BAKERSFIELD, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball locked up a series victory with a complete performance on the mound to defeat CSU Bakersfield, 6-1, Saturday night at Hardt Field.
The Anteaters (26-13, 9-8) were again the aggressors taking the lead first.
Jo Oyama left the yard for the second straight day turning this long ball toward center field for the 1-0 lead in the third.
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CSU Bakersfield (14-24, 5-15) answered back with a run in the bottom of the inning, but
Finnegan Wall held the line with just the one run crossing despite loading the bases with nobody out.
UC Irvine got some good fortune the next inning putting a couple runners into scoring position as
Myles Smith bounced a ball in the hole to the left of the second baseman and through him into right field to put the Anteaters back on top, 3-1.
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CSUB threatened to close the gap back up with two more runners on, but
Max Martin picked up Wall to get the third out and hold the two-run lead.
Martin and the bullpen did the rest posting shutout baseball through the final 5.1 innings with Martin,
Nick Rincover,
Cameron Wheeler, and
Jacob King scattering three hits while striking out four to ride out the 6-1 victory.
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"The competitiveness of every guy was really good," praising the winning performance from the staff Saturday. "Wall got us off to a good start, and then we go 5.1 on three hits and no runs out of the bullpen while stranding all six runners we inherited. That was a really complete, well-played game by us."
Finnegan Wall gave the squad a big 3.2 innings while the win went to
Max Martin for his second of the year and holds to Rincover and Wheeler.
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The offense was timely adding three insurance runs late to put the game away.
Thomas McCaffrey launched his second home run of the year and eighth career in his 100th career game as an Anteater. He and Oyama each had two-hit games of the 'Eaters' eight hits with Oyama reaching four times and driving in two.
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"Oyama is electric, he can beat you in a lot of different ways, and when he's playing like this it's a dynamic offense. He's really getting things going for us and is a big reason why we're winning."
The Anteaters have won four straight for the third time this season and picks up a pivotal series win putting the team over .500 in Big West play for the first time this year at 9-8 and a big Sunday game still ahead.
"These are all like playoff games and this is right where you want to be. The calendar is about to turn over to May and we're playing really meaningful games. Tomorrow feels like another one and it will be all hands on deck."
Michael Stanford gets the start for the 'Eaters looking to win his third straight Sunday start, and the starter for CSUB has yet to be announced.
