SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball were unable to hold a late lead allowing a five-run eighth inning to drop the game, 7-3, and the series at Cal Poly and Baggett Stadium on Sunday.

The game hung on a controversial play in the eighth inning. After Cal Poly (6-14, 3-3) tie the game up with a bloop single, Ryan Stafford came up. The catcher drove the ball down the left field line hitting high off the wall and initially ruled foul while the Mustang baserunners rounding the bases. A long meeting with the umpire crew resulted in the call changing and awarding a home run to Cal Poly and they would take the 7-3 on the grand slam.

The sides exchanged leads throughout the first five innings. Both scored in the first inning with UCI (13-7, 2-4) loading the bases and getting a Myles Smith bounceout to make it 1-0. Cal Poly ( ) returned the favor with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the first for a 1-1 game.

The Mustangs took the lead in the third inning with Collin Villegas leaving the yard with two outs for a 2-1 lead. UCI got some good fortune in the fifth with a pair of runners reaching on walks and a grounder from Anthony Martinez booted by the Mustang shortstop allowing both to score for a 3-2 lead.

FINAL SCORE: CAL POLY 7, UC IRVINE 3
The Anteater offense was stymied with just two hits in the game and nearly made it stand up. The 'Eaters walked six times with all three of their runs resulting from a walk. Caden Kendle had a pair of those, and Myles Smith produced the only RBI and reached base on a hit by pitch.

"We've got to start playing better. This weekend you win one, losing twice with the lead in the seventh or eighth, you're down 5-0 and win. You feel like you could have won two or three but also feel like you could have gotten a sweep. We need to play better and stop beating ourselves late in games," noted the head coach Ben Orloff.

The pitching was pieced together through the first seven innings with starter Andre Antone, Cooper Robinson, Cameron Wheeler, and Finnegan Wall scattering 11 hits through seven innings and keeping the 'Eaters ahead with just two runs allowed and walking just one.

"We were able to pitch out of problems until we couldn't so we flirted with danger and the big inning through almost the whole game. We pieced it together to the eighth inning with a lead with two outs to go. Finnegan Wall the biggest bright spot out there today facing the minimum in a tight game in the sixth and seventh."

The Anteaters are at a 2-4 mark through Big West play dropping the first two series. On the horizon, UC Irvine comes home for nine straight at Anteater Ballpark, the third-longest homestand since 2002, which features Big West series against UC San Diego and Long Beach State, and it all gets going Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. against another Pac-12 foe, USC.