HONOLULU, Hawai'i --- UC Irvine baseball hung tough just edging out Hawai'i on a wet Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium, 6-5.
ANYTHING YOU CAN DO
Under a steady mist throughout the evening, starters
Michael Frias and Cade Halemanu battled on the mound limiting each offense early on. The conditions brought on a few more walks than usual with the pair issuing nine overall to just five hits allowed between them.
The 'Eaters (14-7, 4-0) took advantage of that first on a one-out walk in the third inning.
Woody Hadeen's single put two on, and then a clutch single by
Ben Fitzgerald scored one leading to an errant throw to bring Hadeen in as well for a 2-0 UCI lead.
Hawai'i (7-13, 1-3) got some help of their own in the fourth inning with two walks to start the inning. Frias looked to wriggle out of with two strikeouts to follow, but Cole Cabrera didn't let him off the hook doubling to bring both in and make it a 2-2 game.
I CAN DO BETTER
More walks began the fifth inning as the Anteaters looked to answer. Halemanu was lifted for reliever Tai Atkins who also looked like he would get through the jam, but an intentional walk set the table this time loading the bases for
Thomas McCaffrey. He scalded a ball into the gap for a double clearing the bases and putting UCI up, 5-4.
Frias had his own issues in the bottom of the inning loading the bases with nobody out on an error, single, and walk.
Gordon Ingebritson came on in relief allowing two runs to come in on ground balls, but held the line and the lead briefly at 5-4. He was undone in the sixth after a walk and hit batsmen to start the inning were moved over on a sacrifice hit. Another one on a successful squeeze play knotted it back up at 5-5.
Â
FINDING A WINNER
The game continued into the eighth inning tied, and the Anteater bats woke up with a leadoff single by McCaffrey. He was doubled in by
Justin Torres to suddenly put UCI back in front, 6-5.
UCI's bullpen bent but did not break down the stretch with
Tanner Brooks allowing a leadoff single to third base before stranding him.
Troy Taylor did the same putting a runner on in the eighth but keeping him from plating, and then in the ninth two runners reached with nobody out, but he slammed the door with help from two strikeouts to lock up the 6-5 win.
FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 6, HAWAI'I 5
UCI comes through with its 14th win of the year and eighth by just one run. Taylor earns his third save of the season, all needing him to record five or more outs.
Tanner Brooks was the beneficiary of the win, his first of 2022, and third win all-time with two now coming against Hawai'i.
The offensive hero was
Thomas McCaffrey with UCI's only multi-hit effort while driving in three and scoring a run that proved to be the game-winner.
Taishi Nakawake helped with two walks that each turned into runs and adding his sixth sacrifice hit.
The series continues Saturday with another 9:35 p.m. PDT start and
Nick Pinto on the mound to face RHP Andy Archer
Postgame Thoughts from Head Coach Ben Orloff
"It's really hard to win on a Friday night in this conference. These conditions with the rain made it really tough to play and kind of added to the uncharacteristic plays from us."
"A couple of big-time performances, some big doubles,
Troy Taylor made some big pitches there in the ninth to strand first and second nobody out. Really good to win on a Friday night in this conference on the road."
"It was tough conditions tonight, and there were various good things that we saw from our bullpen guys and some not-so-good stuff. Troy's got so much confidence, especially towards the end of the game when its close. The pitches he was able to make to those last three guys were clutch."
"That's why Thomas is hitting in that spot with runners in scoring position; you don't have hit a home run to be a run-producer and that was a critical spot for us when it looked like we were going to get zero out of that and come away with three."
