FRESNO, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball was opportunistic riding the big inning to a pivotal 13-4 win Thursday night over Fresno State at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium.
- The first three innings belonged to starters Riley Kelly and Fresno State's Jake Dixon allowing just two hits between them as the sides were scoreless into the fourth inning.
- Things looked to stay that way as UCI had a runner on first base with two outs before the 'Eaters pounced
- Dixon lost his groove momentarily hitting the next three Anteaters with a pitch to load the bases and force home a run with Chase Call earning the RBI for the 1-0 lead
- Will Bermudez chopped a ball up the middle off the glove the shortstop on a tough, charging play resulting in an infield single and two runs coming around for a 3-0 advantage
- A Bulldog error on Myles Smith's chopper went through the right side plating a fourth run in the inning
- Woody Hadeen singled in the fifth run, and with him and Smith on the corners, he took off early on a pickoff play baiting the defense into a bad throw up the third base line scoring Smith with Hadeen coming all the way around from first to a seventh run in the inning
- UCI's bats started all over again with hits from Caden Kendle and Anthony Martinez to finally end the day for Dixon. Thomas McCaffrey greeted the reliever by knocking in the eighth run of the inning
- The 'Eaters used six hits in their highest-scoring frame of the season, and five runs were unearned to Dixon's line
- Fresno State responded well getting a pair of runs and knocking Kelly out of the game, but Ryder Brooks made a big pitch to stunt the Bulldog rally and keep the lead, 8-2
- The Bulldogs continued to gain momentum back, but the Anteater bats recharged for a five-run seventh inning
- Jo Oyama led off with a single and scored on a one-out double in the alley by Chase Call
- Singles by Bermudez and Smith moved Call over and in for a 10-3 lead
- Hadeen brought both home on a double the other way for a 12-3 lead
- The five-run inning ended on a clean RBI single by Kendle to go up 13-3
- The Anteater bullpen was more than serviceable allowing two unearned runs over the final 5.1 innings
- Brooks picked up his second win of the season and his career as he went 2.1 striking out a game-high four
- Cameron Wheeler allowed the other unearned run, but completed his inning just like David Vizcaino in the eighth by striking out two
- Elliot Joslin made his first appearance of 2024 with a spotless ninth inning including a strikeout to close things out
- Six Anteaters had two-hit nights as 11 of UCI's 14 hits were singles
- Hadeen topped all with three RBIs while three others had two-RBI games
- Myles Smith scored twice giving him a run in 13 consecutive ballgames
- Anthony Martinez stole his first career base as he and Hadeen swiped bags on the evening
- Kendle reached twice to extend his Anteater record on-base streak to 54 games
- Other debuts on the evening were Jacob Stinson, his first appearance of 2024 as a pinch-hitter in the ninth, and Frankie Carney entered and played left field in the ninth for his first collegiate game
- Anteater winning streaks continue as the team starts 2024 11-0 extending on the program's best start to a season. UCI's overall win streak hits 17 games dating back to 2023, still the second-longest in program history
The weekend ramps up Friday with a doubleheader for the Anteaters. The first game starts at 2:05 p.m. in a neutral site matchup with Columbia University from the Ivy League; the first meeting between the programs. Game two follows at 6:05 p.m. as the Anteaters and Bulldogs are back at it with
Nick Pinto on the mound for UC Irvine.
Postgame Thoughts from head coach Ben Orloff
"When you're playing four games in three days it's hard to navigate it on the mound and get through it. To get the lead early and extend it late was huge for us, and hopefully that pays dividends the next two days as well."
"Kelly got us off to a really good start, Brooks was clutch to really get us on track through five and to the seventh. Those three guys at the end; Vizcaino was really, really good, and so was Joslin there in the ninth which was good to see. We stayed away from the big inning which is hard to do here."
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