IRVINE, Calif. --- A crowd of 2,469 fans showed up to support UC Irvine baseball Tuesday night against the rival Bruins, and the 'Eaters gave them a show scoring in every inning en route to a 12-3 victory at Anteater Ballpark.
The win boosts UC Irvine (28-13, 10-8) to 8-0 this season against the Pac-12, 10-2 against Power 5 programs, and 8-1 in midweek matchups as they win their sixth straight game, the longest streak of 2023.
The fans and students filled the ballpark Tuesday night for the seventh-largest attendance in Anteater Ballpark history at 2,469; the largest crowd in the park since 2009.
"It's fun, tonight was fun. The team was expecting a big crowd tonight, we always do against this team. People love to come watch us play," sixth-year Anteater
Andre Antone said of the atmosphere around the ballpark. "For us to come out and get a lead early and beat them was a lot of fun. The offense put up runs early that allowed me to cruise and do what I do, it made my life a lot easier."
Antone picked up the win for a second year in a row in UCI's home matchup with UCLA (24-16-1, 10-9-1) as he improved to 3-1 on the season and the most effective on the night with one hit, one unearned run allowed, and three strikeouts over 3.1 innings. The six pitchers that followed him kept the momentum scattering 11 hits with just one earned run allowed including
Nick Rincover appearing in his 11th straight game throwing scoreless ball for the 10th time in that streak and
Elliot Joslin closing things out in the ninth and striking out the side.
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The offense garnered most of the headlines scoring in all eight innings they batted tonight. It's just the second time in program history they've accomplished that joining the 1989 Anteaters that did so in a 20-9 victory over Cal Poly Pomona. UCI tied their season high with 18 hits on the night and matched their total of 12 runs they scored at UCLA last month.
Of the many hitting leaders,
Caden Kendle and
Anthony Martinez led the charge each going 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Dub Gleed cashed in with four RBIs including his first triple of the year among his three hits.
Chase Call reached five times while driving in two including two more walks to give him 40 on the year and blasting his ninth home run in the third inning to take over the team lead.
Auggie Gutierrez entered after a
Jo Oyama injury, but kept the energy as each turned in a dazzling defensive play and combined to go 3-for-5 out of the leadoff spot with four runs scored.
"Coach talks about it all the time to play your best baseball in May, and we have put ourselves in a spot to be able to do just that and play meaningful games at this time of the year. We've just got to take advantage, keep playing good, and see what happens."
UCI rides the momentum into a big weekend series against Hawai'i starting Friday night at Anteater Ballpark, and start the week off with their 28th win of the year to lock up another winning season for the program, now 20 in the last 22 seasons and in all five years under head coach
Ben Orloff.
