SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball couldn't find it Tuesday night at Fowler Park falling to San Diego, 9-1.

Early Trouble
The 'Eaters (1-3) had a rough first inning starting with a pickoff on their first baserunner in the top half. The bottom half saw a pair get on for USD (3-1) and a harmless fly ball by Adam Lopez turned into a two-run double after Nathan Church lost his footing allowing the ball to fall over his head.

The Toreros added three to their lead in the third thanks to another two-run hit and a two-out single making it 5-0 Toreros early.

Road Grader
The Toreros went with their Friday night starter in this one, Grady Miller, making his second start vs. UCI in his career. Miller was on his game shutting down the Anteater offense for six innings allowing two hits and a walk while striking out six. UCI struggled to get anyone in scoring position against him as the USD lead grew to 6-0 by the time he was lifted.

Late Heroics
The 'Eaters finally cut into the deficit in the eighth with a monster double from Mike Peabody plating Jake Palmer as they now trailed 6-1. The Toreros wouldn't allow any more stranding Anteaters on base. USD added to their lead in a thunderous way in the bottom half of the inning with long, towering home runs by Shane McGuire and Trevor Luevano to put the game away.

Final Score: San Diego 9, UC Irvine 1
The Anteaters got contributions for some areas starting with Michael Frias making his 2020 debut by getting out of a one-out, second and third jam as part of his 1.2 scoreless innings. Palmer and Peabody helped keep streaks alive in that eighth innings now at 12 and 18, respectively, in the on-base department.

As for USD, they were led by McGuire and his three-hit night scoring three times, plating two, and reaching in all five plate appearances. Caleb Ricketts also scored three times, and Trevor Luevano had two hits with four RBI.

First Contact
More Anteater firsts were observed on Tuesday night started off by freshman Nick Pinto making his collegiate debut as the starters. He found some hard luck and left allowing five runs on six hits in 3.1 innings, but struck out four with some impressive pitches. Troy Wentworth was finally able to record his first outs going two innings for UCI with a strikeouts. Another collegiate debut was redshirt freshman Brett Garcia entering in the eighth. He earned his first strikeout as well, but fell victim to a pair of home runs surrendering three runs.

At the plate. another debut came from Josh Sheck as a pinch-hitter midway through the game. Sheck is still searching for his first official at-bat as he was walked in each of his two plate appearances on the evening. 

Weekend Outlook
The Anteaters finally play a home game in their next contest hosting Rice this weekend for three. The action begins Friday night at 6:00 p.m. in Anteater Ballpark for the first of four that concludes Tuesday night vs. San Diego State