RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- A monster Saturday saw UCI score 22 runs on 23 hits behind a 6-hit, 6-run day by Christian Koss to win 22-7 at Riverside Sports Complex over the Highlanders.

Run Support
UC Irvine (37-17, 17-7) put up an historic amount of offense Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale. UCI scored in each of the first five innings finishing with runs in eight of nine innings.

The 22 runs scored are the most UCI has scored in the new era since 2002, and the most for the program as a whole since 1989.

UCI knocked 23 hits in a game for the ninth time in program history, and first time with as many since 2008.

The Anteaters sent 60 batters to the plate on Saturday

UCI stole five bases in a game for the first time since 2017 vs. UCLA

UC Irvine's four sacrifice flies tie a program record that was set last season, the only two 4-SF instances in UCI history. Sam Ireland had two, just the 15th time an Anteater has done that.

UCI has had a player score four or more runs in a game 65 times previously, and on Saturday had four players achieve that in addition to seven players with multi-hit efforts, four with at least three hits, eight players with multiple RBI, and three players reach at least five times in the game

Christian Koss
The star of the day was UCI's junior shortstop, Christian Koss. He doubled in the first and scored, singled and scored in the third and again in the fourth, blasted a mammoth two-run home run to left center field in the fifth, walked and scored in the seventh, singled and scored again in the eighth, and singled in the ninth inning before ending his day on third base.

For Christian, that's six hits, a perfect 6-for-6, reaching in all seven plate appearances with the walk. He's the third Anteater with a 6-hit game, first since Drew Hillman in 2011.

He's also just the second Anteater matching Keston Hiura in 2017 to reach base seven times in a game.

Christian also scored six times Saturday afternoon, something no player in Anteater history has ever done. He's just the third Anteater to even have a five-run performance.

Koss finished with 10 total bases including his fifth home run of the season, sixth of his career, for his two RBI on the day

And all of this in front of his friends and family playing in his hometown of Riverside minutes from his high school of J.W. North HS

Sifting Through the Highlights
UCI jumped out to the game's first 10 runs which included another Adrian Damla two-run single. Konnor Zickefoose was somehow hitless on the afternoon which included a sacrifice fly that was also a double play. Griffin Mazur was also part of a double steal for his first career stolen base

The Highlanders (20-36, 8-16) got on the board from a solo home run by senior Matt Hardy in the fourth before Koss countered with a home run to make it an 11-run lead

UCR dropped a four-spot in the sixth inning to make things interesting, but UCI pulled away with another two-run Damla hit in the seventh. Connor Cannon tattooed a home run over the center field wall in the seventh, and then UCI poured it on in the eighth inning sending 12 to the plate, scoring six times, capped off by a two-run single by pinch-hitter Andre Antone who broke his bat in the process

Final Score: UC Irvine 22, UC Riverside 7
The 29 runs scored mark the 17th time in program history UCI has had 29 or more combined runs in a game. Adrian Damla plated five runs for a career high and sixth time accomplished by an Anteater this season. Along with his first stolen base was Griffin Mazur's first career three-hit game. Palmer and Lewis each set career highs scoring four times. Lewis drove in a pair to finish the regular season with 54 RBI, and reached 20 doubles in a season during the game. UCR had three players with multiple hits including seniors Dean Miller and Matt Hardy while Yeager Taylor led the club with two RBI

Pitchers of Record
Lost in the explosive offense was Taylor Rashi going five innings allowing four runs on six hits with five strikeouts to improve to 5-1 this season. Jordan Bocko appeared in his 81st career game allowing two runs in two innings. Michael Frias struck out three in his inning while John Vergara pitched a scoreless ninth, in fact he was the only pitcher of the 11 used Saturday to not allow a run. All seven Highlanders were touched up for a run with starter Abbott Haffar taking on nine of them, seven earned, with 10 hits in 3.1 innings to fall to 4-3. Alec Arnone was effective allowing two earned in two innings while Andre Granillo was the only Highlander to not allow an earned run picking up three strikeouts in the ninth

Next Up
The Anteaters collected its 13th series win of the season in 15 weekend series, a feat only five schools have accomplished in 2019 - UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, and UC Irvine.

UCI finishes in a tie for second place in the Big West alongside Cal Poly with a record of 17-7. For UCI, its just the third time its won as many as 17 Big West games, and just the sixth time in 27 years in the conference finishing second place or higher.

The Anteaters now must wait for the NCAA committee to present their selections for the 64 teams to make the NCAA Tournament field. The selections will be announced Monday, May 27 on ESPNU at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. The Anteaters have made the field eight times since 2004, seven times as an at-large. The last trip to the postseason came in 2014 when UC Irvine was one of the last teams into the field, and proceeded to defeat the No. 1 and No. 3 national seeds Oregon State and Oklahoma State on their home fields to reach the College World Series where it won its opener