IRVINE, CALIF. --- UC Irvine baseball won its 40th game of the season downing Cal State Fullerton, 4-2, to complete the sweep behind some stellar senior efforts in their final game in Anteater Ballpark.
ALL HANDS ON DECK
The scoring began early as the Anteaters (40-16, 32-8) broke through in the second inning from an unlikely source.
Luke Spillane reached base to start the frame on an error on a groundball to second base. He took the extra base as the ball bled into the outfield, and after getting sacrificed to third, was brought home as
Abraham Garcia-Pacheco, making his first career start behind the plate, chopped an infield single up the middle for the 1-0 lead.
The 'Eaters built on the lead with a pair of two-out hits in the fourth inning.
Taishi Nakawake busted a hit into center field to score
Thomas McCaffrey, and then
Nathan Church followed him singling home
Connor McGuire for a 3-0 lead.
SENIOR SALUTE
With 14 graduating Anteaters on the roster Sunday, the team honored them pregame with a ceremony and messages from each of their families. One of those was
Peter Van Loon who began the day on the mound, and he continued to put up impressive numbers for a third straight start.
He no-hit the Titans through the first two innings, and escaped a pair of jams in the third, fourth, and fifth including a pair of double plays turned. He really turned on the jets down the tailend of the game adding up the strikeouts for nine on the afternoon to put him up over 100 in his Anteater career.
Van Loon finished up going a career-high eight innings giving way to the bullpen with a shutout going. Cal State Fullerton (20-35, 13-23) broke out the bats and brought in a couple runs putting the tying runs on base. The 'Eaters countered with sixth-year senior
Dylan Riddle who had recorded his first career save the day before, and he clutched up for the final two outs for another save and the team's 40th victory.
FINAL SCORE: #17 UC IRVINE 4, CAL STATE FULLERTON 2
After clinching the program's first series win at home against Cal State Fullerton and fourth series win overall, they also managed their first-ever sweep of the Titans with the win Sunday, in a four-game series to boot.
The 'Eaters finish with a Big West-record 32 conference wins which tops their previous high of 22 wins the program reached in 2009, their other Big West title season.
The 40 wins mark the eighth season the program has reached the mark, first since 2014 and first under coach Orloff. This marks just the fourth time the Anteaters have gotten to 40 wins in the regular season joining the 1974, 2007, and 2009 teams.
Van Loon picked up his fifth win of the season with his eight shutout frames. Kyle Luckham was the hard-luck loser dropping his ninth game of the year despite two earned runs and six strikeouts over 5.2 innings.
Offensively,
Nathan Church had a career day with four hits and two RBIs. McGuire scored twice along with a hit, and Garcia-Pacheco and Nakawake completed the big day from the bottom of the order with a hit and RBI each.
Thoughts from Head Coach Ben Orloff
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WAITIN' ON YOU, NCAA
The regular season ends and the postseason can now begin starting with the NCAA Selection Show, Monday, May 31, at 9:00 a.m. that fans can watch live on ESPN2 as the Anteaters will learn their regional site and opponents they'll match up with.
