silent with the bats through the later innings, but CSF woke up with a pair of singles to start the bottom of the ninth. After an out, Mitchell Berryhill doubled to bring home a run and driving Jordan Bocko from the game. Taylor Rashi would strike out his two hitters to preserve the win for the Anteaters.

Final Score: No. 19 UC Irvine 7, Cal State Fullerton 3
Brandon Lewis finished with four RBIs, his fifth game this season with four or more RBIs. He also launched his 12th home run tying Chris Miller for the second-most HR in a season in program history. He also extended his on-base streak to 33 straight games. Five Anteaters had multi-hit nights including Griffin Mazur who reached base four times and Mike Peabody who scored twice. Berryhill went 3-for-3 for the Titans reaching all five times with an RBI

Pitchers of Record
Pallante scored the win to go to 7-3 and move into a tie atop the Big West in wins. Rashi earned his 10th save extending his shutout streak to 30.1 consecutive innings. Bibee couldn't get out of the fifth inning allowing seven runs dropping to 3-4. John Vergara added the only 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts.

Next Up
The Anteaters and Titans meet up for game two of the series on Saturday, Apr. 27, with Tanner Brubaker and Michael Knorr squaring off on the mound with a 6:00 p.m. start time