IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball won both ends of the doubleheader Saturday, 7-0 and 9-5, in Anteater Ballpark dropping Cal State Fullerton to claim the program's first series win over the Titans on UCI's home turf.

GAME 1
The game was quiet until the third inning for both sides, and even with two outs and a runner on base, the game was still scoreless. Mike Peabody stood on first base after being hit by a pitch again, and with two strikes Justin Torres pelted a ball deep and out to right-center to turn the game to UCI (39-16, 31-8), 2-0.

The 'Eaters continued to build on its lead scoring a run in the fourth on an infield single by Taishi Nakawake. Later in the sixth inning, Luke Spillane connected for a long fly ball to left field that bounced off the top of the wall and over for a home run to make it 4-0 for UCI.

The eighth inning saw UC Irvine put the game out of reach starting with a pair of baserunners and a singled flipped into left field by Connor McGuire to make the lead, 5-0. Now with a pair inf scoring position, Nathan Church followed suit hammering a single into the gap to score both runners for a 7-0 UCI lead.

POISED PINTO
All the while as UC Irvine was adding runs on offense, the Cal State Fullerton Titans (20-34, 13-22) could not figure out Anteater starter Nick Pinto. Through 7.1 innings, Pinto spun shutout baseball walking one hitter and scattering eight hits in six of those frames. Pinto couldn't match his 9+ strikeouts from the last three outings, but did punch out five on his way to a fourth-straight quality start.

Jacob King came on to get five outs from the last four hitters to sew up the team's fifth shutout of the season.and giving Pinto his seventh win of the year.

FINAL SCORE: #17 UC IRVINE 7, CAL STATE FULLERTON 0
A litany of Anteaters on offense contributed starting with Torres and Spillane providing home runs. Torres joined Church with two-RBI games, and Church was joined by Dillon Tatum each recording two hits. Tatum scored twice among the six different Anteaters to cross home plate.

CSF was led by Nate Nankil's two hits among the eight. The pitching was split between starter Gavin Kennedy and Wyatt Johnson each throwing four innings. They basically split the nine hits, seven runs, and seven walks evenly between them while each striking out two.

GAME 2
The Anteaters were off and running in game two scoring in each of the first two frames. An RBI groundout from Torres got UCI on the board, and with two outs, Thomas McCaffrey sliced a single to right field for a 2-0 UCI lead after one.

The second inning saw two more come home from a quirky play. With two runners on, Mike Peabody watched ball three and flipped his bat toward his dugout thinking he had drawn a walk. Peabody sheepishly retrieved his bat and returned to the box, and in doing so, connected on the very next pitch rolling it inside the first base bag for a double scoring both runners and making it a 4-0 UCI advantage.

DENHOLM DELIVERS
In quite possibly his final appearance in Anteater Ballpark ,Trenton Denholm was back to his old tricks. He mowed down the Titans through three innings before they put up single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, but his offense kept up scoring in the bottom of each inning to go up 7-2 as the game entered the sixth.

Denholm continued on shutting the Titans down in the sixth and seventh working four strikeouts to just one walk to secure his 20th career win making him 1 of 17 Anteaters all-time to do so.

FINAL SCORE: #17 UC IRVINE 9, CAL STATE FULLERTON 5
The Titans closed the gap with a three-run eighth inning against the bullpen, but Dylan Riddle was called upon to stop the rally with two on and one out. Riddle did just that getting a pop-up to hold the runners, and then a grounder got the 'Eaters out of the inning without any more damage.

Riddle then put up a spotless ninth inning to complete the win and in the process earned his first career save in his 73rd appearance in an Anteater uniform.

The offense was led in game two by Luke Spillane and Connor McGuire who each had three hits with three doubles among them, and a McGuire drove in three runs, Spillane crossed home plate three times. Mike Peabody added to his Big West-leading RBI mark with two more on two hits. Thomas McCaffrey also had a run, RBI, and two hits.

The Titans got two-RBI games from Austin Schell and pinch-hitter Brendon Bobo. Caden Connor scored twice as seven different hitters produced the seven hits in the game. Landon Anderson was struck with the loss allowing five runs in 3.1 innings, and four of five pitchers in the matchup allowed runs to the 'Eaters.

The Anteaters also secured another series win winning eight of ten Big West series with two splits, one at home and one on the road. The 'Eaters continue to add to their record 31 conference wins along with 22 wins at home.

The series win over Cal State Fullerton, as previously stated, is the first UCI has worked in program history over the Titans in their home park spanning 13 series now.

ROUNDING THINGS OUT
The regular season ends Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. start and Peter Van Loon and Kyle Luckham going toe-to-toe. The Anteaters will celebrate their 14 graduating student-athletes prior to the game as well.