IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball fell by way of the home run ball Friday night to open the weekend series against UC San Diego at Anteater Ballpark, 10-3
Starting pitchers
Nick Pinto and Michael Mitchell were in control early in the game with Mitchell dodging walks and while Pinto dialed up three strikeouts in the first three innings.
The trouble came in the third inning when UCSD (17-6, 7-0) got a leadoff double to third base and added a runner on a two-out walk. Matt Halbach turned on a pitch hooking it inside the left field foul pole to start the scoring, 3-0.
Pinto gathered himself for a scoreless fourth inning, but in the fifth he loaded the bases following an intentional walk and hit by pitch only to give up another home run, this one a grand slam to Brandon Larson to put the 'Eaters behind it, 7-0.
UC Irvine (14-8, 2-5) got the offense churning in their half of the sixth inning. With no one on and two out,
Chase Call worked a walk for the 15th straight game. A
Thomas McCaffrey single brought up
Myles Smith who lashed a double to plate a pair, and he would come around on
Dub Gleed's single to bring the 'Eaters to within 7-3.
Â
UCI couldn't produce anything more with the bats while the Tritons added a run in the eighth and parked their third home run of the game in the ninth to put the final score at 10-3.
The Anteater offense was driven by Smith going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. UCI had seven hits as a club with
Will Bermudez adding a two-hit night. Anteater pitching racked up 14 strikeouts on the evening, but was done in by the three home runs by UCSD that accounted for nine of their 10 runs.
Nick Pinto drew the loss for his first of the season, but added up seven strikeouts leaving him one away from 200 in his Anteater career.
Â
"We just have to play better,"
Myles Smith said of the game echoing the postgame message. "They beat us in every facet of the game today. They outplayed and that can't happen next time. It's simple and a lot easier said than done. We have to play better than them and we'll win and we can win. We gave up a lot of freebies so limiting them and going out and doing what we know we can do tomorrow and we'll be just fine."
A vote of confidence from the second-year Anteater who sparked the offensive rally in the sixth. The team has dropped all three Friday night contests in conference play now and stand 2-5 in Big West action.
The series rolls along Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch.
David Vizcaino will take the mound against UCSD's Nic Gregson looking to put a dent into the Tritons' 7-0 conference mark.
