IRVINE, Calif. --- The weekend series in Anteater Ballpark finished Sunday with Cal State Fullerton taking the 9-5 win and series win over UC Irvine.
The 'Eaters (12-5, 1-2) were done in by defensive mistakes in a four-run third inning.
Dub Gleed's errant throw on a groundball put runners on the corners with one out. The Titans would answer with a pair of singles, the second of which went up the middle and by the glove of
Caden Kendle allowing two runs to score on the play to give Cal State Fullerton the 3-2 lead. A fourth run came home on a sacrifice fly for the 4-2 Titan lead in the third inning.
UCI drew within one after
Will Bermudez cracked his second double of the game plating
Jacob Stinson in the fourth inning now down 4-3, but the offense would stall out largely from the efforts of Titan left-hander Peyton Jones. The Fullerton senior would go on to set down 13 straight Anteaters and pitch into the eighth inning.
The Anteaters were still in the fight trailing 5-3 in the eighth with closer
Jacob King on to get his first work in over a week. The Titans were ready for him though as they loaded the bases with help from a single, walk, and hit by pitch. With two outs, Colby Wallace flared a ball just out of the diving reach of
Dub Gleed landing in left field to plate two. CSF managed two more two-out hits to open up a 9-3 lead and all but seal the win and the series for the visitors.
FINAL SCORE: CAL STATE FULLERTON 9, UC IRVINE 5
The Anteater bats put up a last-gasp fight with two outs in the ninth as
Caden Kendle tripled home a run off the left-center wall and
Anthony Martinez knocked him in to close the score to 9-5, but it wouldn't be enough as the 'Eaters drop their first Big West series and go to 5-3 at home on the year.
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Drawing the loss with some hard luck was starter
Cooper Robinson who allowed four runs over three innings, but just one earned. The Anteater bullpen saw bright spots from scoreless ball by
Michael Stanford for two innings and single innings from
Sean Higgins and
Finnegan Wall.
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The offensive effort was spread out with mainly single-run innings including a pair of sacrifice flies in the game.
Will Bermudez's two doubles along with a run and RBI were most of the firepower. Kendle also finished with the same statline while Martinez drove in two more runs.
The 12-5 Anteaters drop their first weekend series of 2023. Attendance was at a high on Sunday with the best crowd of the season to this point in 1,102 fans. This marks the 78th crowd of over 1,000 in ballpark history and 21 of those coming in a UCI-Fullerton matchup.
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DOWN THE LINE
UC Irvine prepares for Finals Week on campus and no midweek matchup. They'll get back on the field next weekend on the road to 4-13, 1-2 Cal Poly with Friday night first pitch at 6:00 p.m.
