IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball mounted a spirited comeback Saturday night falling, 5-4, to No. 23 UC Santa Barbara in Anteater Ballpark.
- The top-25-ranked foes welcomed in ESPN2 broadcasting the game nationally
- The visitors got off to the hot start scoring a first-inning run helped by a leadoff double to lead, 1-0
- The deficit grew to 5-0 in the third inning after UCSB loaded the bases on three straight singles
- Trevor Hansen battled to strike out the next hitter, but was lifted on his 76th pitch of the night
- Ricky Ojeda came on in relief and promptly allowed a two-run single through the right side
- Ojeda got another big strikeout, but another clutch single the other way scored two more for a four-run inning
- Ojeda settled in, and he and Ryder Brooks put up zeroes for the next four innings capped by a scoreless ninth for Nick Rincover as the staff totaled 13 strikeouts
- Meanwhile, the Anteater hitters were befuddled without a run through six innings despite six hits, but left runners on base in each inning as they trailed 5-0 heading into the seventh
- The bats finally sprung to life against the UC Santa Barbara bullpen stringing together hits including RBI singles by Myles Smith and Abraham Garcia-Pacheco and an RBI double by Will Bermudez to cut the score down to 5-3
- Caden Kendle swatted a double into the right field corner to score Woody Hadeen and bring it to within 5-4
- UCSB brought in the closer who let an infield single, but stopped the rally with runners on the corners and finish off the 5-4 win for the visitors
- Trevor Hansen was handed his first loss of his career lasting 2.1 innings with five of those 13 strikeouts
- UC Irvine finished with more in the hit column at 12 led by three from Smith. Kendle had two hits while extending his on-base streak to 65 consecutive games
The loss ends an eight-game win streak the 'Eaters had and is their second in Big West play. The series comes to a head Sunday at 1:00 p.m. as
Brandon Luu and Matt Ager square off for the finale and the series in the balance.
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