BAKERSFIELD, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball went deep into the night at Hardt Field against CSU Bakersfield, but pulled out a 16-11 victory Friday night in a game they trailed by six halfway through.
UCI (25-13, 8-8) got started on the right foot with two runs in the first inning as
Jo Oyama walked and then scored on
Caden Kendle's RBI double, and Kendle would come around on a
Dub Gleed single for a 2-0 lead. Even after CSU Bakersfield (14-23, 5-14) tied things up in the bottom half of the first, UCI retook the lead in the second with an RBI single by
Luke Spillane to make it a 3-2 UC Irvine lead.
Â
The good start quickly dissipated as the Roadrunners got a two-run double in the bottom of the second to go up 4-3, and continued to build with four runs in the third inning and another in the fourth to make it a 9-3 mountain to climb for the Anteaters as they headed to the fifth inning.
UCI got a big spark in the fifth from an unexpected source.
Elliot Joslin took the mound as the fourth pitcher of the game already, and after allowing a single and walk to reach, got a foulout secured nicely by
Abraham Garcia-Pacheco along the netting followed by a flyout to hold CSUB scoreless for the first time in the game.
"Joslin getting a zero gave us a chance. He got it stopped a little bit and it let us play, the offense forced their starter to leave early with a high pitch count which is hard to do for their bullpen to try and get 12 outs, especially on a Friday night."
Head Coach
Ben Orloff noted and the Anteaters followed his lead getting the first man to reach in the sixth inning on a walk to bump starter Ryan Verdugo from the game. The first six hitters would reach in the inning slowly chipping away at the lead from an Oyama RBI single, Kendle bases loaded walk, and an error on
Anthony Martinez's grounder allowing another to score.
Chase Call ripped a single to score a pair, and even after Martinez was nabbed trying to go first-to-third, the offense kept pounding with another single and two walks including the game-tying walk from Spillane to complete the six-run frame and make it 9-9 in the sixth.
Â
Oyama stepped up to open the seventh inning and pulverized a ball to right field to put UCI back on top, 10-9, and start another big inning with UCI plating three thanks to Gleed's two-run double.
Â
The 'Runners stayed close putting up a home run to leadoff the eighth to make it 12-10, UCI, but Kendle answered right back launching a home run in the ninth to get the run back and start an important four-run inning to provide insurance and secure the Friday night win, 16-11.
Â
"It's good to win. A lot of things had to go right for us to be down as much as we were and win. While it doesn't feel great because of the way we pitched tonight, it feels a lot better that we won."
The comeback is the largest from the team since erasing an 8-0 deficit to UC Riverside in 2021 in which UCI trailed in the fourth inning only to win, 9-8. It's the second comeback of five or more runs this year joining the March 25 win at Cal Poly where UCI trailed 5-0 after two and ended up winning, 9-7.
The 27 total runs in the game are the highest for UCI this season and most since 2021's 20-10 victory over Hawai'i. It's UCI's seventh game this month scoring 10 or more runs, and the 16 runs matches the team's season high scored in the series-opening win at Arizona State. The 18 hits by the team matches their high as well after posting 18 in wins over Gonzaga and Long Beach State. The squad also walked 10 times for a season high and most since walking 11 times back in 2021.
Â
Everyone was involved with the bats with all nine Anteaters recording a hit and every player either scored a run or drove one in. Oyama and Kendle at the top of the order had multiples of hits, runs, and RBIs with each contributing home runs on the night. Kendle's four runs scored led all players while Oyama and Martinez each had three-hit games. Kende also had three RBIs along with teammates
Dub Gleed and
Luke Spillane.
Â
The pitching did enough to get a win Friday behind all the run support.
Cameron Wheeler was the most effective going two shutout innings facing the minimum and striking out two earning the win for his efforts. One strikeout got a big boost from Garcia-Pacheco completing the double play by throwing out an attempted basestealer.
Elliot Joslin also put up a scoreless frame while
Jacob King earned his first hold of the year.
Â
The weekend is just getting started with two more games ahead and the next one starting at 6:05 p.m. on Saturday. UCI will have a change in its starting pitcher as
Finnegan Wall takes the mound in place of
Danny Suarez and heading up against CSUB lefty Matt Comnos.
