CORVALLIS, Ore. --- UC Irvine baseball had a pair of leads Saturday at Goss Stadium, but ultimately drew the 9-5 loss to No. 13 Oregon State.
FIRST TO THIRD
Both pitchers registered shutout ball through two innings before the offenses appeared. UC Irvine (5-5) was first to strike as
Connor McGuire launched a home run to lead the inning off. The 'Eaters continued the rally earning a pair of two-out walks, and both would come around on
Jacob Castro's two-run double the other way to go up 3-0.
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The Beavers (9-0) wouldn't let the Anteaters get too comfortable as the first three hitters of their third inning reached including Jacob Melton who doubled in OSU's first run. They would tack on RBIs from a groundout and sacrifice fly to draw even at 3-3 after the third.
THE FIFTH INNING
UCI regained the lead in the fifth inning that started with
Myles Smith recording his first career single and knocking out starter Jacob Kmatz. A sac bunt and a walk would set the table again for Castro who singled with two outs to put UCI back on top, 4-3.
Oregon State once again had an answer and then some this time around. A walk and a steal allowed the Beavers to tie things up on a Melton single. After a walk and a strikeout, starter
Nick Pinto was lifted for
Michael Stanford who was unable to hold the 4-4 tie giving up a double to bring home the go-ahead run, and then Jake Dukart delivered the big blow leaving the yard to extend the lead to 8-4 after five.
FINAL SCORE: #13 OREGON STATE 9, UC IRVINE 5
UCI closed to within three with a single run in the eighth.
Dub Gleed entered as a pinch-hitter and delivered his first career hit and RBI. The Beavers pushed the lead back to four with an RBI on a bunt single in the bottom half to close the scoring.
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For the first time this season, UCI allowed more than seven runs in a game. It's the eighth time in 10 games that both sides have held a lead in a UCI game.
The big offensive day after a day off for
Jacob Castro finished at 3-for-4 with a double, three RBIs, and a run scored. Gleed and Smith as mentioned each recorded their first career hits with Gleed adding his first RBI.
Connor McGuire mashed his first big fly of the season.
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Pinto on the mound suffered the unfortunate loss as the lead was given up after he exited the game. On the day, he officially went 4.2 innings allowing six earned runs on three walks and four strikeouts.Â
The series concludes Sunday with first pitch at 1:05 p.m. at Goss Stadium -
Danny Suarez takes the mound for UCI with Oregon State's starter still to be determined.
Thoughts from Head Coach Ben Orloff
"Offensively, we were a little better today. The story of the day was the lack of shutdown innings. We can't let them score in every inning we did, and I think that tells the story of the game."
"Offense today was better, we don't want to take any consolation in losing, but it was better and we've still got a long way to go. The third inning where we get the solo home run and then the three at-bats in a row by Woody, Church, and Castro was good to see. And then Dub coming off the bench, he's been working hard and was nice to see him get that first hit."
"We're 0-2 on Sundays so far so we'd like to get a Sunday win tomorrow. These guys are good, and we're going to have to play better. It'll be a battle. Like today, we score three and then turn around and let their first three guys get on. Then we walk the leadoff guy and don't turn a double play. Then we walk the nine-hole guy and give up a run on a safety. The margin for error is really smal when you're playing a team like this."
