FULLERTON, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball got a comeback win, 10-6, in 12 innings to open the series at Goodwin Field against crosstown rival, Cal State Fullerton.
- The Anteaters were down to their last out and strike trailing 6-5 in the ninth inning when Woody Hadeen punched a hit through the middle for his fifth of the game scoring Chase Call and tying things up
- The 'Eaters nearly got the go-ahead run on the next batter as Caden Kendle hit a ball to the same spot that was cutoff by the Fullerton shortstop and thrown home as Jo Oyama was attempted to score the but was out at the plate. Even after a lengthy review of the play, it was upheld sending the game to the bottom of the ninth tied, 6-6
- Ricky Tibbett was called upon to extend the game for UCI and found a way striking out a man with two on base to go to extra innings
- He got into another jam with the winning run on third from an error and one out, but two big strikeouts held the run and kept the game going
- Tibbett was on another planet going the final four innings for the 'Eaters allowing two hits, two walks, and striking out seven
- Fellow Ricky, Ricky Ojeda, was superb again despite allowing an inherited runner to give Cal State Fullerton the lead in the sixth, but did strikeout four in 2.1 scoreless to bridge things to Tibbett
- Starter Nick Pinto was taxed through 5.2 innings for all six runs off nine hits while striking out six as he sets a new personal single-season high with 88 on the year as he becomes the second Anteater in program history with 60 starts joining the 61 of Craig Brink
- The offenses were held in check in the 10th and 11th innings before Caden Kendle surfaced to start the 12th and mash a home run the other way for a 7-6 UCI lead
- The 'Eaters kept piling on runs after a hit by pitch, single, and bunt single loaded the bases with nobody out, and Chase Call shot a ball off the pitcher to score one run and a second came home on an errant throw.
- Overall, it was a four-run 12th inning to put UCI up for good, 10-6
- Kendle's home run was the team's third of the game giving the Anteaters 53 on the season which breaks the program record of 52 set in 2023
- The bats pounded out 19 hits in the 12 innings led by Woody Hadeen with his first career 5-hit game complete with two doubles and reached a sixth time on a walk
- Hadeen's only out on the night came with bases loaded one out in the 11th and a line drive to the third baseman was caught on a dive and the tag was applied to third base to end the threat
- Three Anteaters had three-hit nights including Myles Smith who reached four times, and Will Bermudez and Chase Call, on his birthday, who each had three hits, two runs scored, and a RBI
- Bermudez and Thomas McCaffrey hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning to make a 3-2 game 5-2. For McCaffrey, he takes back the team lead with his ninth of the year
- Three Anteaters were hit by pitch to take their national lead in the category to 152. That mark also ties the all-time single-season NCAA record set in 2011 by Delaware State
- UC Irvine secured its 40th win of the season in dramatic fashion as the program reaches 40 wins for the ninth time in its history, seventh time since 2007, second time under head coach Ben Orloff, and fifth time reaching the mark in the regular season
The series rages on Saturday, May 18 for a 5:00 p.m. first pitch between
Trevor Hansen for UCI and CSF's Christian Rodriguez.
Postgame Thoughts with head coach Ben Orloff
"For six innings we weren't very good, and then the last seven I was really proud of how we competed and just the refusal to lose, playing through any situation, and just some clutch performances. Woody, down to our last strike gets a hit, Tibbett's out there for four innings and pitched out of bases loaded two times, lot of clutch performances and that was a championship-type performance there."
"Kendle two-strike home run to get that things going. Yeah there was a lot of guys, again Woody was special, Ojeda was good again, and Tibbett was special at the end of the game."
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