IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball roared back to even the weekend series with Cal State Fullerton winning, 12-5, Saturday afternoon at Anteater Ballpark.
The 'Eaters (12-4, 1-1) went into the fifth inning embroiled in a 1-1 ballgame with the Titans (7-8, 1-1) before blowing the top off the game. A leadoff single by
Jacob Stinson up the middle got things going followed by a bunt single that
Jo Oyama legged out. A hit by pitch that sent
Will Bermudez flying and dazed for a minute taking a shot to the ribs loaded the bases. UCI would take their first lead of the afternoon with their second and third sacrifice flies of the afternoon by
Caden Kendle and
Anthony Martinez to go up 3-1.
The rest of the fifth inning belonged to the Anteaters' plate discipline earning five walks and a hit by pitch to plate four more runs for a six-run frame and lead 7-1.
UCI added a pair the next inning after
Chase Call tripled in
Dub Gleed with two outs and scored himself for the 9-1 lead.
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The Titans struck back with four runs in their half of the seventh inning, but UCI was right back with the offense in the bottom half sparked by
Anthony Martinez's ninth double of the year dipping into the left field corner and by the diving Fullerton left fielder to score to more and put the nail in the coffin.
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FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 12, CAL STATE FULLERTON 5
The pitching side was carried by
Nick Pinto allowing just one run in 5.1 innings to earn his second win of the season.
Tanner Brooks came in and slowed the Titan attack with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.
"I felt good, took a while to get going, struggled in the first and second there, but then I kind of got in the groove once Bam threw out that runner at third. After that it was smooth sailing," noted Pinto helped by his defense behind him. "The offense was awesome today. We needed that and going for it again tomorrow."
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UCI posted its seventh game scoring 10 or more runs on the year bouncing back after their first shutout.
Caden Kendle had three hits to lead UCI's 13-hit attack.
Will Bermudez scored all three times he reached while Martinez drove in four on the day. UCI hitters reached 12 other times including eight walks while also going down on strikes just twice.
"I think it was great to come back after a tough loss, just came out with a different energy and played hard all nine," praised Kendle for the full team effort Saturday. "Our coaches' approaches for us is to get three or four good at-bats over the course of the game. I think that's what we did, saw things differently today, and just any way to win, using toughness and confidence."
The series evens heading into Sunday's matchup at 1:00 p.m.
Cooper Robinson takes the mound for UCI to oppose Cal State Fullerton's Evan Yates.
