RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- UCI struggled with the bats Friday night as UC Riverside evened the series with a 3-1 win at Riverside Sports Complex.

No Breakthrough
The 'Eaters (36-17, 16-7) got plenty of baserunners on early trying to duplicate Thursday night's effort. Christian Koss doubled and moved to third on a Brandon Lewis infield single. The rally was cut short on a double play ball, and the same would happen in the second, this time with a pair of singles to start the frame from Mike Peabody and Konnor Zickefoose. The 'Eaters loaded things up in the third, but again nothing doing as a grounder got UC Riverside (20-35, 8-15) through without allowing a run

Taking Charge
UC Riverside would strike first in the fourth inning. Dean Miller dropped a single into center field and reached second on the second out of the inning. Highlander power threat Connor Cannon squared up Trenton Denholm doubling into the gap in left center for the 1-0 UCR lead

Drawing Even
After leaving more runners in scoring position, UCI finally got its foot in the door in the eighth inning as they once again got runners on the corners with nobody out. Mike Peabody bounced a ball to second beating out the double play and scoring the run to tie things at 1-1, but that's all the Anteaters would get.

Crushing Blow
UCR would not let the 'Eaters enjoy their newfound offense long as leadoff hitter Adrien Sanchez would work his way on base from a hit by pitch. After a sacrifice moved him up, Dylan Orick punched a ball up the middle to score Sanchez and take the lead back, 2-1. Another hit followed by a treacherous hop on a grounder from Yeager Taylor added an insurance run for the Highlanders helping them steal a win away from the Anteaters

Final Score: UC Riverside 3, UC Irvine 1
The Anteaters finished even with UCR in hits with nine. Christian Koss had a double in a 2-for-5 night, and Konnor Zickefoose had a pair of hits as well. Brandon Lewis reached twice and scored the lone run. The meat of the Highlander order Dean Miller, Yeager Taylor, and Connor Cannon each had two hits and accounted for two of their runs.

Pitchers of Record
Once again Trenton Denholm turned in an All-American performance tossing his fourth complete game allowing three runs in eight innings with six strikeouts over 104 pitches, but ultimately fell to 9-4 on the year. Kevin West did a lot of the UCR dirty work on the mound going four scoreless innings of relief allowing three hits and two walks to go with three strikeouts. Hayden Petrovick was charged with the lone run in 1.1 innings, but Andre Granillo cleaned up for the win, his first, in 1.2 scoreless innings racking up three strikeouts

Next Up
The regular season finale awaits for the Anteaters on Saturday, May 25 with a 1:00 p.m. start in Riverside. The 'Eaters stand a game behind Cal Poly in third place now as they lost a chance at a share of the Big West title with Friday's loss