IRVINE, Calif. --- A wet and wild day at Anteater Ballpark Saturday finished in the evening with a 12-4 victory for UC Irvine taking down Michigan in day two of the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic.
- The weather was swirling before the game even started pushing the start back to 1:30 p.m. The rain was still coming down when first pitch came down.
- After wriggling out of trouble by Riley Kelly in the top of the first inning, the Anteater bats unloaded for 10 runs in the longest inning in Anteater history
- UCI battered Michigan starter Jacob Denner with five of the first six hitters reaching base
- Caden Kendle singled home the first run, and came around on a two-run double by Anthony Martinez
- Thomas McCaffrey belted a triple to straightaway center field to go up 4-0
- After the first out, Chase Call uncorked a home run down the left field line for a 6-0 lead
- The umpires put a halt to play for delaying the game at 2:03 p.m.
- After a 1-hour, 47-minute rain delay, play resumed with one out in the first inning
- UC Irvine's offense picked up where it left off with a Woody Hadeen RBI infield single, Martinez with another two-run hit, and a hit by pitch with the bases loaded to Jo Oyama
- In all, the first inning lasted 145 minutes and marked the second time since 2002 the 'Eaters have had a 10-run inning in Anteater Ballpark
- The Wolverine bats began to chip away at the lead with a home run in the second inning, a pair of two-out RBI singles in the fourth, and a leadoff triple coming around to score in the sixth to make it a 10-4 ballgame
- Anteater pitching was helped along by fifth-year Cameron Wheeler putting up three innings allowing two runs and striking out four to pick up his first win of the season
- Max Martin really steadied the ship with four innings to close things out for the save allowing two baserunners and striking out four
- UCI got back in the scoring column with a pair in the eighth on a Caden Kendle RBI triple and Thomas McCaffrey RBI single the other way
- Offensive leaders were Thomas McCaffrey with three hits, two for extra bases, Martinez driving in four, and Caden Kendle posting two hits, two RBIs, three runs, two walks, and a hit by pitch
- Myles Smith reached base in all six plate appearances, scored three times, and drew three more walks to up his nation-leading total to 15
- As a team, UCI had 11 hits, five for extra bases, and reached 10 times via a walk and seven by hit batsman
- UC Irvine's 8-0 record to start the season matches the best in program history set in 2008
- The win streak rises to 14 straight games for the Anteaters, now the third-longest in program history
The weekend ends in the jewel of Dodger Stadium Sunday for a 3:00 p.m. first pitch. Closing out the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic will be freshman
Trevor Hansen on the mound against UCLA's Mikey Barnett.
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Postgame Thoughts from Max Martin
"With the rain delay, got an hour or two off, I just tried to stay focused i nthe clubhouse with everyone. But on the mound, I felt good on all three pitches, throwing them for strikes today, and I was throwing it in the zone, letting them hit it, and things went my way."
"We have to give a shoutout to our offense because it's awesome playing from ahead. We do have a great staff, everyone goes in and competes and we're going to go really deep into the game because we have a bunch of guys that throw strikes and compete."
"That first inning was super fun on the bench just watching our guys get hit after hit and rally, especially in the rain when it's just pouring it's a lot of fun, a lot of love and excitement in the dugout. Then we took a break, came back, and were right back to it. It's good, love the offense."
