SEATTLE, Wash. --- The series finale fell to the hosts as Washington struck early and often to sink UC Irvine, 12-2, Sunday afternoon at Husky Ballpark.

CHASING THEIR TAIL
The Anteaters ( ) got on the board first much like Saturday as Jake Palmer was knocked in on a pair of ground balls after a booming double to lead things off. The Huskies ( ) however responded in the second inning with all of it starting with a walk.

UW got some favorable hits dropping in including Christian Dicochea's single slipping through the middle to tie things up, 1-1. The inning really took off after a Ramon Bramasco safety squeeze brought home a run, and an errant throw to first made everyone safe. van den Helder did find an out, but couldn't quite close it out with another walk and giving way to Dylan Riddle who gave up three more Washington hits and five more runs to make it a 7-1 deficit through two innings for UCI.

STUCK IN NEUTRAL
The Anteater offense continued to peck away looking to draw UW closer, but were unable to. UCI put runners on in each inning from the second to the fifth, but could not muster anything across including 2nd and 3rd with one out in the second and two more runners on in the fourth.

The 'Eaters finally lit up the scoreboard again in the eighth inning as pinch hitters John Jensen and Konnor Zickefoose came through with a double and single for the second run, but could not catch Washington which added three final runs in their half of the eighth.

FINAL SCORE: WASHINGTON 12, UC IRVINE 2
Seven different Anteaters had their eight hits with Palmer and Jensen scoring the runs and Zickefoose and Luke Spillane driving them in.

Will Simpson led the charge for the Huskies with a pair of doubles and six RBIs. Christian Dicochea also drove in two while the top of the order Braiden Ward, Noah Hsue, and Preston Viltz each scored multiple times as UW needed just eight hits to score their runs.

Anteater pitching started sour as Cole van den Helder lasted just 1.1 innings losing his first game as an Anteater. He was responsible for six of the runs in the second, but just two were earned. Dylan Riddle also gave up an unearned run, and Josh Ibarra allowed the other two, both walked in.

Bright pitching performances came from the likes of Michael Frias who went 2.2 hitless innings striking out three and Troy Wentworth who had three strikeouts in his inning.

UW went most of their win between starter Logan Gerling (4 IP, 4 H, ER, 2 BB, 3 K) and David Rhodes (4 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 4 K) to stunt the UCI offense.

LOOKING AHEAD
UC Irvine returns to Southern California to first play at USC on Tuesday night, March 3, with a 6:00 p.m. first pitch followed by six more at home with weekend series against Sacramento State and Missouri State.