IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball began Big West action with a Saturday doubleheader in Anteater Ballpark topping UC Davis, 10-7 and 8-0, to start conference play on a positive.
Game 1
The doubleheader started with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch. Both starters,
Nick Pinto and Nate Freeman, had things going early setting down the opponents in order in the first and held scoreless through two innings.
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The Anteaters (12-6, 2-0) struck first with the bats getting a baserunner on in the third and using consecutive doubles by
Nathan Church and
Justin Torres to go ahead, 2-0. UCI's lead grew to 5-0 started by a
Nathan Church solo HR to start the fifth inning. The 'Eaters pushed two more across with help from a few hits and a two-base error to suddenly have a 5-0 lead in the sixth.
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UC Davis (0-8, 0-2) after no hits and one baserunner through five innings suddenly perked up with two singles to start the sixth. They got on the board from a Nick Leehey double and finished the inning scoring three after a single by Jonah Henrickson singled two home to trail 5-3. Another couple singles to start the seventh inning bounced Pinto from the game, and the first hitter
Gordon Ingebritson saw out of the bullpen singled scoring a pair from a fielding error, and all of a sudden UCD had the go-ahead run on third base with no outs. Ingebritson locked in striking out the next three hitters to strand the runner and hold the 5-5 tie for the moment.
UCI quickly sprung back into the lead from a two-out solo home run to center field by
Ben Fitzgerald to go up 6-5. A deluge of runs in the eighth widened the gap to a 10-5 lead for UCI before holding on for the 10-7 victory in game one.
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Game 2
The second half of the doubleheader was not as competitive thanks to
Michael Frias on the mound. He was knocked for a one-out double in the first inning, but turned around to strike out the next two hitters and strand Davis in the first. Frias dialed in for the next five innings not allowing any more hits and limiting the Aggies to two baserunners on walks through his six-inning performance.
The Anteater offense clicked in in the fourth inning finally getting to Aggie starter Kaden Riccomini. Bases loaded and nobody out allowed UCI to pushed two runs across on an
Abraham Garcia-Pacheco groundout and
Connor McGuire sacrifice fly. UCI added a third run in the sixth from another groundout before opening the flood gates in the seventh inning scoring five times from two-run hits by
Dub Gleed and
Taishi Nakawake to put the game away, 8-0.
Defense was the name of the game in the finale Saturday with the leather flashed on both ends.
Justin Torres got things going with a full extension grab in the left field corner to rob the Aggies. UCD countered with quality play at third base by Kyler Arenado and center fielder Raul Sandoval running down multiple Anteater drives into the gaps and up against the wall to keep the sides close through the middle innings.
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Stat Worthy
The Anteaters came through with 18 runs on the day in their two wins posting the second and fourth-highest offensive outputs of their season.
Dub Gleed had a career day with four hits in six at-bats coming off the bench in game one for a two-run double and finishing with four RBIs and runs scored in the doubleheader.
Other big offensive days came from Church going 3-for-5 with a double, home run, three RBIs, and three runs all in game one. Four other Anteaters had multi-hit days led by Fitzgerland with three including a home run and two RBIs and
Taishi Nakawake reaching six times on three hits and a pair of RBIs.
Frias earned the win from his one-hit gem striking out eight to improve to 3-1. Pinto in game one did not earn a decision despite five hitless frames. Ingebritson was the beneficiary of his third win going two innings with five of six outs via strikeout and one unearned run.
Head Coach
Ben Orloff in the process recorded his 100th career win from game two on Saturday getting to 100 wins in 148 games. He's currently fifth in UCI history in terms of coaching wins as the fifth Anteater coach to reach 100 for a career.
The series wraps up Sunday at 1:00 p.m. as
Danny Suarez takes the mound against a fellow freshman, Bryan Green, as the Anteater attempt to open Big West play with a sweep and finishing an eight-game homestand at 7-1.
Postgame Thoughts
Ben Orloff - "We didn't play great in that first game. It was 5-0 and then got to be 5-5 in a hurry. Gordon came in and stabilized the game like he always does. We had the one big inning with Woody getting the big bunt hit that gets the rally started in Game One. In Game Two, Frias was really good. He had the secondary stuff going as good as he's had all year. Tanner Brooks was really good again. It was good to see Jacob King back out there and Cooper I thought was really good. Dub Gleed had a huge game, hitting with runners in scoring position. It was a good 2-0."
"Time will tell but I think it was a good week in terms of no midweek, more time to practice. We've got a long ways to go, but I think there was some improvement today and hopefully some more tomorrow."
"The 100 wins, it's all a team success. It's all about the team. There's nothing in this deal about individuals and certainly not coaching. That just means we've had some really good players and good teams."
Dub Gleed - "This week without a midweek we had a lot of preparation, a lot of work in the cages, just to get on time and start earlier and be more aggressive at the plate. As a whole, I thought this week with our coaching staff we did a good job of getting that extra work in and have better games than we had been playing."
"I'm not really thinking anything different from one situation to another at the plate. I'm just trying to put the barrel on the ball, hit it hard anywhere, make something happen, not trying to do too much. Whatever the team needs, that's all I need to do."
Michael Frias - "Felt good today, getting an extra day of rest this week is always nice. I'm always putting in the same work every week and to finally come out with zeros on the board felt good. A real good team win; the backend of the bullpen looked really good. Good to have King and Brooks back, and awesome to be able to win No. 100 for coach."
"I would say my focus in between innings is more concerted towards baseball and I don't let my mind wander. Especially on a game like this, I noticed a difference. Being able to lock out, cheer on the team for one or two outs, and then lock back in, get back out there, and from the first pitch we go."
