IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball tussled with the San Diego Toreros Friday night in Anteater Ballpark with the premier starters taking the spotlight as the 'Eaters came through for the 3-1 win.
- A game with offense at a premium saw most of it come in the first inning with a walk, single, and sacrifice fly getting home a run for San Diego in the top of the first inning. UCI's first three hitters crushed balls with Woody Hadeen collecting a single and Caden Kendle doubling into the gap to bring him in for a 1-1 score at the end of the frame.
- Starting pitchers Nick Pinto and Josh Randall took command for the next five-plus innings slowing both offenses
- After the USD run, Pinto went on to set down the next 14 Toreros mixing in four strikeouts, and he finished with nine strikeouts including two each in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings
- Randall on the other side totaled up seven strikeouts with at least one in five of his six innings escaping james in the second and third innings.
- The dam finally broke in the sixth inning as Thomas McCaffrey laced a double to start the inning against Randall. A well-executed sac bunt from Jo Oyama moved him to third, and then Chase Call mustered a hard grounder fielded by the drawn-in infield, but a throw in the dirt allowed McCaffrey to slide in for the go-ahead run and lead, 2-1
- An insurance run blooped home by Anthony Martinez made it a 3-1 ballgame in the seventh inning
- David Utagawa made for a tense eighth inning walking a pair of Toreros, but Ricky Tibbett picked him up with the final out of the eighth and a scoreless ninth for the save and the 3-1 win
- Kendle reached four times including three hits to extend his on-base streak to 50 games
- The Anteaters extend their winning streak to 13 games, tied for third-longest in program history, and the longest current streak in the nation
- Pinto improves to 3-0 on the season picking up win No. 20 of his career and eclipsing 250 career strikeouts on the night
The Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic continues with UC Irvine welcoming Michigan to Anteater Ballpark for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch on Saturday, March 2.
Riley Kelly toes the rubber for the Anteaters against a Wolverine starter to be determined.
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Postgame Thoughts from Nick Pinto
"I got comfortable, and getting out of the first inning I realized I just needed to calm down and stick to myself. I've been here five years so I know how to pitch. I did a lot of work with our trainer Justin before the game and realized that I've just got to stick with what he's helping me with and what coach Bibona is calling and stick with that."
"Yeah, Randall was awesome tonight as well. He did a good job of holding us down and we've got a good offense over here so it was good to win that one."
