IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball avoided the sweep on Saturday thanks to
Thomas McCaffrey's 5-hit, 6-RBI performance to top Long Beach State, 11-2, at Anteater Ballpark.
The Anteater junior catcher had a career day at the plate becoming the second Anteater all-time to have five hits and six RBIs in the same game. It all started with a pivotal three-run double in the second inning clearing the bases and putting UCI (18-10, 5-7) up 5-1 on his second hit of the day.
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McCaffrey slid his third hit of the day off the glove of the diving second baseman in the fifth to bring home a run and make it an 8-2 lead. He came up one last time in the eighth with two on and two out and powered his fifth hit up and over the left fielder for his second double and driving in his fifth and sixth runners of the day.
"It really comes to preparation. Me and Stinson are getting in the cage real early," McCaffrey said of his performance giving his teammates more credit than anything. "My teammates let me work this hard. The results are a team effort because I can't get the RBIs if the guys aren't on base. We did a really good job getting on base, and if we scored 11 runs and I had six, that means we had five other runs scored because of them."
The rest of the offense did ride McCaffrey's wave including a clutch RBI single with two outs in the first to even things 1-1 after another first-inning run for Long Beach State (20-10, 8-4).
Jo Oyama also had a two-RBI day including a squeeze play in the three-run fifth inning to really give UCI some separation.
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The lineup top to bottom contributed to an 18-hit output.
Dub Gleed and
Caden Kendle each had three hits and scored twice.
Jacob Stinson had a little bit of everything with two hits, two runs scored, an RBI, and a pair of walks.
Among all the offense, UCI's pitching shut down the Dirtbags allowing just four hits and limiting them to two runs.
Danny Suarez made his first start in just over a year and threw four solid innings rebounding from a first-inning run.
Cameron Wheeler followed his lead with three one-hit innings to stop any LBSU comeback efforts.
"After yesterday's loss, our mindset was to get after it with your best stuff," Wheeler noted after picking up his second win of the season. "Leaving everything on the field, competing, it worked out today. I think if we push like that next weekend, we'll have a lot of success."
Tanner Brooks and
Jacob King closed things out with a pair of shutout innings for the 11-2 victory to salvage the sweep.
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McCaffrey's historic effort marks just the second Anteater all-time with five hits and six RBIs in the same game joining Jeff Malinoff who did so in 1972 in a game he drove in eight. He put up the 26th 5-hit game in program history and 22nd 6-RBI game making it his second 6-RBI game along with the two-HR game at Kansas State last season. McCaffrey joins teammate
Luke Spillane, Malinoff, and Adam Ging as the only 'Eaters to have multiple 6-RBI efforts.
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The win puts UCI back in the win column now at 18-10 on the year and a 5-7 Big West mark. UCI is 5-3 in their nine-game homestand with one final matchup coming Tuesday vs. San Diego.
