IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball fell Friday night, 9-0, to their Black & Blue rivals to drop the weekend series at Anteater Ballpark.
For a second straight night, the visitors jumped out to the early lead starting with two runs in the first inning. A double from Rocco Peppi pelted the top of the left field wall to bring home the first LBSU (20-9, 8-3) run. Jack Hammond followed with a double of his own to bring Peppi home that hopped over the third base bag to make it 2-0.
Again, LBSUÂ added to their lead with a four-run second inning. Three straight hits got the inning going and scoring a run. A nifty backhand on a hot shot by
Dub Gleed got the first out while bringing home a second run. Connor Burns capped the frame with a long home run to left field making it a 6-0 ballgame through an inning and a half.
The damage was more than enough for the visitors as their starter Nico Zeglin put up zeroes on his side. The 'Eaters only managed five hits off of him including three doubles, but never registered multiple hits in an inning as the senior transfer kept UCI off the board while striking out six on the evening.
UCI's starter
David Vizcaino settled things down after the tumultuous first two innings to end up going five innings and retiring the final eight hitters he faced. Anteater freshmen hung zeroes in the final two innings with
Michael Pirrello making his collegiate debut in the eighth and retiring all three hitters he saw with fellow freshman
Elliot Joslin matching his effort in the ninth getting all three outs with two strikeouts.
"I haven't thrown a ball all season so when I was in the bullpen, it was a little shaky," admitted the first-year Anteater Pirrello. "Once I stepped on that field, I looked at who's behind me - a bunch of studs - I just felt good. Coach is always talking about going after it, dont be scared. That's what I did and I succeeded."
"I've been working really hard for this," Joslin commented having last pitched nearly a month ago. "I just went out there and went after it. I was throwing my pitches as hard as I could and left everything out there."
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The tandem were a real bright spot for the team who dropped the game 9-0 incurring their second shutout of the season. The defense despite a pair of errors and an unearned run made great plays including a textbook relay between
Caden Kendle and
Will Bermudez to get the final out of an inning and keep things within reach in the fourth.
Abraham Garcia-Pacheco racked up the team's third pickoff of the week as well to end the frame in the sixth.
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The offense mustered seven hits with
Thomas McCaffrey accounting for three.
With the series locked up, the teams come together for the finale Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and a chance for UCI to avoid the sweep.
Danny Suarez gets the ball to start opposed by Long Beach State freshman Myles Patton.
