SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. --- UC Irvine baseball finished their weekend at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium firing on all cylinders taking the Sunday game and series, 7-2, against UC Santa Barbara to claim first place in the Big West standings.
AWAY THEY GO
The Anteaters (29-15, 21-7) were off an running early once again getting runners on the corners within the first three batters of the first inning.
Jacob Castro got a run home for the early 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly, but the scoring wasn't done.
Mike Peabody caused some havoc stealing second and reaching third on a throwing error. After a
Thomas McCaffrey walk,
Justin Torres came up and slipped a ball inside the first base line for a triple scoring everyone for a 3-0 UCI lead after one.
Â
GAUCHOS GAINING
UC Irvine added another run in the third on a groundout for a 4-0 lead before UC Santa Barbara (30-16, 21-11) awoke. A hit by pitch and sacrifice in the bottom of the inning set up nine-hitter Gianni Bloom to single home the opening run for UCSB.
He came up against in the fourth after starter
Peter Van Loon was lifted for
Tanner Brooks and he came through again singling home a run now trailing 4-2 after four.
TURNING ON THE JETS
Gordon Ingebritson was called upon for the first time this weekend, and made the most of it shutting down the Gaucho offense for three innings. He got a lot of defensive help as well up the middle as
Taishi Nakawake and
Justin Torres snagged some great plays to hold back UCSB as well
Â
Meanwhile, the offense continued to grow the lead in the sixth. Torres was on again and in scoring position, and this time he scampered home on a triple by
Luke Spillane. Spillane came home on a sacrifice fly leaving the bases empty and a 6-2 lead, but the patient Anteaters forced home another run on four straight walks between a pair of pitchers now to lead 7-2.
Â
Ingebritson continued to deal before giving way to
Jacob King for the final two innings. Once again, the defense was backing him as Nakawake flashed the leather one final time to sew up the game and weekend for the Anteaters
Â
FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 7, UC SANTA BARBARA.
After Friday's devastating loss, the 'Eaters turned the series around winning the final three games for a pivotal series win, and now hold a two-game lead on first place in the Big West standings.
The win went to Ingebritson and his 3.1 scoreless frames.
Peter Van Loon did what he needed to do going 3.2 innings as the starter and allowing just two runs and striking out three. The crew of four pitchers did not walk a batter on the afternoon while the Gauchos unleashed nine walks on UCI. The bullpen also completed a perfect weekend where they did not allow any runs over a total of 11 innings.
The offense saw two-hit days from Torres, Spillane, and Peabody. Torres and Spillane each tripled, scored a run, and drove in a pair while Peabody scored twice and stole two bases. He reached four times in all including being hit by the 40th pitch of his UCI career.
Jacob Castro did not get a hit, but drove in a pair from a sac fly and walk.
Thoughts from head coach Ben Orloff
"I think today was a complete performance, probably as much as any on a weekend. The pitching was good especially the bullpen. Gordon for three innings was really good. King 2 innings are hard to. Defensively, we made a lot of plays - Church, Taishi 3 times, Damla comes into the game and makes a big effort, Torres with the diving play - we got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys throughout the lineup. Torres with two hits, Spillane with two hits, McGuire and Taishi both with a hit and a walk, we stole two bases. It was a really complete win on a huge Sunday."
"The bullpen was great, not giving up a run all weekend, and we've a lot of that from them. That group has pitched really well, and we only used five guys on the weekend because of the starting pitching. It's a really good time of the year for those guys to be pitching really good, and all weekend those guys were critical to how we got out of here with three wins."
"Torres had a huge weekend. He's done a good job all year, we were trying to get a little more offensive with a guy that could double or homer. We knew left-handed hitters were going to give them trouble all weekend. And he did everything - got hits, played big-time defense, he's continuing to get a better feel for the game and how we do things. He was one of the MVPs of the weekend."
"It feels good. Everybody knew the significance of this weekend and with how good Santa Barbara has been going. More than I would like, we've scoreboard watched for the last two months. It's hard to not notice they win all the time. This weekend, it felt good to play well, win, good opponent on the road, and I remember this last two years ago how that went and getting on the bus going home."
ON TO NEXT WEEK
Big West season rolls along with the 'Eaters returning home next weekend for four against a familiar face, UC Riverside. The two met for a three-game non-conference series in March that the Highlanders won 2 of 3 in their place. All four games will be shown on ESPN3 with the opener kicking off Friday, May 14, at 3:00 p.m.
