SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball posted an emphatic 13-1 victory Sunday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium to take the series on the road over UC Santa Barbara.
Sunday's starters dueled it out for two innings as Friday night ace Mike Gutierrez returned from injury for UC Santa Barbara (22-11, 7-5), but
Michael Stanford went toe-to-toe with him tossing zeroes early.
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UCI (21-11, 7-8) got the scoring going with a clutch two-out single by
Jo Oyama to make it 1-0 in the third. He would later come around on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead at the end of the inning.
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The game was still 2-0 in the fourth when it hit it's turning point. The Gauchos loaded the bases with one out threatening to snag the momentum. Stanford pumped up to earn a big strikeout, and handed it off to
Finnegan Wall who did the same to leave UCSB wanting and keeping the 2-0 lead.
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The offense jumped on the opportunity starting with
Chase Call in the next inning belting a two-run homer to double the lead. The 'Eaters would restart the rally and add two more runs in the frame for a 6-0 lead in the fifth.
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UCSB put a run across in the sixth inning looking to turn the key and ignite another comeback, but
Nick Rincover limited the damage in the frame.
Dub Gleed got the run back in a big way smashing a long home run to left field to make it a 7-1 game. Gleed added more insurance in the eighth doubling home two more runs, and the offense would score the final four runs of the game without a hit.
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Tanner Brooks and
Jacob King were back to form with shutout pitching in the final two innings to complete the 13-1 win and series victory.
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"I thought we really played well for the whole weekend outside of a couple of rough innings yesterday, but a really good response by our guys to play a complete game after as tough a loss as yesterday was."
Head Coach
Ben Orloff lauded his side's effort winning a pivotal series over the Big West preseason favorites.
The pitching keyed the day despite the 13 runs on offense.
Michael Stanford scored his second win of the year in his second start with 3.2 shutout innings. Wall put in two crucial innings with no runs coming across while he was on the mound including that big punchout with the bases loaded.
"It all starts on the mound. We're still trying to figure out these roles, but Stanford did really good especially that bases loaded situation in the fourth, and Wall comes in and strikes outs the next hitter which was really the turning point that allowed us to play from ahead. And then good stuff from Rincover, from Brooks in his third game on the weekend, and King dominant."
Coach Orloff's philosophy of stringing good at-bats in a row was evident in the win. Gleed keyed the offense with four of the 15 hits including his first home run of the year. He also led the team with three RBIs as everyone in the lineup either scored or drove in a run.
Chase Call caught
Anthony Martinez for the team lead in home runs as one of his three hits, and the two each scored three times on the day.
The 'Eaters earn their second series victory of Big West play and move back into the mix with a 7-8 mark while also sitting at 21-11 overall. Next up, another big week with a tough road test Tuesday at ranked UCLA before returning home for it's conference bye week hosting Kansas State from the Big 12 Conference.
