IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball came back to win the pivotal weekend series Sunday dropping Hawai'i, 6-1, at Anteater Ballpark behind fourth-year starter
Nick Pinto masterful outing.
The lefty had it working from the get-go striking out four straight hitters in a pair of 1-2-3 innings to start. He would continue that run striking out a hitter in every inning as he retired the first 17 hitters of the game. A two-out single into left field broke up
Nick Pinto's perfect game, but he turned around to finish the inning with his 10th strikeout. Working into the eighth inning, Pinto pitched 7.2 innings, his longest outing since 2021, and his second-best strikeout performance with 11 on the day.
Jacob King took his lead adding three more strikeouts out of the final five outs to collect the save and 6-1 win.
"I didn't really know about the perfect game until the hit and realized oh, I hadn't pitched out of the stretch yet," a surprised
Nick Pinto mentioned who was really great through all 7.2 innings. "I felt good, the curveball was good, throwing it for strikes and attacking the zone, not walking guys. And the offense was awesome. Auggie might be my favorite player, he made every play behind me, always comes up in clutch situations, and it's awesome to see him doing well."
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The offense packed all their punch into one inning starting with freshman
Auggie Gutierrez's double to start off the third inning and revved up
Jo Oyama and
Caden Kendle who each supplied one-out doubles to bring home the first two runs. The offense kept rolling with a sacrifice fly from
Thomas McCaffrey, and then a little bit of good fortune as
Chase Call's popup into right field fell for the fourth run and
Luke Spillane made them pay with a roller into center field to cap the five-run second inning.
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"I'm just trying to help the team in any way, sticking to the plan I'm given, and on defense attacking the ball," Gutierrez noted from a seven-hit weekend while filling in at third base for the injured
Jo Oyama.
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The pitching took over from there between Pinto and King, and despite a minor rally from the Rainbow Warriors (22-18, 11-10) in the eighth inning to break up the shutout, Gutierrez was back on the scene in the bottom of the inning to get the run back with a two-out RBI single to seal the win. Gutierrez and Oyama each had two-hit days of the seven for UCI with each adding a run and RBI to their line in addition to Kendle and McCaffrey.
The series win puts UCI firmly into fifth place in the Big West at 12-9, a game behind their next weekend opponent, CSUN. The Anteaters also reach the 30-win milestone on the season now 30-14 overall, and another landmark hit for head coach
Ben Orloff securing win No. 150 of his career in his fifth year at the helm of UC Irvine.
UC Irvine is back on the road in the week ahead playing midweek at San Diego Tuesday night before an important three-game set at CSUN next weekend with three day games starting Friday, May 12.
