LONG BEACH, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball finished off a weekend Black & Blue Rivalry Series sweep at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field Sunday winning 7-1 over Long Beach State.
- Pitching ruled the day with Tim Grack on the mound for his first weekend start allowing three hits and an unearned run over five innings while striking out seven
- Ricky Ojeda continued his dominant week of relief pitching getting all nine batters he faced in three innings striking out three
- Ojeda bridged it to the ninth inning where Ricky Tibbett sealed things with a spotless ninth striking out a batter to close out the sweep
- Anteater pitching combined to set down the final 14 outs in a row
- The offense bunched their runs together in really two big hits
- Trailing for the first time in the series, Anthony Martinez came up with bases loaded in the third inning doubling into the corner and scoring all three runners. He later came home on a Chase Call sac fly for a 4-1 lead
- The score stood until the ninth inning when Caden Kendle came up with two outs and two on. Kendle returned to the lineup after missing three games with a concussion. He smacked a home run to double the lead and make it 7-1
- The 'Eaters added two more hit by pitch on the day giving them 145 for the year improving on their program record and adding to the NCAA-best total
UC Irvine returns home for a midweek matchup Tuesday, May 14 at 6:00 p.m. against Loyola Marymount before another weekend trip to Cal State Fullerton starting Friday, May 17.
Postgame Thoughts with head coach Ben Orloff
"We pitched it great all weekend. I think it was six runs on the weekend, and Tim today on his first weekend start, more of what he's been - five innings, three hits - and then Ojeda with three-plus on Tuesday with seven Ks, two yesterday, three perfect today, he's gotta be pitcher of the week. And Tibbett was sharp."
"Montgomery is their best guy right now, and we got a big inning where he strung at-bat after at-bat together, and a huge add-on three-run home run by Caden seals the deal and it felt writing his name into the lineup after not being able to the last week."
