LA JOLLA, Calif. --- UCI baseball jumped out to another big lead at Triton Ballpark only for UC San Diego to battle back and tighten the ballgame Saturday before the 'Eaters closed out a series win, 11-9.

PLAYING FROM AHEAD
Like Friday, the Anteaters (19-10, 8-3) got the offense rolling before the fans could even get in their seats. A leadoff Ben Fitzgerald single started things as UCI put up six singles and five runs bettering their Friday effort for a 5-0 lead after half an inning.

Starter Michael Frias sailed through his first few innings allowing a run, meanwhile the bats remained hot putting up a four-run frame in the fifth inning. Again, the Anteaters clumped together four singles to start the inning off bring all four around to build an identical 9-1 lead as they did one night ago.

THE LONG WAY BACK
The Tritons (11-19, 3-5) didn't quit once again as twice they would leadoff innings with doubles only to get it to two outs. In each instance, the Tritons would not leave the inning empty-handed as Noah Sudyka cracked a two-run home run in the fifth inning, and Ryan McNally off the bench in the sixth inning pounded a home run as well to close the gap to 9-5.

UC San Diego mustered an unearned run in the seventh to make it a three-run game, and as the Anteater lead swelled to five, UCSD put a huge dent in it getting to relievers Jacob King and David Vizcaino with a three-run double off the bat of Jalen Smith to close to 11-9. Troy Taylor came to the rescue once again striking out UCSD's Marc Filia to end the frame, and dominating in the ninth as well.

FOOTING THE BILL
The decisive plays of the game however came off the bat of Justin Torres. After coming around with a walk in the first inning and singled a couple innings later to extend his hit streak to 14 games. In his at-bat in the sixth, Torres fouled a ball off the top of his foot in a 2-2 count and needed some time to recover and continue the at-bat. He wouldn't be deterred promptly doubling off the center field wall and staying in the game defensively.

Torres' spot came up again in the eighth inning with a man on hobbling up to home plate. Like his first two hits, it wasn't until two strikes that he did his damage launching a two-run home run deep to right field at the time making it a five-run game and ending up being the decisive runs.

"When we stick with our two-strike approach, it gives us the opportunity to see more pitches, and when we do stick with that we're a damn good team. That's what coach talks about how no one is going to beat us if we stick to that and if we don't beat ourselves, we'll be successful."

FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 11, UC SAN DIEGO 9
Michael Frias did enough for the win, his fourth of the year, lasting 6.1 innings despite five earned runs allowed and striking out six Tritons. Taylor was stellar once again retiring the final four hitters to earn his fourth Anteater save.

The offense replicated its line from Friday posting 11 runs on 14 hits. Torres stole the show with three hits and three runs to lead the team and provided the only two extra-base hits on the afternoon. He and four other 'Eaters each had a pair of RBIs.

"It was a big win to take the series. Tomorrow we need to come out and sweep so putting ourselves in a position to do that will be a big step forward."

The win gets UCI back in the Big West race with another series win now 8-3 in conference action and 19-10 overall. The series concludes Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch between Cameron Wheeler and Ryan Forcucci.

Postgame Thoughts with Head Coach Ben Orloff
"Troy was huge coming in and punching out Filia in the eighth and he homered off him yesterday. A huge at-bat in the ninth against Lucchetti where he's down 3-1 to get strike two, foul ball, and strike three huge moments there for Troy."

"Frias was also huge. We needed a deep start after how early we had to go to the bullpen last night, and he pitched really good. This place is offensive, and you can't get upset about giving up one or two, and he kept making pitches. Torres has really come on recently and obviously with a huge game today. His walk in the first was big, and then the big double after fouling the ball off his foot he came up big