IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball avoided a weekend sweep in dramatic fashion scoring three runs in the ninth inning to serve up a walk-off victory, 6-5, over CSUN in Anteater Ballpark off a
Justin Torres RBI single.
TUG OF WAR
Like Friday's matchup, the offenses went back and forth with the scoring. UCI (16-10, 6-3) got on the board first plating a one-out triple thanks to a groundout by
Myles Smith grinding out a 12-pitch at-bat to record his first career RBI.
The Matadors (15-11, 4-5) responded with authority loading the bases and shooting a single through the Anteater defense to take advantage of a pair of walks to take the lead, 2-1, in the third inning.
UCI had an answer with a leadoff double in their half of the third that would come home on a sacrifice fly for a 2-2 ballgame after three.
SWINGING DORS
CSUNÂ would take control of the game from that point forth again taking the lead back in the fourth thanks to a wild pitch. They would tack on two more in the fifth inning as consecutive doubles by Andrew Sojka and Kai Moody would both come around to push the lead to 5-2.
The rest was a result of CSUN starter Ryan Wentz who battled through Anteater baserunners in each inning he pitched, but held the line allowing just two runs in his six innings and 121 pitches.
UCI would stay in it with some timely pitching including a redshirt freshman making his collegiate debut and tossing 1.1 scoreless innings in
David Vizcaino. Even when he left in a bit of a scrape with bases loaded one out,
Jacob King entered and was masterful to wriggle out of the jam without allowing a run.
The defense stepped up when needed as well including a big moment in the fourth inning as CSUN already had one run in and looked primed for a second, but
Nathan Church provided a pinpoint toss from right field to nail the runner at home trying to score.
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THE NINTH INNING
The Anteater offense picked their time to shine as the ninth inning began with a massive home run from pinch-hitter
Thomas McCaffrey to close the game to 5-4. A
Myles Smith single off closer Blake Schriever continued the rally as Friday night's starter Blaine Traxel entered to try and save it. A sacrifice bunt set the table for
Ben Fitzgerald who whacked a double off the leaping glove of the right field to tie the game. Two batters later,
Justin Torres would end it singling in the gap to end it on a walkoff, 6-5.
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FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 6, CSUN 5
The win salvages the weekend that appeared to be going toward a sweep for CSUN.
Troy Taylor earned the win, his first as an Anteater, as he and six other pitchers held CSUN back long enough for the comeback. That bunch included
David Vizcaino making his collegiate debut to the tune of 1.1 scoreless innings and his first strikeout.
Cameron Wheeler made his second career start, first on the weekend, pitching into the fourth inning responsible for three of the runs.
Fitzgerald, Church, and Torres keyed the offense with two hits each, and Torres' second RBI of the game won it as UCI won its second game of the year on a walkoff.
UCI is back in Anteater Ballpark Tuesday to finish up the brief homestand taking on Cal State Fullerton at 6:00 p.m.
Postgame Thoughts
Head Coach Ben Orloff - "I hope today is something we can really build off of. I told the guys when it was 5-2 it seemed like it was not going to be our day. But I think we pitched it really good to give ourselves a chance to have that type of inning, and just the competitiveness to keep playing with how we lost the last two nights, it would have been really easy for us to fold it up and get swept. I think it's something we can really build off of and showed the character of this team and what we can be when we start piecing things together."
"We were short-staffed on the mound when you combine a short start on Friday, extra innings Friday and Saturday, Wheeler on a pitch count; we knoew we were going to have to get a bunch of guys in. Like we said, we've got good performances from a bunch of different guys. Vizcaino making his debut did great, King coming into that big spot with bases loaded and one out, they could have extended the lead and could have been game over, Brooks was good, and Troy Taylor continues to be really good."
Ben Fitzgerald - "We put something together the innings before the ninth, and a big shut down inning by Troy, so we had a little bit of momentum going into it. We just needed some good at-bats strung together, and we knew something would get going."
"I felt good today, I felt good against Traxel on Friday. I'm just trying to see something up and put a good swing on it, and luckily found its way down scored a run."
Justin Torres - "We had a few tough stretches throughout that game and the weekend, but I think just the ability to keep fighting and pushing through that allowed us to put ourselves in that spot. I think the pitching gave us a chance to win. King coming in in that inning with the bases loaded, one out was electric, that fired us up, and I think that was one of the turning points when we really said to ourselves we could and were going to win this game."
"It was awesome to see everyone string together great at-bats there. Thomas coming off the bench and doing what he did was unbelievable. Seeing all those good at-bats motivated me, and I wanted to get in on the fun so I did what everyone else was doing."
