IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball finally broke away from Tulane Saturday afternoon for an 11-4 victory at Anteater Ballpark.

JUMPING AHEAD
The 'Eaters (2-0) got things going in the second inning on Saturday loading the bases from a single, walk, and hit by pitch. Will Bermudez lifted a sac fly to put UCI out in front. Caden Kendle followed suit punching a single through the opening in the right side to double the lead. Tony Martinez busted things open sizzling a double down the right field line to complete the four-run inning.

TUG-OF-WAR
Finnegan Wall sailed through his first two innings, but lost his rhythm in the third inning with four walks to force in a run for Tulane (0-2) and end his day early. The Green Wave added a second run drawing closer to the 'Eaters as the the sides jockeyed along for the next few innings.

UCI added a run in the third on a bases loaded walk, and Tulane responded with one of their own helped by an error and a wild pitch.

Another UCI sac fly pushed the lead back to three runs in the sixth plating Jo Oyama after a triple. Tulane drew within a run again the next inning from another bases loaded walk leaving it a 6-4 Anteater lead heading to the seventh-inning stretch.

PUTTING IT IN OVERDRIVE
The dagger was hit in the bottom of the seventh inning as the top Green Wave reliever, Chandler Welch, was called upon and he quickly struck out his first two hitters. Caden Kendle stepped in a launched a low, line-drive missile that just cleared the left field wall for a home run and 7-4 lead.

The offense followed the momentum for another four-run inning in the eighth to pull away. Again Oyama was in the midst of it tripling again and bringing home two. He scored the 10th run on a sac fly, and 11th came home after Luke Spillane reached third on a hit by pitch, stolen base, error, and Will Bermudez's RBI single.

FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 11, TULANE 4
Among all the offense, the Anteater pitching staff held up its end of the bargain as five pitchers came together to strike out 16 hitters and allow four runs on just five hits. Finnegan Wall got his first career and led the 'Eaters with five of the strikeouts. Andre Antone followed him and added four strikeouts while picking up the win.

Max Martin made his collegiate debut in relief working well for 1.2 innings allowing a run and picking up his first two career strikeouts. Tanner Brooks was called upon for a second straight day to bridge the gap to Michael Stanford whose two-inning effort saw him sit down all six hitters he faced and pick up his first career save.

"It's a full staff effort," Stanford praised his staff. "We knew it was going to be tough, and last night really helped us out having those guys come in and shut it down, and today having more guys to the same thing. We really just take it inning-by-inning and I'm really proud of everyone that threw before me. I was juiced up; first time back on the mound against an opponent. It's fun to face other guys and I felt good, I feel great, and our awesome defense behind me for both of those innings."

The defense was made the usual plays along with a pair a spectacular ones. Will Bermudez had a pair of his own including a diving snag to end the fourth inning. A line drive off Antone's glove was gloved by Bermudez on the dive to complete the two-player line drive out.

The offense had contributions scattered along it with four multi-run performances, four multi-hits, and four multi-RBI games with two players collecting all three. Caden Kendle had two hits and runs with a three-RBI afternoon. Oyama was the other with two of everything including the first two-triple game for an Anteater since Connor Spencer in 2014 and just the eighth in program history.

"For me, if I think too much, I can kind of get messed up so I try not to, just try to see the ball and hit the ball," Oyama noted about his hitting early on. Not trying for anything special, just making contact and letting the skill do the rest. "I'm actually very comfortable at the plate and not as nervous as I thought in my first year at the Division 1 level. I know what to do and what I should do at the plate so I try and calm down and do what I can."

Oyama leads the team with an OPS nearing 2.000 and a slugging percentage over 1.000 through two games including three triples already

FINISHING UP
The series comes to a close Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch against Tulane. The Green Wave have grad transfer Ricky Castro taking the ball to start and UCI has announced freshman Riley Kelly will make his collegiate debut on the mound to start off Sunday.