IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball butted heads with Pac-12 power Oregon State Friday afternoon in a whirlwind affair that lasted 11 innings in Anteater Ballpark that the 'Eaters came up just short in a 7-5 loss.
STARTING SOMETHING
The game was scoreless in the third inning with starters
Trenton Denholm and Kevin Abel limiting each potent offense. The Anteaters (22-12, 16-4) used Abel's shaky command to plate the game's first run loading the bases from walks and a hit by pitch only to see
Jacob Castro cue a ball up the third baseline and score the runner with two outs for a 1-0 lead.
Oregon State (26-10, 10-5) tie things in the next frame on a sacrifice fly, but UCI quickly took it back with a pair of two-out runs in their fourth inning thanks to a
Nathan Church RBI double and
Mike Peabody RBI single. The Anteaters manufactured a fourth run on a series of bunts and a passed ball capped by
Woody Hadeen's successful squeeze for a 4-1 UCI advantage through six innings.
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THE NINTH INNING
The Beavers had slowly crept back to within one as a Ryan Ober solo home run in the seventh and a clutch two-out double from Wade Meckler brought home an unearned run in the eighth. Now down 4-3, Oregon State got help from a leadoff walk in Andy Armstrong that stood at second base with two outs.
The Beavers' top hitter, Jacob Melton, came up to face closer
Jacob King, and Melton won the battle launching a home run to right center to take a one-run deficit and turn it into a 5-4 OSU lead.
As the 'Eaters came up in the bottom of the ninth, things started with a Church bloop single, getting around to third from a passed ball and tagging on a long fly ball, and bringing up
Luke Spillane. The freshman fought a single through the hole with a two-strike count to tie the game once again, now 5-5, against Oregon State closer, Luke Mulholland.
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UCI continued to chip away with Spillane stealing and Tatum walking to bring up
Adrian Damla. Damla blooped a single to center moving everyone up 90 feet, but Tatum's aggressive turn at second base was caught by OSU's defense throwing behind him to get the second out.
It came down to
Taishi Nakawake who slid a ball past a diving third baseman, Jake Dukart, looking like it was destined for the outfield, but shortstop Andy Armstrong made an incredible play to get there, jump and throw, and just beat Nakawake at first to end the inning and save the game for OSU.
FINAL SCORE (11 INNINGS): OREGON STATE 7, UC IRVINE 5
Both sides threaten in their 10th inning at-bats, but the Beavers were turned away thanks to a
Gordon Ingebritson pick off at second base, and the Anteaters could not get a runner from third home with one out as a key strikeout to Church gave way to
Mike Peabody who stung the baseball, but right at right fielder Kyler McMahan.
OSU put up the deciding runs in the 11th as pinch-hitter Matthew Gretler singled to left scoring two runners, and Joey Mundt came on to shutout UCI in their half to sew up the extra-inning win for the Beavers.
Trenton Denholm pitched well in his effort allowing just one earned run in seven inning adding five strikeouts. OSU's Abel lasted just three innings, but the bullpen kept them in it, and Mulholland stayed around long enough to earn his second win of the year despite allowing his second earned run all season.
Armstrong led all hitters with three hits and three runs scored for the Beavers. Home runs from Ober and Melton were also key.
The Anteater bats got a boost from two-hit days by
Nathan Church and
Luke Spillane. Church also scored twice, Spillane stole two bases, and five different 'Eaters drove in a run. Streaks were extended as
Jake Palmer singled in an at-bat in extra innings for his 10 straight with a hit. Nakawake placed a bunt single to give him a hit in 14 straight home games.
Thoughts from Head Coach Ben Orloff
"Had to have been a fun game to watch, there was a lot of excitement from start to finish. It's a tough one to lose. I think we did enough things to win and certainly did enough things to lose, and this game is a good example of all of the details that determine who wins and loses. We came up short in a couple of those and that's the difference in the game."
"I'd like to see a little more belief in our dugout when we have the lead late. You give up one in the 7th, one in the 8th, two in the 9th, it's hard to win like that. But the ability to continue to compete, deal with what happened and keep playing, I think that's what we've done and you know that was devastating when Melton put the ball over the fence. To come back and tie it up and have a chance to beat the all-time saves leader in the history of Oregon State."
"It's hard to remember the good things after a loss. I thought the play that Armstrong makes in the ninth, it was an unbelievable play and that's the one that sticks out to me the most."
SATURDAY BASEBALL
The sides meet up at 1:00 p.m. Saturday with freshman lefties
Nick Pinto and Cooper Hjerpe on the mound on ESPN3 and KUCI 88.9 FM
