No. 9 Anteaters Drop Series Opener to Cal Poly, 10-5

Friday, May 3

Irvine, Calif.

6:00 PM

UC Irvine

33-9, 14-5

Cal Poly

27-16, 16-6

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Cal Poly	0	1	0	0	0	3	0	6	0	10	16	0
UC Irvine	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	8	2

Photo by: Matt Brown

No. 9 Anteaters Drop Series Opener to Cal Poly, 10-5

May 03, 2024 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau

IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball fell Friday night in Anteater Ballpark, 10-5, to Cal Poly as they saw the Mustangs leapfrog over them in the Big West standings.

City of Irvine Night at the ballpark started off Irvine's way with a spotless first for Nick Pinto on the mound and the offense got a big two-run single for Dub Gleed for a 2-0 UCI lead
A run in the Cal Poly's second was quickly answered in the Anteater second by a booming home run by Chase Call to lead off the frame and a second run on a two-out Caden Kendle double made it 4-1 UCI early
Both pitchers began to settle in with Pinto getting out of a couple tough jams in the middle innings while Mustang lefty Jakob Wright quieted UCI's bats holding them hitless for the next four innings
In the sixth, Cal Poly got some clutch hitting with a two-run single and a safety squeeze laid down to even things up at 4-4
Cal Poly broke the tie in the eighth in a big way as freshman Braxton Thomas knocked in his fourth run of the night with a smash that Dub Gleed nearly snagged but brought home the go-ahead run. The Mustangs rode that wave and proceeded to add five more runs all with two outs to build a 10-4 advantage in the eighth
UCI had a chance to get that back as the first four hitters reached in their eighth now trailing 10-5 with nobody out after an Abraham Garcia-Pacheco hit by pitch. Cal Poly Tanner Sagouspe found another gear and got out of the jam and turned UCI away in the ninth as well to secure the 10-5 defeat
Kendle and Gleed had multi-hit games of the eight hits UCI managed. Gleed drove in two while five different 'Eaters crossed home plate
Nick Pinto did not factor in the decision going 6.1 innings, and his seven strikeouts on the evening gave him 309 in his career tying Glenn Swanson for third-most in program history
Ricky Ojeda was dealt his first career loss allowing a pair of runs in 1.1 innings

The 'Eaters are now 33-9 on the year, and their 14-5 Big West record is 0.5 games behind Cal Poly now at 16-6. The series continues Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. with Trevor Hansen on the mound heads up against junior Steven Brooks.