SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball had a golden opportunity to keep Friday night's series opener going against UC Santa Barbara at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, but weren't able to capitalize falling, 6-5.

HOT START
In a meeting of top-line starters, the offense made the first move with each side showing up early.

The Anteaters (26-15, 18-7) got their first two runners on and cashed them both in on a Mike Peabody double for a 2-0 lead. He would later come around on a Luke Spillane sacrifice fly for a 3-0 first inning.

The Gauchos (30-13, 21-8) wasted no time as well scoring two batters in after a stolen base attempt forced a throwing error to bring a run home. A second run came around on a single to shrink the UCI lead to 3-2 after one.

SHAKY DEFENSE
UC Irvine fielding was sub-par through the early going Friday committing four errors all in the first four innings. Dillon Tatum was responsible for three of them including a catcher's interference call. The Gauchos used their baserunning skills to steal five times on Tatum as well getting runners in scoring position and adding to their run total. Tatum came down the stretch catching a pair of runners trying to steal to keep the game within reach.

The 'Eater offense kept pace with a big third inning. An error earlier in the inning helped the 'Eaters, and Justin Torres punched a two-out double to score a pair of runs and up their lead to 5-2.

The Gauchos fought back with two in the bottom half of the frame, and then the tying run in the fourth on one of Jordan Sprinkle's five hits. Tatum's third error allowed Sprinkle to get to third base with just one out, but Trenton Denholm's pitching kept him there and the game tied, 5-5.

DECISIVE BLOW
Denholm continued to forge on holding the Gauchos back as he pitched into the sixth inning. His counterpart, Michael McGreevy, coming off a two-hit, 15-strikeout, no-walk performance, only lasted 4.1 innings before being lifted. Denholm got the first two outs of the sixth inning, but Cole Cummings shot his fifth home run of the season to break the tie at 6-5.

SOUR ENDING
The ninth inning started with UCSB's Carter Benbrook rolling right along on 3.2 scoreless innings. Jake Palmer began the frame with a leadoff double, and was followed by a Nathan Church single and Mike Peabody walk loading the bases with nobody out. Benbrook was lifted for Clayton Hall who found a way out for UCSB. Adrian Damla struck out, and then a groundball by Luke Spillane was thrown home to force out the tying run. Justin Torres, the last hope for UCI, went down on strikes somehow preserving the game for the Gauchos.

FINAL SCORE: UC SANTA BARBARA 6, UC IRVINE 5
The offenses jabbed back and forth each finishing with 12 hits. Torres and Peabody each produced a two-run double while Peabody finished as the only Anteater with two runs on the game. Church finished with three hits now with a nine-game hit streak. Palmer with a pair of hits and a run extended streaks to 19 straight reaching base and nine straight with a hit on the road.

Denholm drew the loss, now 4-2, allowing all six runs with five earned and seven strikeouts. The four errors behind him mark the most for UCI since April 27, 2018. Benbrook won his fifth game for the Gauchos going 3.2 scoreless while Clayton Hall picked up his first save of the year.

The 'Eaters have now lost four straight against the Gauchos and five straight at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The Gauchos take a one-game lead in the Big West standings entering Saturday while winning their 30th game of the year.
 
Thoughts from head coach Ben Orloff
"Disappointing loss. Offensively, I think we did a good job against McGreevy. Had a good plan, executed. Our guys took good at-bats against a guy that's having an All-American type year. Story of the game for me is how poorly we played on defense. Those first three innings, you can't play defense like that and expect to beat anybody, especially a team as good as Santa Barbara."

"The running game didn't affect how we played defense, except maybe the errors on stolen bases. We knew they like to run, they're good at it, it's easier when you don't let them get on base or allow them on base for free, that's the easiest way to prevent the stolen base. We didn't do that, and you look at their stats, they've got to be, on the West Coast, the top in every running category."

"Torres swung the bat well with a couple big hits. Trenton did a really good job of keeping his poise and making pitches with all the negative things that were going on behind him. For him to keep us in it and go as late as he did, credit to his maturity and his experience and gave us a chance to win when we weren't helping him very much."

"We've been through too many of these that are really hard losses to take. We've gotten used to getting our heart broken. We need to play better. There's not many times where we've played a clean game and lost, not saying we haven't deserved to lose. But we need to play better, we can't worry about winning or losing, so we've got to play better tomorrow."

SERIES CONTINUES
The sides play a doubleheader Saturday, May 8 starting at 3:00 p.m. for game 1. Game 2 is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and televised on ESPNU. Lefties Nick Pinto and Rodney Boone got at it in Game 1 with Michael Frias on the mound for the late game for UCI with a starter yet to be determined for UCSB.