SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball made an improbable ninth-inning comeback Saturday night to upend the host Aztecs in Tony Gwynn Stadium for a 9-8 victory.
- The Anteaters were trailing by three heading into the ninth inning, and after getting things started with a walk got two quick outs
- The bats stayed with it continuing to be patient and manage the strike zone forcing three straight walks to force in a run, and then a hit by pitch put the tying run 90 feet away
- Will Bermudez connected with a shot into the right-center gap sending it to the wall for a triple to clear the bases and give UCI the 8-6 lead
- Thomas McCaffrey, batting for a second time as a pinch-hitter in the inning, roped an RBI single himself for an all-important sixth run in the frame to go up 9-6
- The bottom of the ninth was another odyssey and Ricky Tibbett was back on the mound against his former club
- Two singles led off the inning before a strikeout, but a hit batsman loaded the bases, a walk forced in the first run, and a groundout made it a one run game with the winning run in scoring position
- Tibbett reached back for a huge strikeout to close it out for his eighth save and second of the weekend, 9-8
- The Aztecs were the story for the first eight innings as they led 6-3
- Jake Jackson had three hits and three RBIs early on finishing with four RBIs
- Jacob McCombs scored twice on two extra-base hits, and nine-hitter Brady Lavoie pelted a solo home run for the offense
- Starter Omar Serrano threw 123 pitches completing seven innings and holding the Anteater offense down with a season-high eight strikeouts
- Bermudez the hero of the game gave UCI some life early on with a long, two-out home run with two outs in the second inning that tied the game briefly at 2-2. Bermudez finished with a career-best five RBIs all out of the seven-spot in the order
- Trevor Hansen on the mound battled through five innings while he allowed five runs but struck out a career-high eight hitters
- David Utagawa pitched 1.1 scoreless relief to pick up his second win as an Anteater
- The win was No. 185 of head coach Ben Orloff's career at UC Irvine which ties him with Gary Adams for second-most in program history.
The win seals a series victory for the 'Eaters with one more to go Sunday at 1:00 p.m. back in Anteater Ballpark.
Brandon Luu takes the mound against Xavier Cardenas III of San Diego State.
Postgame Thoughts
Will Bermudez -
"I think the biggest thing in that situation is just stick to the approach. We practice rigorously on sticking to one thing and when you get it, just don't miss it. Before both of those hits, we had 3-2 counts with Bam walked both times, and then it took everyone, one through nine, just good at-bats. I think we were down to our last strike like four or five times. So just that shows the resiliency of this team and knowing we're all cheering for each other, we're being selfless, and that's when we do our best."
"It just shows that no lead is big enough for us. When we have good at-bats and a few of them in a row, magical things happen. That's what it showed today, and on defense; Gaz coming in to first base and getting that big stop and Bam going in to second just shows that we're all in, it's just a big thing for the team."
Ricky Tibbett -
"To get two big wins against a team like that especially my former team, it's huge for me. I wanted to show those guys why they should miss me and why I shouldn't have left that program in the first place. But I'm glad I found UCI anyway and I'm just super excited that we got to beat them and I'll be good to go for a sweep tomorrow."
"When that ninth inning is going in, I'm just thinking 'I want the ball. Give me the ball.' Any of those situations at the end of the game, I want the ball. That's my mentality going towards it."
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