LAFAYETTE, La. --- UC Irvine baseball began the 2022 season with a win rallying to defeat Louisiana, 7-4, at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field Friday night.
BLAST ZONE
The teams traded big flies in the early going. The scoring started from UC Irvine (1-0) as an unexpected power source of
Taishi Nakawake drilled a two-run home run way out to left field for the first of his UCI career and a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
Â
The Ragin' Cajuns (0-1) answered right back in the bottom half of the inning smacking a two-run home run of their own from Jon Brandon for a 2-2 game.
UL wasn't done as they popped two more home runs in the third inning as Connor Kimple and Carson Roccaforte went back-to-back for a 4-2 Louisiana lead.
THE FIFTH INNING
All was quiet for a few innings as the Anteaters racked up runners left on base, but the fifth inning they got the wheels turning. After starter Drew Shifflet left for Brandon Talley in the third, they were unable to crack him until
Thomas McCaffrey's looping single to start the inning. An infield single and failed defensive play on a sacrifice bunt put
Connor McGuire at the dish with the bases loaded, and he wrapped a double into the left field corner scoring everyone and putting UCI on top, 5-4.
Â
The Anteaters added a few more for good measure on a sinking outfield RBI single by Nakawake and an RBI on a
Nathan Church groundout to come out of the five-run inning up, 7-4.
PITCHING PROWESS
The rest of the game was dominated by Anteater pitching.
Michael Frias turning things around after the three early home runs and stepped his game up striking out seven as he went six innings and left ahead.
Â
Making his UCI debut in the seventh was
Jake Spillane working around a two-out single to strike out the final hitter of the frame and leave it scoreless.
Gordon Ingebritson and
Jacob King were unleashed on the eighth and ninth innings sitting down all six batters they faced and finish off the 7-4 victory.
FINAL SCORE: #20 UC IRVINE 7, LOUISIANA 4
Frias collected the win to give UCI its 26th opening day win in its 44th season. Head Coach
Ben Orloff goes to 2-2 on opening day. Spillane and Ingebritson each earned a hold on the night while King collected the save for his first this season and ninth of his career.
Nakawake's home run came in his first at-bat after none in 2021 despite playing in every game. He drove in three runs on the night.
Connor McGuire's clutch double gave him a three-RBI night and extended his hit streak from last season to 15 games.
Thomas McCaffrey contributed three hits and a run from the clean-up spot.
Ben Fitzgerald returned to Lafayette after playing with them last season and tripled and scored once as an Anteater.
Luke Spillane and
Jacob Castro each added two-hit nights.
UL got all their runs off the three home runs totaling just six hits on the night. Brandon Talley drew the loss in relief as the trio of Talley, Shifflet, and Tommy Ray struck out 12 Anteaters.
The series continues Saturday with a 12:00 p.m. first pitch on the West Coast.
Nick Pinto takes the mound for UCI against UL's Peyton Havard.
