SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball scored a win to open the Tony Gwynn Legacy on a blustery afternoon in Tony Gwynn Stadium defeating Washington State, 8-3.

VERY GOOD VIZCAINO
The Anteater ace took the mound in another Friday start, this one at 10:00 a.m., and faltered out of the gate allowing a run on a pair of hits and a stolen base in the first to trail 1-0 to Washington State (4-1). Vizcaino quickly turned things around shutting down the Cougars for the next five innings including stranding baserunners in three of those frames.

Vizcaino built a streak of seven in a row set down through the fifth and sixth innings and pitched into the seventh. The seventh inning began rudely with a towering solo home run by Will Cresswell to close the gap to a one-run game, but the righty returned to form to sail through the rest of the inning with the lead, 3-2, through seven innings.

STICKING WITH IT
UCI's (5-0) offense also started slowly with the first six Anteaters sat down and four on strikeouts, but the bottom of the order stepped up to even things in the third. A leadoff single by Chase call followed by an Abraham Garcia-Pacheco sacrifice bunt set the table for Luke Spillane. His single to right field plated Call but not before the throw skipped along the infield and over the catcher waiting at the plate to tie the game at 1-1.

UC Irvine added runs in the fourth inning on back-to-back doubles by Dub Gleed and Tony Martinez and again in the fifth on three straight singles to start the inning punctuated by Jo Oyama's RBI single through the shortstop to gradually build a 3-1 lead.

FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 8, WASHINGTON STATE 3
In a one-run game, Tanner Brooks was called upon in the eighth inning, but he allowed an unearned run, and Jacob King relieved to close out the inning and hold the lead.

The offense erupted down the stretch with five runs over their final two at-bats to help pull away. Caden Kendle had a clutch two-run double down the left field line with two outs right after Jo Oyama worked his way on to extend the inning via catcher's interference. The eighth inning was broken open by Will Bermudez who lifted an opposite field ball into the jet stream and out to left field for a two-run home run.

"I just wanted to make everything simple," Bermudez added as he stepped to bat having struck out three times already in the game. "J.T. and I had a talk. The guys in front of me and everyone was battling so thought to myself I'm just going to sit outside, here's my approach, stay simple, and then put a good swing on it and the results spoke for themselves."

Bermudez launched his first career home run to really seal the game. The lineup top-to-bottom chimed in with Kendle joining Bermudez with a two-RBI day, now with 10 total on his season, and two-hit games from Chase Call and Luke Spillane with Call reaching three times and scoring twice and Spillane stealing another base and knocking in his first RBI of 2023.

Vizcaino improves to 2-0 on the year and 7-0 in his Anteater career spanning just 11 appearances. Just two runs allowed in seven innings with five strikeouts was enough for the win. "Working on the mechanics, getting back down to the bottom of the zone, and trusted the guys behind me. The lineup is unreal, we've had our ups and downs but the lineup has really shown its true colors and it's nice knowing these guys play behind you and get insurance when you need it."

STAT BREAKDOWN

• UCI improves to 5-0 collect saves in all five outings
• King has three of the saves now with 15 over his career, tied with Kyle Necke on the all-time list in sixth
• Kendle reached base for the 32nd game in a row
• UCI improves to 8-2 all-time against Washington State
• UCI is 2-0 early in the year vs. the Pac-12, 24-15 against the conference under coach Orloff
• Spillane is now 3-for-3 in steal attempts this year with 24 over his UCI career

LOOKING AHEAD
The weekend will continue Sunday after allowing the expected weather to pass Saturday. The 'Eaters will play at Fowler Park on the campus of the University of San Diego Sunday, February 24, with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. against UNLV. Riley Kelly will start the game for UCI with UNLV's starter to be determined. There will be no live stream of the game, but fans can tune in to KUCI 88.9 FM for all the action.