IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball hosted its rival, Long Beach State, Friday afternoon in Anteater Ballpark, and after going down early finished strong to win the opener, 12-5.
TOUGH START
The offense began with Long Beach State (12-12, 10-11) leading off the second inning with a long home run by Jonathan Long. LBSU kept the momentum going with a pair of doubles helping score two more, and then an uncharacteristic throwing error with two outs allowed a fourth run to score in the second.
Long Beach State got another runner on in the third inning and moved him around to third base again with two outs. Chris Jimenez would lace a shot to third base and took an unusual hop over a diving
Connor McGuire and find the outfield to give LBSU a 5-0 advantage in the third inning.
FIVE-RUN FRENZY
The lifeless Anteaters (25-12, 17-4) opened up the third inning with its first hit of the game after Johnathan Lavallee was cruising on the mound. The hit was a booming home run to left field by
Connor McGuire quickly cutting the deficit to 5-1.
The 'Eaters continued to chip away getting runners on base and around first from a
Mike Peabody sacrifice fly. With two outs, the hits kept coming as
Luke Spillane slipped a single up the middle to score the third run,
Dillon Tatum slapped a double the opposite way for the fourth, and
Jacob Castro continued his clutch ways singling to center field to bring the 'Eaters all the way back with the tying run. 5-5.
MORE BIG INNINGS
The score stayed tied until the fifth when they quickly had a pair of runners on base on reliever Basilio Pacheco. Castro was back to mash a ball to right field missing a home run by inches to bring home the go-ahead run. Once again, the Anteaters were up with two outs, but
Connor McGuire would provide the timely hit shooting a ball to center dropping in to add a pair of runs and put UCI up, 8-5, after five.
In the seventh inning, the 'Eaters were patient walking four times and were hit by a pitch, but only had one run in after getting picked off once. A pitching change with two outs brought
Nathan Church to the plate, and the second pitch he saw from Jonathan Carlos, clubbed a ball over the right fielder's head to score all three runs and put the game out of reach, 12-5.
FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 12, LONG BEACH STATE 5
The pitching held tough despite a rough start to
Trenton Denholm's outing. He lasted seven innings striking out five around the four earned runs and one walk to improve to 4-1 on the year. In his 44th career start, he takes home his 19th career victory as he's pitched seven innings in each of his last four home starts.
LBSU starter Jonathan Lavallee lasted just three innings in his shortest start of the season allowing five runs without a strikeout. Pacheco drew the loss in 2.2 innings.
The offense again saw multiple contributors with Church and McGuire leading the way with three RBIs each. They were joined by Castro and Spillane who all had two hits in the game. Spillane scored twice along with McGuire, Tatum, and
Woody Hadeen.
Jake Palmer reached three times adding a run and RBI while extending his hit streak to 13 games.
The win for UCI is its 10th this season in which it was trailing at one point in the game. Seven of the team's last eight games have seen both teams leading at one point in the game.
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RIVALRY RENEWED
The teams continue the series Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m. that can be seen on ESPN3. Lefties
Nick Pinto and Alfredo Ruiz square off in the first game, and
Michael Frias and Luis Ramirez meet in the second game that will start 40 minutes after the first game's conclusion.
