SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball scrapped together a crucial Friday night win against Big West preseason favorites UC Santa Barbara, 5-4, at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.

UCI (20-10, 6-7) tried a little bit different start tonight with setup man Tanner Brooks getting the start, his first in an Anteater uniform. UC Santa Barbara (21-10, 6-4) still tagged him for a solo home run off the bat of Christian Kirtley for the 1-0 advantage. The Anteater bats evened things up in the third inning as Dub Gleed would leadoff with a double, move to third on a sacrifice, and come around on a wild pitch to make it 1-1.

Nick Pinto took his spot on the mound starting in the second inning and hit the gas. The lefty sat down six in a row at one point and punched out multiple hitters in four of his five innings to reset the tone and gain momentum for the 'Eaters. The Gauchos hurt him in the fourth inning by getting the first two hitters on base and later scoring them, but UCI's bats responded in the fifth making a walk, an error, a catcher's interference, and a fielder's choice do the dirty work for them before the only hit in the inning off the bat of Caden Kendle tied the score at 3-3.

Chase Call picked everyone up in the sixth inning roping a one-out home run off the scoreboard in left field for UCI's first lead of the game at 4-3. Pinto kept the momentum shutting down the Gauchos in the sixth stranding a runner in scoring position with his ninth strikeout of the game. After sitting one strikeout away for two weeks, he blew by the 200-career strikeout mark Friday night becoming the 17th Anteater to reach the plateau.

UCI's offense got an essential insurance run in the seventh started by a four-pitch walk to Jo Oyama. He flashed the speed with a stolen base, and then the patented 'Eater offense went to work with a sacrifice bunt by Myles Smith and a Caden Kendle sacrifice fly to open the lead to 5-3.

"We score early off a double by Gleed and a wild pitch, Kendle with a big hit for us with the two outs, Oyama gets on, steals a base, we get a sac bunt and sac fly; we scored in a bunch of different ways," praised head coach Ben Orloff. "It's good to win like this when you don't get a lot of hits and need to play good offense, and that's what we did today."

It was much-needed as Finnegan Wall would come in for a spotless seventh, but Kirtley would come calling again blasting his second home run of the game in the eighth to close the deficit to 5-4, but Jacob King returned to his stout, saving ways retiring five of six batters he faced and hung onto the one run lead for the win to open the series.
 

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Pinto was the benefactor in the game snagging his fourth win of the season and first of his career in relief. King's save was his second of the week and sixth on the year. His 18th career save boosts him into fifth all-time. Finnegan Wall bridged the gap with his second hold of the season.

"Everyone that threw threw the ball really well - Tanner gives us a good start, Pinto was probably as good as he's been all year and got us deep in the game. Wall got in the game and threw well, and King comes in and is dominant to close it out. We struck out 14 with just one walk as a unit, and that's the type of pitching that's required on a Friday night when you're facing a good arm."

The offense did just enough scoring five runs with just five hits. Kendle led from the leadoff spot with two of the hits and two RBIs. UCI drew three walks on the night and scored two of them in Jacob Stinson and Jo Oyama. Oyama finished without an official at-bat on the night reaching on a walk, hit by pitch, catcher's interference, and laying down a sac bunt. Chase Call's timely blast gives him six home runs this year and his fifth that either tied the game or broke a tie.

The win for UCI gives them 20 on the season and helps them keep pace in the Big West now with a 6-7 record. UCI posts its first win to open the series vs. UC Santa Barbara since 2018 and the first on the road since 2013. The team also improves to 7-2 this year in games decided by one or two runs.

Plenty of baseball left over the weekend with Saturday approaching and Game 2 scheduled to start at 4:05 p.m. Danny Suarez gets his second start of the season with UCSB's probable yet to be announced.